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This book starts from the very beginning of the cultural exchanges between China and the western regions, to the exchanges in modern times, featuring large time span and interdisciplinarity. In addition to elaborate illustrations including precious pictures and sketch maps, a large amount of archaeological data, as well as both Chinese and foreign literature, are employed in the book to provide the readers with a comprehensive, in-depth and systematic introduction of the cultural exchanges between China and the west regions from neolithic age to present China after Reform and Opening Up. The intended readership includes professionals, college students, graduates specializing in Chinese history, philosophy and culture, as well as those interested in oriental civilizations.

This book explores the global technological transformations that have shaped development of society for eons, from the emergence of Homo sapiens to the modern day. Looking at a potential future for all of this century and the beginning of the next, the book explores how society is changing as a result of the two most powerful trends: technological advances and global aging. It studies the forthcoming technological wave – the Cybernetic Revolution, which will encompass AI, medical technology and biotechnology, robotics, cognitive, nanotechnology etc. In turn, it shows why and how global aging will become one of the most powerful factors, influencing the evolution of society and the World System as a whole. Lastly, the book demonstrates how technological innovations can change the way people live and the society of the future, assessing both the new opportunities and threats posed by uncontrolled technological progress. Accordingly, it will appeal to social scientists, political scientists, economists and historians who are interested in technological transformations and their social and economic impacts.

This book encapsulates a long period of history of human progress by highlighting crucial social, economic, and cultural dynamics. It presents recent historiography and new analytical tools used to analyse multi-dimensional themes involved in social formations in different parts of the world. This is a reader-friendly book with simple and lucid language and fulfils the pressing needs of students studying the course on Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the ancient and medieval world at various universities across the world. The summary, key words, and representative questions at the end of each chapter would assist in revision and a better understanding of the issues dealt with therein. A detailed chapter-end reference would enable and motivate the readers to engage in further studies for a better understanding of the themes.This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and academics in the area of history – ancient and medieval world history, in particular, and anthropology. It will also be an interesting read for general readers interested in knowing about the ancient and medieval world.

Generally portrayed as a windswept wasteland of marginal use for human habitation, Patagonia is an unmatched testing ground for some of the world's most important questions about human ecology and cultural change. In this volume, archaeologist Raven Garvey presents a critical synthesis of Patagonian prehistory, bringing an evolutionary perspective and unconventional evidence to bear on enduringly contentious issues in New World archaeology, including initial human colonization of the Americas, widespread depopulation between 8,000 and 4,000 years ago, and the transition from foraging to farming. Garvey's novel hypotheses question common assumptions regarding Patagonia's suitability for prehistoric hunter-gatherers. She makes four primary arguments: (1) the surprising lack of clothing in parts of prehistoric Patagonia supports a relatively slow initial colonization of the Americas; (2) the sparse record of human habitation during the middle Holocene may be due to prehistoric behavioral changes and archaeological sampling methods rather than population decline; (3) farming never took root in Patagonia because risks associated with farming likely outweighed potential benefits; and, finally, (4) the broad trajectory of cultural change in Patagonia owes as much to feedback between population size and technology as to conditions in the rugged Patagonian outback itself.

Weber aponta que nas sociedades ocidentais a burocratização moderna segue o fenômeno da democratização. Isso porque a burocracia depende de um regime legal de ordem formal, geral e abstrata, que por igualdade legal é adequada para a busca da democracia, com a consequente rejeição de certos privilégiosconferidos ao indivíduo.

This book is an introduction to Intercultural Communication (IC) that takes into account the much neglected dynamic paradigm of culture in the literature. It posits that culture is not static, context is the driving force for change, and individuals can develop a multicultural mind.It is also the first IC textbook in the field that incorporates insight from evolutionary biology and the newly emerging discipline of culturalneurosciences. Such an interdisciplinary approach provides readers with new angles, encourages critical thinking, and sometimes challenges conventional knowledge in the field. The combination of the author's multiculturalacademic and journalistic background contributes to a balance of diverse perspectives and world views on cultural theories and discourses. The book is ideal for courses in Intercultural Communicationwith study cases, discussion topics and class activities.

