In the 1960s when Stuart Schlegel came across the Teduray, a tribe from the Philippine rainforests, he found a "radically egalitarian" society. Men and women, children and adults, shamans and basket weavers: all operated as equals. The Teduray knew no violence, repression or hoarding of wealth. Child-rearing was equally divided between parents. The whole society was built on cooperation, non-violence and equality, concepts that Schlegal found lacking in more advanced cultures. In this article, sociologist Riane Eisler illustrates how many of those same values are taking root in modern society, predominantly among Nordic countries. Among other indicators, these countries spend a higher-than-average percentage of their gross domestic products on aid to the developing world. They also created the first peace studies programs, when the rest of the world only had military academies.
