Rethinking Social Evolution: The Perspective from Middle-Range Societies

By Jerome Rousseau

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: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0773532269
• ISBN13: 9780773532267
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.8"