The Maya. The Romans. The great dynasties of ancient China. It is generally believed that these once mighty empires eventually crumbled and disappeared. A recent trend in archaeology, however, focusing on what happened during and after the decline of once powerful societies has found social resilience and transformation instead of collapse. In Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies, editor Ronald K. Faulseit gathers scholars with diverse theoretical perspectives to present innovative approaches to understanding the decline and reorganization of complex societies. Essays in the book are arranged into five sections. The first section addresses previous research on the subject of collapse and reorganization as well as recent and historic theoretical trends. In the second section, contributors look at collapse and resilience through the concepts of collective action, eventful archaeology, and resilience theory. The third section introduces critical analyses of the effectiveness of resilience theory as a heuristic tool for modeling the phenomena of collapse and resilience. In the fourth section, contributors examine long-term adaptive strategies employed by prehistoric societies to cope with stresses. Essays in the fifth section make connections to contemporary research on post-decline societies in a variety of time periods and geographic locations. Contributors consider collapse and reorganization not as unrelated phenomena but as integral components in the evolution of complex societies. Using archaeological data to interpret how ancient civilizations responded to various stresses—including environmental change, warfare, and the fragmentation of political institutions—contributors discuss not only what leads societies to collapse but also why some societies are resilient and others are not, as well as how societies reorganize after collapse. The implications of the fate of these societies for modern nations cannot be underestimated. Putting in context issues we face today, such as climate change, lack of social diversity, and the failure of modern states, Beyond Collapse is an essential volume for readers interested in human-environment interaction and in the collapse—and subsequent reorganization—of human societies.

Ziel des Autors ist es, die Entstehung und den Wandel von Normen als Prozeß der Innovation und Diffusion zu erklären und nach Möglichkeiten der empirischen Überprüfung zu suchen. Dabei liegt ein besonderer Schwerpunkt auf den rechtlichen Institutionen und den bisher in der ordnungsökonomischen Diskussion wenig beachteten Möglichkeiten des Normenwandels innerhalb des Rechtssystems, also Norminnovationen durch die Rechtspraxis. Der Bedarf für eine solche Analyse ergibt sich einerseits - in Fortsetzung der Ordnungstheorie - aus der Einsicht in die ständigen Wandlungen innerhalb einer bestehenden Ordnung. Andererseits kann aber auch nicht angenommen werden, das Problem einer funktionsfähigen Ordnung sei durch eine kulturelle Evolution gelöst. Somit wird eine genauere Untersuchung der Normwandlungsprozesse erforderlich, die zum einen ein breiteres Feld von Disziplinen einbezieht, sich zum andern aber auf konkrete, historische Institutionen konzentrieren muß. Nach einer Orientierung zu den Fragestellungen werden terminologische Vorarbeiten geleistet. Anschließend wendet Okruch sich den methodischen Problemen bei der Erklärung des normativen Wandels zu. Als Ergebnis wird ein methodologisches Minimalprogramm formuliert. Im nächsten Kapitel wird ein breites Spektrum theoretischer Ansätze zur Entstehung und zum Wandel von Normen mit dem gewonnenen Mindeststandard kontrastiert. Der Autor versucht dann auf der Grundlage der geleisteten Analyse eine Synthese mit dem Anspruch, eine evolutorische Theorie des Wandels rechtlicher Normen zu formulieren. Im Interesse einer kursorischen Überprüfung einer solchen Theorie wird der Ansatz schließlich auf den Wandel einzelner Rechtsinstitute des Zivilrechts spezifiziert und rechtsgeschichtlich angereichert.

Das Buch untersucht die Mechanismen der kulturellen Evolution, insbesondere die Rolle von Memen – kulturelle Muster also, die von Generation zu Generation weitergereicht werden. Gesellschaften durchlaufen einen evolutionären Prozess, Prinzipien wie Variation, Selektion und Reproduktion können als abstrakte Eigenschaften dynamischer Systeme verstanden werden. Sie finden sowohl Anwendung bei der Entwicklung von Organismen als auch bei kulturell erworbenen Verhaltensweisen. Dies ist der Erklärungsansatz einer interdisziplinären verallgemeinerten Evolutionstheorie. Was aber evolviert genau innerhalb der kulturellen Evolution? Der Autor versucht Einheiten der kulturellen Entwicklung (Meme) möglichst exakt zu definieren, um spezifische kulturelle Phänomene zu erklären.

Why do we punish, and why do we forgive? Are these learned behaviors, or is there something deeper going on? This book argues that there is indeed something deeper going on, and that our essential response to the killers, rapists, and other wrongdoers among us has been programmed into our brains by evolution. Using evidence and arguments from neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, Morris B. Hoffman traces the development of our innate drives to punish - and to forgive - throughout human history. He describes how, over time, these innate drives became codified into our present legal systems and how the responsibility and authority to punish and forgive was delegated to one person - the judge - or a subset of the group - the jury. Hoffman shows how these urges inform our most deeply held legal principles and how they might animate some legal reforms.

