Myth, Power, Property: The Constitutive Forces of Human Society

Abstract

Every human society must preserve a shared identity, convert decisions into binding action, and regulate access to the material conditions of life. This essay identifies the relations that fulfill these requirements as Myth, Power, and Property and argues that they constitute the minimal architecture of social existence. Myth preserves collective identity and continuity across generations; Power organizes authority, decision, and implementation; Property structures possession, use, control, benefit, and transfer of resources. Through prehistoric, historical, institutional, and ideological forms, the essay examines how the three functions change their bearers and content while remaining simultaneously present and mutually dependent. It then formulates a zero test: Eₛ = M × Pu × Pr ≠ 0. A social configuration continues as the same configuration only while each force retains a functional value greater than zero at the relevant scale. The complete loss of any one function dissolves that configuration, even if its constituent groups persist at other scales. At the social level, Myth is identified with Coherence, Power with Interaction, and Property with Complexity, yielding Eₛ = Cₛ × Iₛ × Kₛ ≠ 0. The thesis is therefore stated as an empirically testable claim about the minimal conditions of social existence. The conclusion points to a contemporary mismatch between nationally organized political authority and material relations whose consequences increasingly operate beyond national boundaries.