Rethinking social evolution
Subtitle: the perspective from middle-range societies
By: Jérôme Rousseau
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Montreal; Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 291
ISBN-13: 9780773531109
Subjects: Social evolution; Social evolution -- Case studies; Social systems; Social systems -- Growth; Indigenous peoples -- Social life and customs; Indians of North America -- Social life and customs
Genres: Case studies
Description: "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, Jerome Rousseau offers a better understanding of how modern societies continue to transform themselves and shows that societies are the result of choices by people who both collaborate and compete."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [267]-286) and index
Table of contents: title: Concepts and issues in social evolution; title: Equality and autonomy among hunter-gatherers; title: From immediate- to delayed return systems : the emergence of middle-range societies; title: Structures of order at the domestic level; title: Societies with increased socio-economic differentiation; title: - Emergent properties of complex middle-range societies; title: The process of social evolution