If evolution has changed humans physically, has it also affected human behavior? Drawing on evolutionary psychology, sociobiology, and human behavioral ecology, Human Nature and the Evolution of Society explores the evolutionary dynamics underlying social life.In this introduction to human behavior and the organization of social life, Stephen K. Sanderson discusses traditional subjects like mating behavior, kinship, parenthood, status-seeking, and violence, as well as important topics seldom included in books of this type, especially gender, economies, politics, foodways, race and ethnicity, and the arts. Examples and research on a wide range of human societies, both industrial and nonindustrial, are integrated throughout. With chapter summaries of key points, thoughtful discussion questions, and important terms defined within the text, the result is a broad-ranging and comprehensive consideration of human society, thoroughly grounded in an evolutionary perspective.

The book offers a sociological reflection on the connection between DNA / genetics and the concepts of ethnicity, race, and nation. It also covers the link between genetics and ancient homeland mythology. The author presents the topic of the distribution of identity and diversity of people in a broader analytical context of contemporary expression of ‘bio power'. She uses the examples of constructing genographic descriptions of populations and building genetic ‘bio-banks'. A part of phenomena related to the management of modern populations through the concept of life, these topics are now in focus of social science.

Connected—by Nature's Law presents a comprehensive picture of reality and the process that humanity is undergoing. The book offers tools for using the major personal and social shifts we're going through to our benefit. It also offers a “healthcare program for humanity” by solidifying the ties between us on all levels—family, community, national, and international. The sooner we implement the program, the sooner we will find ourselves enjoying tranquil, happy, and meaningful lives.

In a collection of nine inter-linked essays, Meštrović provides critical insights into the defining questions of our age. Mixing theoretical, empirical and normative insights, utilising inter-disciplinary or, more accurately, post-disciplinary modes of reasoning, Meštrović traces the current imbalance between market globalisation and globalised modes of sociability as a consequence of central contradictions within the current capitalist mode of production, not only between capital and labour but between capital and society and, indeed, capital and culture. The struggle to find a new narrative freed from the false binary between science and values, in the service of a sustainable future, found in the demands of movements for global justice and solidarity, may lead to the production of a new commons, for social interactions outside of, and beyond, the restrictions of the market. In a condition of capitalist crisis, in which biopolitical production is both required by, and interpreted through, the narrow confines of ‘autistic'economic thought, Meštrović searches for new forms of subjectivity, in which a new multitude may form as a movement towards freedom in which the composition of singularities leads towards the increasing autonomy of each participating equally in the web of communication and cooperation.

'Why are people getting fatter? Why do so many rock stars end up dead at 27? Is there any hope of curbing population growth, rampant consumerism and the environmental devastation they wreak? Evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks argues that the origins of these twenty-first century problems can be found where the ancient forces of evolution collide with modern culture and economics. In Sex, Genes and Rock'n'Roll Brooks explores a tasting platter of topics, from the frivolous to the tragic – falling in love, making music, our obsession with rock'n'roll, sexual conflict, fertility, obesity, consumption, ageing and more – illustrating how evolution stands alongside economics, anthropology, psychology and political science in shaping our world.'

In this book, Kate Distin proposes a theory of cultural evolution and shows how it can help us to understand the origin and development of human culture. Distin introduces the concept that humans share information not only in natural languages, which are spoken or signed, but also in artefactual languages like writing and musical notation, which use media that are made by humans. Languages enable humans to receive and transmit variations in cultural information and resources. In this way, they provide the mechanism for cultural evolution. The human capacity for metarepresentation - thinking about how we think - accelerates cultural evolution, because it frees cultural information from the conceptual limitations of each individual language. Distin shows how the concept of cultural evolution outlined in this book can help us to understand the complexity and diversity of human culture, relating her theory to a range of subjects including economics, linguistics, and developmental biology.

Of paramount importance to the natural sciences, the principles of Darwinism, which involve variation, inheritance, and selection, are increasingly of interest to social scientists as well. But no one has provided a truly rigorous account of how the principles apply to the evolution of human society—until now. In Darwin's Conjecture, Geoffrey Hodgson and Thorbjørn Knudsen reveal how the British naturalist's core concepts apply to a wide range of phenomena, including business practices, legal systems, technology, and even science itself. They also critique some prominent objections to applying Darwin to social science, arguing that ultimately Darwinism functions as a general theoretical framework for stimulating further inquiry. Social scientists who adopt a Darwinian approach, they contend, can then use it to frame and help develop new explanatory theories and predictive models. This truly pathbreaking workat long last makes the powerful conceptual tools of Darwin available to the social sciences and will be welcomed by scholars and students from a range of disciplines.

