ENGLISH

The Collapse of Complex Societies

By Joseph A. Tainter

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
1988
ISBN
0521340926, 9780521340922
Language
english
Format
EPUB
Filesize
4 MB (3710720 bytes)
Edition
Hardcover
Pages
262\0
Topic
Economy
Time added
2019-08-02 04:15:51
AnthropologyArchaeologyEconomicsHistoryNonfictionPhilosophyPoliticsSciencesocial scienceSociology

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 Chacoan collapses.

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