Collapse of Complex Societies

Name: Collapse of Complex Societies
Price: 40.87 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780521386739

ISBN-10: 052138673X

ISBN-13: 9780521386739

Edition: 1990

Authors: Joseph A. Tainter, Wendy Ashmore, Clive Gamble, John O'Shea, Colin Renfrew

List price: $63.99

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Description:

Political disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. The Collapse of Complex Societies, though written by an archaeologist, will therefore strike a chord throughout the social sciences. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all such 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…

Book details

List price: $63.99
Copyright year: 1990
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 3/29/1990
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 262
Size: 6.85" wide x 9.72" long x 0.59" tall
Weight: 1.298
Language: English

Roderick J. McIntosh is professor of anthropology at Rice University.Joseph A. Tainter is project leader of Cultural Heritage Research at the Rocky Mountain Research Station.Susan Keech McIntosh is professor of anthropology at Rice University and the director of Scientia: an institute for the history of science and culture.



Acknowledgements



Introduction to collapse



The nature of complex societies



The study of collapse



Understanding collapse: the marginal productivity of sociopolitical change



Evaluation: complexity and marginal returns in collapsing societies



Summary and implications


References


Index