
Pathways to Power
New Perspectives on the Emergence of Social Inequality
Springer (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 28. January 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
IX, 298 pages
978-1-4614-2654-7 (ISBN)
Description
There are few questions more central to understanding the prehistory of our species than those regarding the institutionalization of social inequality. Social inequality is manifested in unequal access to goods, information, decision-making, and power. This structure is essential to higher orders of social organization and basic to the operation of more complex societies.
An understanding of the transformation from relatively egalitarian societies to a hierarchical organization and socioeconomic stratification is fundamental to our knowledge about the human condition. In a follow-up to their 1995 book Foundations of Social Inequality, the Editors of this volume have compiled a new and comprehensive group of studies concerning these central questions. When and where does hierarchy appear in human society, and how does it operate?
With numerous case studies from the Old and New World, spanning foraging societies to agricultural groups, and complex states, Pathways to Power provides key historical insights into current social and cultural questions.
An understanding of the transformation from relatively egalitarian societies to a hierarchical organization and socioeconomic stratification is fundamental to our knowledge about the human condition. In a follow-up to their 1995 book Foundations of Social Inequality, the Editors of this volume have compiled a new and comprehensive group of studies concerning these central questions. When and where does hierarchy appear in human society, and how does it operate?
With numerous case studies from the Old and New World, spanning foraging societies to agricultural groups, and complex states, Pathways to Power provides key historical insights into current social and cultural questions.
More details
Series
Edition
1., 2010
Language
English
Place of publication
New York, NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Graduate
Illustrations
46
10 s/w Tabellen, 46 s/w Abbildungen
46 black & white illustrations, 10 black & white tables
Dimensions
Height: 23.5 cm
Width: 15.5 cm
ISBN-13
978-1-4614-2654-7 (9781461426547)
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4419-6300-0
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

T. Douglas Price | Gary M. Feinman
Pathways to Power
New Perspectives on the Emergence of Social Inequality
Book
09/2010
Springer
€53.49
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
T. Douglas Price is the Director of the Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Gary M. Feinman is Curator, Mesoamerican and Central American Anthropology, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.
Gary M. Feinman is Curator, Mesoamerican and Central American Anthropology, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.
Content
Who Tilted the Playing Field.- Degrees and Kinds of Inequality.- Gimme That Old Time Religion.- Traces of Inequality at the Origin of Culture.- Decentralized Complexity.- Bitter Arrows and Generous Gifts.- Who Benefits from Complexity?- Dual-Processual Theory.