An edition of The collapse of complex societies (1988)

The collapse of complex societies

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Cover of: The collapse of complex societies by Joseph A. Tainter
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Last edited by MARC Bot
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An edition of The collapse of complex societies (1988)

The collapse of complex societies

by

  • ★★★★ 4.0 (2 ratings) ·
  • 51 Want to read
  • 3 Have read

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.

Publish Date
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Language
English
Pages
250

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Previews available in: English

Subjects

Ancient Civilization, Civilization, Comparative civilization, Philosophy, Archaeology, Regression (Civilization), Complex organizations

Places

The Roman Empire, Mayan Civilization, Chacoan Civilization
Edition Availability
Cover of: Collapse of Complex Societies
Collapse of Complex Societies
2021, Cambridge University Press
in English
Cover of: The Collapse of complex societies
The Collapse of complex societies
1990, Cambridge University Press
in English
Cover of: The collapse of complex societies.
The collapse of complex societies.
1990, Cambridge University Press
in English
Cover of: The collapse of complex societies
The collapse of complex societies
1988, Cambridge University Press
Hardback in English

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Book Details

Table of Contents

Figures
Page xi
Tables
Page xii
Acknowledgements
Page xiii
1. Introduction to collapse
Page 1
What is collapse?
Page 4
Collapse in history
Page 5
After collapse
Page 18
2. The nature of complex societies
Page 22
Introduction
Page 39
What collapses? More on definitions
Page 39
Classification of theories
Page 42
Framework of discussion
Page 43
Resource depletion
Page 44
New resources
Page 51
Catastrophes
Page 52
Insufficient response to circumstances
Page 54
Other complex societies
Page 61
Intruders
Page 61
Conflict/contradictions/mismanagment
Page 64
Social dysfunction
Page 73
Mystical factors
Page 74
Chance concatenation of events
Page 86
Economic explanations
Page 86
Summary and discussion
Page 86
4. Understanding collapse: the marginal productivity of sociopolitical change
Page 91
The marginal productivity of increasing complexity
Page 93
Explaning declineing marginal returns in complex societies
Page 109
Explaining collapse
Page 118
Alternatives to collapse
Page 123
5. Evaluation: complexity and marginal returns in collapsing societies
Page 127
The colapse of the Western Roman Empire
Page 128
The Classic Maya collapse
Page 152
The Chacoan collapse
Page 178
Evaluation
Page 187
Conclusions
Page 191
6. Summary and implications
Page 193
References
Page 217
Index
Page 243

Edition Notes

Bibliography: p. 217-242.
Includes index.

Published in
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York
Series
New studies in archaeology

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
930
Library of Congress
CB311 .T245 1988

The Physical Object

Format
Hardback
Pagination
xiv, 250 p.
Number of pages
250
Weight
620 grams

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL2738665M
Internet Archive
collapsecomplexs00tain
ISBN 10
0521340926
LCCN
86033432
OCLC/WorldCat
15083222
Library Thing
17449
Goodreads
3786461

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL4741769W

Source records

Scriblio MARC record
Ithaca College Library MARC record
OpenLibraries-Trent-MARCs record
Internet Archive item record
Internet Archive item record
marc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary MARC record
Better World Books record
Library of Congress MARC record
marc_columbia MARC record
harvard_bibliographic_metadata record

Work Description

A survey of complex (post-hunter-gatherer, hierarchical) societies and their collapse, and the various theories proposed to account for collapse. The author develops his own theory based on the increasing cost of managing complexity that acheives decreasing marginal benefits.

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2 days ago Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
August 18, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
March 25, 2019 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
July 26, 2012 Edited by 100.1.118.58 added description
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