In this highly original book, John Lin serves up his unique blend of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience to discover the mechanism of cultural evolution and apply this knowledge to answer many of the big questions of our times. The premise of the book is simple: Only by knowing ourselves as human beings, the kind of creatures we really are, can we hope to understand cultural evolution and find valid answers to our human problems. There is no way to achieve such understanding without knowing how information is acquired, processed, and transmitted by the human brain, Lin argues. To solve these difficulties, the book takes a radical approach in two steps. Part 1 of the book, How to Build a Conscious Robot with Feelings, investigates information processing in the mind by breaking it down into purely mechanical components for analysts and implementation. Part 2, Cultural Evolution, uses the findings to formulate an original theory of cultural evolution and apply it to elucidate cultural phenomena such as morality, ideology, and religion. By delving deeply into the workings of the human mind, this book is the first to address the obstacle faced by memetic theorists in their analysis of culture: that nobody really knows what goes on inside the mind or how mental experiences may direct cultural evolution. Creative, persuasive, and comprehensive, The Origin of Cultures is full of insights and revolutionary thinking. It provides novel solutions to many age-old questions, such as those concerning the nature of consciousness, the roles of the unconscious and emotions in human thinking and reasoning, free will, the pursuit of happiness, the goals and mechanisms of cultural evolution, the possibility for a biologically based morality, the truths in ideologies, the origin and validity of religious beliefs, and more. Determined to knock humankind off its last pedestal of smug self-reassurance, the answers to these questions will change forever our perceptions about the world and ourselves. The aim is not to humiliate or discomfit, however, but to put humanity on a more solid and authentic ground so it can realize its true potential. By giving us a glimpse of what the future can be, this book tells how we as human beings may evolve into a better, fitter, and happier species, living and succeeding in accordance with our nature.—-Editorial Press Release Winner, Silver Medal Finalist of the 2012 IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association)Benjamin Franklin Book Award in the Category of Science.—-Publisher Press Release

In The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection, W. G. Runciman presents an original and wide-ranging account of the fundamental process by which human cultures and societies come to be of the different kinds that they are. Drawing on and extending recent advances in neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, Runciman argues that collective human behaviour should be analyzed as the acting-out of information transmitted at the three separate but interacting levels of heritable variation and competitive selection - the biological, the cultural, and the social. The implications which this carries for a reformulation of the traditional agenda of comparative and historical sociology are explored with the help of selected examples, and located within the context of current debates about sociological theory and practice. The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection is a succinct and highly imaginative contribution to one of the great intellectual debates of our times, from one of the world's leading social theorists.

Unser Kulturbegriff ist falsch, gefährlich und er kommt uns teuer zu stehen. Er führt zu schlechter Politik, humanitären Katastrophen und der Verschwendung von Milliarden von Euro. Doch es gibt einen Weg zu einem konstruktiven Miteinander.

Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. While we are similar to other mammals in many ways, our behavior sets us apart. Our unparalleled ability to adapt has allowed us to occupy virtually every habitat on earth using an incredible variety of tools and subsistence techniques. Our societies are larger, more complex, and more cooperative than any other mammal's. In this stunning exploration of human adaptation, Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd argue that only a Darwinian theory of cultural evolution can explain these unique characteristics. Not by Genes Alone offers a radical interpretation of human evolution, arguing that our ecological dominance and our singular social systems stem from a psychology uniquely adapted to create complex culture. Richerson and Boyd illustrate here that culture is neither superorganic nor the handmaiden of the genes. Rather, it is essential to human adaptation, as much a part of human biology as bipedal locomotion. Drawing on work in the fields of anthropology, political science, sociology, and economics—and building their case with such fascinating examples as kayaks, corporations, clever knots, and yams that require twelve men to carry them—Richerson and Boyd convincingly demonstrate that culture and biology are inextricably linked, and they show us how to think about their interaction in a way that yields a richer understanding of human nature. In abandoning the nature-versus-nurture debate as fundamentally misconceived, Not by Genes Alone is a truly original and groundbreaking theory of the role of culture in evolution and a book to be reckoned with for generations to come. “I continue to be surprised by the number of educated people (many of them biologists) who think that offering explanations for human behavior in terms of culture somehow disproves the suggestion that human behavior can be explained in Darwinian evolutionary terms. Fortunately, we now have a book to which they may be directed for enlightenment.... It is a book full of good sense and the kinds of intellectual rigor and clarity of writing that we have come to expect from the Boyd/Richerson stable.”—Robin Dunbar, Nature “Not by Genes Alone is a valuable and very readable synthesis of a still embryonic but very important subject straddling the sciences and humanities.”—E. O. Wilson, Harvard University

