Changes in Social Organisation:
We find that the above trend in social organisation led to a tendency which eventually stifled the progress of these civilisations and led to their decay. The surplus. or whatever was left of food production after the consumption needs of the society were met, came to be appropriated by a small group of administrators. They eventually became priests and kings and formed an exclusive group. The successors of the original administrators gradually lost touch with agriculturil ilechniques, as well as with knowledge and techniques related to production of other articles of consumption and trade. They gave their time and attention to building monuments. temples and palaces of leisure to impress the rest of the society or to emphasise their exclusiveness. They raised armies to take over more and more productive land. Their priestly influence also grew. They cultivated the idea that they had divine powers and were created by God to'show the way to the common people and be their natural leaders. Thus, society got divided into exclusive classes of producers and appropriators. The tragedy of this process was that those who used knowledge.and technique in the beginning to increase production became isolated from the basic production techniques and knowledge which had given them power. Recourse was taken increasingly to magic and spreading of false beliefs instead of scientific observations and use of technology to solve material problems. The farmers and the craftsmen who used the techniques to produce goods were weighed down with the daily problems of existence. They had very little resources for innovations. Thus, the practitioners could not improve the techniques to solve the problems they faced; and the appropriators who had the time, resources and power to do so were no longer interested in these things. As a result of these developments, the progress of technique was thwarted and science stagnated.