Rethinking Social Evolution: The Perspective from Middle-Range Societies

Rousseau, Jerome

ISBN 10: 0773531106 / ISBN 13: 9780773531109

Editore: McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, QC & Kingston, ON, 2006

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6-1/4" x 9-3/8", x + 291pp. Sewn binding in black paper-covered boards. Jacket is lightly rubbed, soiled. Top fore corner of cover on front is lightly bumped. Binding is square and tight, pages are clean and bright and unmarked; appears to be an unread copy.

Codice articolo 002150

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Rethinking Social Evolution: The Perspective from Middle-Range Societies
• Editore: McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, QC & Kingston, ON
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0773531106
• ISBN 13: 9780773531109
• Rilegatura: Hardcover
• Condizione: Fine
• Condizione della sovraccoperta: Near Fine
• Cataloghi dei venditori:
  • Cultural Studies - Sociology

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Human societies are characterized by complex and varied social systems that change through time due to communication and negotiation. Jérôme Rousseau makes cognitive complexity his starting point in an innovative study of how and why human societies evolve. The focus of Rousseau's enquiry is "middle-range" societies - a vast category between hunter-gatherers and states. Breaking away from traditional analyses of social evolution as a response to ecological constraints, he shows that social systems are maintained and transformed through self-interest and suggests that conflicts about sharing generate social transformations that result in inequality and increasingly encompassing socio-political structures. Rethinking Social Evolution is a wide-ranging exploration of how language and increased cognitive abilities constitute the motor of social evolution. Drawing on a wide range of ethnographic case studies, Rousseau offers a better understanding of how modern societies are the result of choices by people who both collaborate and compete.

Informazioni sugli autori

Jérôme Rousseau is professor, anthropology, McGill University, and the author of several books, including Central Borneo: Ethnic Identity and Social Life in a Stratified Society.

Jérôme Rousseau is professor, anthropology, McGill University, and the author of several books, including Central Borneo: Ethnic Identity and Social Life in a Stratified Society.