Can we understand important social issues by studying individual personalities and decisions? Or are societies somehow more than the people in them? Sociologists have long believed that psychology can't explain what happens when people work together in complex modern societies. In contrast, most psychologists and economists believe that if we have an accurate theory of how individuals make choices and act on them, we can explain pretty much everything about social life. Social Emergence takes a new approach to these longstanding questions. Sawyer argues that societies are complex dynamical systems, and that the best way to resolve these debates is by developing the concept of emergence, focusing on multiple levels of analysis - individuals, interactions, and groups - and with a dynamic focus on how social group phenomena emerge from communication processes among individual members. This book makes a unique contribution not only to complex systems research but also to social theory.

Combining the perspectives of 18 international scholars from Europe and the United States with a critical discussion of the role of culture in international relations, this volume introduces recent trends in the study of Culture and International History. It systematically explores the cultural dimension of international history, mapping existing approaches and conceptual lenses for the study of cultural factors and thus hopes to sharpen the awareness for the cultural approach to international history among both American and non-American scholars. The first part provides a methodological introduction, explores the cultural underpinnings of foreign policy, and the role of culture in international affairs by reviewing the historiography and examining the meaning of the word culture in the context of foreign relations. In the second part, contributors analyze culture as a tool of foreign policy. They demonstrate how culture was instrumentalized for diplomatic goals and purposes in different historical periods and world regions. The essays in the third part expand the state-centered view and retrace informal cultural relations among nations and peoples. This exploration of non-state cultural interaction focuses on the role of science, art, religion, and tourism. The fourth part collects the findings and arguments of part one, two, and three to define a roadmap for further scholarly inquiry. A group of'commentators'survey the preceding essays, place them into a larger research context, and address the question'Where do we go from here?'The last and fifth part presents a selection of primary sources along with individual comments highlighting a new genre of resources scholars interested in culture and international relations can consult.

Readings in Social Evolution and Development presents a collection of articles on a specialized aspect of sociology, or social psychology. The book starts by describing social change and development and the role of institutionalization, individual behavior, and role performance on such change and development. The text also discusses the basic problems of evolutionary perspective in sociology and studies of development and modernization. The theories of social change, the problem of evolution, and the major trends of change in the contemporary setting, such as changes in the industrial societies and alternative courses of political development in the new states are also encompassed. Sociologists and social psychologists and students taking sociology courses will find the book useful.

La diversité et la complexité des sociétés animales ont amené à se poser la question de la spécificité du modèle social humain, en rupture avec la vision biologique qui ne ferait de l'homme qu'un animal social comme les autres. Continuité et rupture, ordre et désordre son constamment présentes dans cette évolution qui mène à la complexité sociale pluridéterminée de nos sociétés modernes.

A prominent feature of the social revolution in France has been the decline of the great national institutions -- the Republic, the Army, the church, and the schools -- which are losing their symbolic value and are no longer the targets of ideological disputes. As a result, there is a growing basic consensus among the French people. At the same time, the French have developed a new interest in managing local problems -- due to the decentralization law -- which has led to the establishment of many voluntary associations. Changes in family life following the'revolution'of 1968 have led to greater instability among couples, but at the same time have strengthened the kinship system resulting in increased life expectancy. The customs of the French have also changed. The French education system, originally based on authority and regulations, is now making increasing use of experimentation and negotiation. As a result, the attitude of the French towards authority has totally changed and the French have learned to negotiate and cooperate among themselves. All these changes can be interpreted as progressive moves toward liberty, equality, and individualism. There is little danger of social instability, since French society remains in remarkably robust health.

Provides a significant picture of the ecological crisis from the interdisciplinary perspective of postcolonial cultural studies, in order to map the emerging virtual and ecological territories of the twenty-first century'electropolis.'This book spins a historical fable about the trends in European thought that have contributed to the rise of industrial civilization and to the ecological crisis. It explores alternative visions of nature and culture, from Romanticism to ecological theory, in an effort to rewrite the story of natural and cultural history. Its themes include ecological poetics, technological artistry, evolutionary learning, the play of communication, and the struggle for a viable ecological ethic.Daniel R. White is Associate Professor in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at The University of Central Florida. He is also the author of Asian Wisdom: India, China, and Japan.

