Joseph A. Tainter
Paperback | Pages: 262 pages Rating: 4.16 | 830 Users | 100 Reviews
Present Books Supposing Collapse of Complex Societies
| Original Title: | The Collapse of Complex Societies (New Studies in Archaeology) |
| ISBN: | 052138673X (ISBN13: 9780521386739) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Representaion As Books Collapse of Complex Societies
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 Chacoan collapses.Be Specific About Appertaining To Books Collapse of Complex Societies
| Title | : | Collapse of Complex Societies |
| Author | : | Joseph A. Tainter |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 262 pages |
| Published | : | March 29th 1990 by Cambridge University Press (first published May 27th 1988) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Politics. Economics. Sociology. Science. Anthropology |
Rating Appertaining To Books Collapse of Complex Societies
Ratings: 4.16 From 830 Users | 100 ReviewsWeigh Up Appertaining To Books Collapse of Complex Societies
In the middle part of the twentieth century, before "The Walking Dead," the historiography of civilizational collapse was dominated by Arnold Toynbees multi-volume "A Study of History," with his challenge and response dynamic. Before that, stretching back into the nineteenth century, other analyses analogized the lives of civilizations to the lives of humans, most notably in Oswald Spenglers enormously influential "The Decline of the West," published in 1918. And many other writers over manyWhat was useful to me:I. The work provides a concise list of common threats to any organized large-scale social entity.II. Tainter makes the terminological distinction between 'Civilizations' and 'Complex-Societies'. He does this in order avoid any value-laden connotations. What is interesting, however, is that by adopting the term "complex-society," he implies that the conceptual framework of the entity can apply to any organization that serves a social function, their sub-units, and larger
This book is a rather dry read but it is very informative. Tainter seeks to develop a universal explanation for the collapse of complex societies. He provides a thorough overview of the many explanations offered by historians to explain the many frequent occurrences of societal collapse throughout history. He then discounts all of them as inadequate. He offers a framework for explaining collapse which he sums up in four concepts:1) human societies are problem-solving organizations2)
Ok, done!Tainter's work is an opus. How could it be otherwise with a title like that? Yet, it lives up to the title: aiming and broadly succeeding to argue the causes for collapse. It's a little ponderous to read, because it is documented and reasoned like a thesis. This is a historical analysis, with applicability to our age that's noted only lightly along the way: it's not a political position paper, though it could be.Tainter says diminishing returns eventually trap civilization in a no-win
A detailed, compelling inspection of the collapse of Rome, Mayan civilization, and the warring states of China, among other failed societies. In understanding the collapse of once-great societies, the author considers 1) the problem-solving nature of those societies, 2) the energy required for those societies' growth, 3) the increasing costs to maintain an increasingly complex society, and 4) the fact that marginal returns decline as costs increase. Unless a society can find or develop a cheap
This book is a rather dry read but it is very informative. Tainter seeks to develop a universal explanation for the collapse of complex societies. He provides a thorough overview of the many explanations offered by historians to explain the many frequent occurrences of societal collapse throughout history. He then discounts all of them as inadequate. He offers a framework for explaining collapse which he sums up in four concepts:1) human societies are problem-solving organizations2)
A rigorous academic work that strives to identify general principles and characteristics of collapse. Extraordinarily well researched and somewhat dry (it's certainly not written for a general audience), Tainter enumerates and explores in great detail existing theories and case studies from history. As a fan of ancient history, I really appreciated the section on the political and economic history of the Roman empire and its slow, grinding inevitability to collapse.On the phenomenon of collapse
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