The Origin of Human Social Institutions

by W. G. Runciman (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197262504
Publisher:	British Academy
Publication date:	05/16/2002
Series:	Proceedings of the British Academy , #110
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

British Academy

Table of Contents

From Sedentary Foragers to Village Hierarchies: the Emergence of Social Institutions, Ofer Bar-YosefDifferent Kinds of History: on the Nature of Lives and Change in Central Europe, c.6000-after 2000BC, Alasdair WhittleThe Birth of Architecture, Richard BradleyCommodification and Institution in Group-oriented and Individualizing Societies, Colin RenfrewSocial Competition, Social Intelligence, and Why the Bugis Know More about Cooking than about Nutrition, Jerome BarkowHow and Why did Fairness Norms Evolve?, Kenneth BinmoreEvolutionary Perspectives on the Origins of Human Social Institutions, Robert FoleyInstitutional Evolution in the Holocene: The Rise of Complex Societies, Peter J. Richerson and Robert BoydFrom Nature to Culture, from Culture to Society, W. G. Runciman