Lewis Henry Morgan studied the American Indian way of life and collected an enormous amount of factual material on the history of primitive-communal society. All the conclusions he draws are based on these facts; where he lacks them, he reasons back on the basis of the data available to him. He determined the periodization of primitive society by linking each of the periods with the development of production techniques. The “great sequence of inventions and discoveries;” and the history of institutions, with each of its three branches — family, property and government — constitute the progress made by human society from its earliest stages to the beginning of civilization. Mankind gained this progress through'the gradual evolution of their mental and moral powers through experience, and of their protracted struggle with opposing obstacles while winning their way to civilization.'

Can human social evolution be described in terms common to other sciences, most specifically, as an energy process? The Eighth Day reflects a conviction that the human trajectory, for all its uniqueness and indeterminism, will never be satisfactorily understood until it is framed in dynamics that are common to all of nature. The problem in doing this, however, lies in ourselves. The major social theories have failed to treat human social evolution as a component of broader natural processes. The Eighth Day argues that the energy process provides a basis for explaining, comparing, and measuring complex social evolution. Using traditional ecological energy flow studies as background, society is conceived as a self-organization of energy. This perspective enables Adams to analyze society in term of the natural selection of self-organizing energy forms and the trigger processes basic to it. Domestication, civilization, socioeconomic development, and the regulation of contemporary industrial nation-states serve to illustrate the approach. A principal aim is to explore the limitation that energy process imposes on human social evolution as well as to clarify the alternatives that it allows. Richly informed by contemporary anthropological historicism, sociobiology, and Marxism, The Eighth Day avoids simple reductionism and denies facile ideological categorization. Adams builds on work in nonequilibrium thermodynamics and theoretical biology and brings three decades of his own work to an analysis of human society that demands an extreme materialism in which human thought and action find a central place.

Trends in fertility decline, intergenerational relations, religion and secularization, ecological movements, employment and labour-market changes, personal authority, and social conflict are examined. This analysis shows an unmistakable convergence of social trends except in the domain of religion. But when the interconnection of these trends within each national society is examined, unexpected divergences are revealed. There are parallel trends in demography, organization of production, national institutions, social practices, and life style, and divergent trends in social inequality, social movements, and local institutions. Barriers between social classes have eroded and something that might be called multidimensional stratification has emerged, the diminution of violence in social conflicts implies an increasing volume of negotiation, and all forms of personal authority have been weakened. The transformation of the family structure is no doubt one of the most important changes in western civilization. The cross-national analyses of recent social trends help us to assess both convergence and divergence and to identify emergent singularities. Does convergence of trends mean these societies face a common destiny? With respect to trends so strong that they act as exogenous variables, the answer is yes. However, with respect to the responses those trends elicit in the context of a particular society, the answer is no. Massive convergence of trends does not mean that societies face a uniform future.

This bold and lively essay is one of those rarest of intellectual achievements, a big small book. In its short length are condensed enormous erudition and impressive analytical scope. With verve and self-assurance, it addresses a broad, central question: How can we improve our understanding of the large-scale processes and structures that transformed the world of the nineteenth century and are transforming our world today? Tilly contends that twentieth-century social theories have been encumbered by a nineteenth century heritage of'pernicious postulates.'He subjects each misleading belief to rigorous criticism, challenging many standard social science paradigms and methodologies. As an alternative to those timeless, placeless models of social change and organization, Tilly argues convincingly for a program of concrete, historically grounded analysis and systematic comparison. To illustrate the strategies available for such research, Tilly assesses the works of several major practitioners of comparative historical analysis, making skillful use of this selective review to offer his own speculative, often unconventional accounts of our recent past. Historically oriented social scientists will welcome this provocative essay and its wide-ranging agenda for comparative historical research. Other social scientists, their graduate and undergraduate students, and even the interested general reader will find this new work by a major scholar stimulating and eminently readable. This is the second of five volumes commissioned by the Russell Sage Foundation to mark its seventy-fifth anniversary.'In this short, brilliant book Tilly suggests a way to think about theories of historical social change....This book should find attentive readers both in undergraduate courses and in graduate seminars. It should also find appreciative readers, for Tilly is a writer as well as a scholar.'—Choice