The collapse of complex societies
By: Joseph A. Tainter.
Series: New studies in archaeology
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1988
Place of publication: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 250
Subjects: Civilization, Ancient; Comparative civilization; Civilization -- Philosophy
Description: Any explanation of political collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all complex societies in both the present and future. Dr Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. He then develops a new and far-reaching theory that accounts for collapse among diverse kinds of societies, evaluating his model and clarifying the processes of disintegration by detailed studies of the Roman, Mayan and Chacoan collapses.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 217-242.
Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Figures
pagenum: xi; title: Tables
pagenum: xii; title: Acknowledgements
pagenum: xiii; label: 1
title: Introduction to collapse
pagenum: 1; title: What is collapse?
pagenum: 4; title: Collapse in history
pagenum: 5; title: After collapse
pagenum: 18; label: 2
title: The nature of complex societies
pagenum: 22; title: Introduction
pagenum: 39; title: What collapses? More on definitions
pagenum: 39; title: Classification of theories
pagenum: 42; title: Framework of discussion
pagenum: 43; title: Resource depletion
pagenum: 44; title: New resources
pagenum: 51; title: Catastrophes
pagenum: 52; title: Insufficient response to circumstances
pagenum: 54; title: Other complex societies
pagenum: 61; title: Intruders
pagenum: 61; title: Conflict/contradictions/mismanagment
pagenum: 64; title: Social dysfunction
pagenum: 73; title: Mystical factors
pagenum: 74; title: Chance concatenation of events
pagenum: 86; title: Economic explanations
pagenum: 86; title: Summary and discussion
pagenum: 86; label: 4
title: Understanding collapse: the marginal productivity of sociopolitical change
pagenum: 91; title: The marginal productivity of increasing complexity
pagenum: 93; title: Explaning declineing marginal returns in complex societies
pagenum: 109; title: Explaining collapse
pagenum: 118; title: Alternatives to collapse
pagenum: 123; label: 5
title: Evaluation: complexity and marginal returns in collapsing societies
pagenum: 127; title: The colapse of the Western Roman Empire
pagenum: 128; title: The Classic Maya collapse
pagenum: 152; title: The Chacoan collapse
pagenum: 178; title: Evaluation
pagenum: 187; title: Conclusions
pagenum: 191; label: 6
title: Summary and implications
pagenum: 193; title: References
pagenum: 217; title: Index
pagenum: 243