Rethinking Social Evolution: The Perspective from Middle-Range Societies

By Jerome Rousseau

Book Overview

Human societies are characterized by complex and varied social systems that change through time due to communication and negotiation. J r me 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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0773531106
• ISBN13: 9780773531109
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"