I have difficulty with the idea that a pre-industrial society should have anything like 10% of the adult population being specialists. I don't think productivity of essentials is anything like high enough for that. I'd expect the Lunar Empire to be not more than 5% and other cultures to be lower. And we know from OiD that many of those specialists (e.g. leaders and warriors) are initiates. A precise figure depends on how far above subsistance level Heortling society is. We know that the society as a whole is although some individuals and possibly some clans are not.
>> And yes the healer will neglect her children, if she has any, to
>> attend the sick and injured.
>
>I'm not so sure this would be so. For disciples certainly, but for a
>devotee its only a 50% time commitment. Sure, that's quite a lot, but
>it's not *that* bad, especially if you have a husband.
That's a minimum of 50% and I can see several young children taking up more than 50% of someone's waking hours. As I said the deficit will be taken up by other women in the extended family, rather than her husband. Still the devotee will be seen as strange because she puts healing others before her children. In that case it is probably less strange to us than the Orlanthi. We are used to women choosing to put their work before children.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
Powered by hypermail