The statement also works in a broader scope when applied to our kind; as in our species surviving on this planet. About 6,000 years ago +/- Earth began a period of accelerated desertification that continues into the present.

It is soundly theorized that resulting famine where there had been plenty and the damage it caused peoples overtaken by it accounts for the advent of male social domination and the even greater ultimate damage to our kind. Want for satisfaction of survival needs meant mass migrations and disputes over survival enabling territory.

This new era of intense competition for what was once plentiful called upon specialized abilities possessed by males; placing males with the most aggressive traits in roles of leadership formerly held by females when the environment was filled with life, love of life and abundance.

There is a book for any interested in more accurately detailed inquiry into my admittedly simplistic description. It is the above observation in macrocosmic form with plenty of scientific data to support it:

'Saharasia: The 4000 BCE Origins of Child Abuse, Sex-Repression, Warfare and Social Violence, In the Deserts of the Old World'
by James DeMeo, Phd.

There are other theories attempting to account for the advent of male usurpation of female leadership in human societies. This one, to me, seems most credible as a fundamental cause. It is a story of an entire species descending into destructive, pathogenic social formations caused by sudden deprivation, first out of need for physical survival; followed by unbalanced, self-destructive male domination and want for conquest.

He is right on

Wow, you guys are pretty smart! I learned a lot from your posts and still want to believe group effort & cooperation can produce a 'gestalt' no matter the circumstances. Thanks for your thoughts.

@ Matias " it is an old survival instinct from the Stone age" I.E. pre-civilisation. Louiseann's father continues to be correct. Deprive people of civilised benefits and they will revert to survival mode. That will include small group cooperation but will also include hostility to the outsider and scapegoating (not that civilisation has eliminated these).
I'm reminded of the Bishop during the early Dark Ages in Europe who gave up writing poetry as there was noone with the energy or literacy needed to read it. That included his fellow clerics.

He was a good observer of human nature

Simply put, humans are animals and remove aforementioned needs, they will literally resort to their more primal nature. Thoughts?

I thought that without drinking water a human only lasts a few days. But even given that, there are people like Terry Waite who have undergone awful privations, and who have come out as good people.

It's not as simple as just depriving people of a few comforts before you undo the stamp that civilisation sets on them.