The origin of human social institutions / edited by W.G. Runciman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Runciman, W. G. (Walter Garrison), 1934-

British Academy.

Series:

Proceedings of the British Academy ; 0068-1202 110.

Proceedings of the British Academy, 0068-1202 ; 110

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human behavior.

Civilization, Ancient.

Physical Description:

259 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, [2001]

Summary:

This superb work brings an interdisciplinary approach to what is arguably the central question in the study of human social evolution: how did the simple hunting and foraging bands of the Upper Palaeolithic evolve into the institutionally complex societies of the so-called Neolithic Revolution? The contributors are leading experts from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and game theory, all of whom share a common evolutionary perspective.

Contents:

From sedentary foragers to village hierarchies: the emergence of social institutions / Ofer Bar-Yosef

Different kinds of history: on the nature of lives and change in central Europe, c.6000 to the second millennium BC / Alasdair Whittle

The birth of architecture / Richard Bradley

Commodification and institution in group-oriented and individualizing societies / Colin Renfrew

Social competition, social intelligence, and why the Bugis know more about cooking than about nutrition / Jerome H. Barkow ... [et al.]

How and why did fairness norms evolve? / Ken Binmore

Evolutionary perspectives on the origins of human social institutions / Robert A. Foley

Institutional evolution in the Holocene: the rise of complex societies / Peter J. Richerson & Robert Boyd

From nature to culture, from culture to society / W.G. Runciman.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0197262503

9780197262504

OCLC:

47636760