Public education appeared only about four thousand years ago. But the social evolution of mankind has more than fifty thousand years. Long before statehood arose, there were already some norms of communication between people, regulation, power, management. In science, all these relationships are called mononorms. But what is it? Mononorm is a traditional household regulator, the rudiment of morality and law.
Types of Regulators
Mononorm is a single rule of behavior common to all (or a set of norms and rules). Pershits, an outstanding domestic historian and ethnographer, identified the following types of relations:
1) family and marriage;
2) the division of labor by gender;
3) the rules of warfare and hunting;
4) the separation of food by gender and social hierarchy;
5) resolution of conflicts between individual members of the community.
The moral of primitive man
The mononorms of primitive society are characterized by the fact that there was no separation of rights and duties by types of norms - moral, religious. Often, society was governed by certain forms of taboos (prohibitions) that were perceived by prehistoric people as dogmas (prescriptions) emanating from spirits or gods (supernatural powers). It was imperative that these norms be enshrined in magical and religious sanctions. The so-called “totemic” form was characteristic of the emerging moral and legal system, that is, some kind of animal or plant was declared sacred. Totemism is the belief that there is a supernatural kinship relationship between a tribe and a certain type of plant / animal or even object . As a result, people were forbidden to kill this animal (or to pluck a plant). In a way, such a mononorm is a primitive prototype of the Red Book as an environmental regulator.
And what could be?
Mononorm is a regulation method, often unconditional, that dates back to ancient times. In the prehistoric era, among the various methods of influencing a society that was just starting to form, there were basically bans. But there was a small proportion of permissions (permissions), often positive. For example, incest (incest) and violation of separation of duties in a tribe / community were prohibited. At the same time, certain species of animals were allowed to hunt in certain areas. The positive regulation of social relations consisted in the designation of goals: rationalization of cooking, construction of dwellings, manufacture of tools and so on. But nevertheless, these norms did not distinguish man from his surrounding nature. They only contributed to the creation of effective methods of appropriation of elements of nature (for example, getting fire or raising pets).
How do we find out about these regulators?
For primitive man, mononorm is a tribal duty and necessity. Nowadays, you can find echoes of these rules and prohibitions in customs, rites, myths, rituals. Custom is the first historical regulator of relations between tribes and individual people. It was rites that secured for centuries developed useful and rational patterns of behavior, which were then transmitted through generations and reflected the interests of all members of the tribe equally. Customs changed very slowly, which corresponded to the pace of development that was standard for the society of those times. Compliance with the prescribed rituals was the responsibility of each individual member of the community, which then turned into a strong habit. It is the indisputability of tribal customs that became the basis for the common interests of tribal members, their equality, the absence of contradictions between interests.