Natural Hierarchies

Author : Denise Pumain
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1402041276
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Hierarchy in Natural and Social Sciences written by Denise Pumain and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-02-09 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hierarchy is a form of organisation of complex systems that rely on or produce a strong differentiation in capacity (power and size) between the parts of the system. It is frequently observed within the natural living world as well as in social institutions. According to the authors, hierarchy results from random processes, follows an intentional design, or is the result of the organisation which ensures an optimal circulation of energy for information. This book reviews ancient and modern representations and explanations of hierarchies, and compares their relevance in a variety of fields, such as language, societies, cities, and living species. It throws light on concepts and models such as scaling laws, fractals and self-organisation that are fundamental in the dynamics and morphology of complex systems. At a time when networks are celebrated for their efficiency, flexibility and better social acceptance, much can be learned about the persistent universality and adaptability of hierarchies, and from the analogies and differences between biological and social organisation and processes. This book addresses a wide audience of biologists and social scientists, as well as managers and executives in a variety of institutions.

Author : Chris Smaje
Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN 13 : 9780631209492
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Natural Hierarchies written by Chris Smaje and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 2000-07-13 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original and provocative text provides an approach to understanding the emergence and development of social rank through race and caste. The struggles we face in race and ethnic relations today are explored through anthropological, historical and sociological lenses to understand the roots of social hierarchy drawing on examples from the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, and mainland America.

Author : Christopher BOEHM
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674028449
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Hierarchy in the Forest written by Christopher BOEHM and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are humans by nature hierarchical or egalitarian? Hierarchy in the Forest addresses this question by examining the evolutionary origins of social and political behavior. Christopher Boehm, an anthropologist whose fieldwork has focused on the political arrangements of human and nonhuman primate groups, postulates that egalitarianism is in effect a hierarchy in which the weak combine forces to dominate the strong. The political flexibility of our species is formidable: we can be quite egalitarian, we can be quite despotic. Hierarchy in the Forest traces the roots of these contradictory traits in chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, and early human societies. Boehm looks at the loose group structures of hunter-gatherers, then at tribal segmentation, and finally at present-day governments to see how these conflicting tendencies are reflected. Hierarchy in the Forest claims new territory for biological anthropology and evolutionary biology by extending the domain of these sciences into a crucial aspect of human political and social behavior. This book will be a key document in the study of the evolutionary basis of genuine altruism. Table of Contents: The Question of Egalitarian Society Hierarchy and Equality Putting Down Aggressors Equality and Its Causes A Wider View of Egalitarianism The Hominoid Political Spectrum Ancestral Politics The Evolution of Egalitarian Society Paleolithic Politics and Natural Selection Ambivalence and Compromise in Human Nature References Index Reviews of this book: This well-written book, geared toward an audience with background in the behavioral and evolutionary sciences but accessible to a broad readership, raises two general questions: 'What is an egalitarian society?' and 'How have these societies evolved?'...[Christopher Boehm] takes the reader on a journey from the Arctic to the Americas, from Australia to Africa, in search of hunter-gatherer and tribal societies that emanate the egalitarian ethos--one that promotes generosity, altruism and sharing but forbids upstartism, aggression and egoism. Throughout this journey, Boehm tantalizes the reader with vivid anthropological accounts of ridicule, criticism, ostracism and even execution--prevalent tactics used by subordinates in egalitarian societies to level the social playing field...Hierarchy in the Forest is an interesting and thought-provoking book that is surely an important contribution to perspectives on human sociality and politics. --Ryan Earley, American Scientist Reviews of this book: Combing an exhaustive ethnographic survey of human societies from groups of hunter-gatherers to contemporary residents of the Balkans with a detailed analysis of the behavioral attributes of non-human primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos), Boehm focuses on whether humans are hierarchical or egalitarian by nature...[Boehm's hypotheses] are invariably intriguing and well documented...He raises topics of wide interest and his book should get attention. --Publishers Weekly Boehm has been the first to look at egalitarianism with a cold, unromantic eye. He sees it as a victory over hierarchical tendencies, which are equally marked in our species. I would predict that his insightful examination will reverberate within anthropology and the social sciences as well as among biologists interested in the evolution of social systems. --Frans de Waal, Emory University Hierarchy in the Forest is an original and stimulating contribution to thinking about the origins of egalitarianism. I personally find Boehm's ideas convincing, but whether one agrees with him or not, he has formulated his hypotheses in such a way that this book is likely to set the terms of the discussion for the forseeable future. --Barbara Smuts, University of Michigan The most unique and interesting feature of this clear, well written book is the way Boehm links the study of nonhuman primates (particularly chimpanzees) to traditional concepts of political anthropology. As a political scientist, I was intrigued by Boehm's suggestion that democracy, both ancient and modern, could be understood as the expression of the same natural dispositions that support the egalitarianism of nomadic bands and sedentary tribes. I expect that many scholars in biology, anthropology, and the social sciences would learn from this stimulating book. Even those who disagree with Boehm's arguments are likely to be provoked in instructive ways. --Larry Arnhart, Northern Illinois University Chris Boehm boldly and cogently attacks a whole orthodoxy in anthropology which sees hunter-gatherer 'egalitarianism' as somehow the basic form of human society. No praise can be too high for Boehm's brilliant and courageous book. --Robin Fox, Rutgers University

Author : Benoît Dubreuil
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139491318
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Human Evolution and the Origins of Hierarchies written by Benoît Dubreuil and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Benoît Dubreuil explores the creation and destruction of hierarchies in human evolution. Combining the methods of archaeology, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience and primatology, he offers a natural history of hierarchies from the point of view of both cultural and biological evolution. This volume explains why dominance hierarchies typical of primate societies disappeared in the human lineage and why the emergence of large-scale societies during the Neolithic period implied increased social differentiation, the creation of status hierarchies, and, eventually, political centralisation.

Author : Donald E. Brown
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
ISBN 13 : 9780816510603
Total Pages : 406 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Hierarchy, History, and Human Nature written by Donald E. Brown and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Here is a book that I can strongly recommend for a variety of reasons. It is well written, it is scholarly, but its greatest appeal lies in the posing of an important question and in the offering of a satisfying (to this reviewer, at least) answer."ÑJournal of Historical Geography "This is an intriguing and stimulating study of historical differences in the indigenous historiography of parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe."ÑAmerican Anthropologist."

Author : Chris Smaje
Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN 13 : 9780631209485
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Natural Hierarchies written by Chris Smaje and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 2000-07-13 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original and provocative text provides an approach to understanding the emergence and development of social rank through race and caste. The struggles we face in race and ethnic relations today are explored through anthropological, historical and sociological lenses to understand the roots of social hierarchy drawing on examples from the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, and mainland America.

Author : Adrian Bejan
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030340090
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Freedom and Evolution written by Adrian Bejan and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-12-06 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book begins with familiar designs found all around and inside us (such as the ‘trees’ of river basins, human lungs, blood and city traffic). It then shows how all flow systems are driven by power from natural engines everywhere, and how they are endlessly shaped because of freedom. Finally, Professor Bejan explains how people, like everything else that moves on earth, are driven by power derived from our “engines” that consume fuel and food, and that our movement dissipates the power completely and changes constantly for greater access, economies of scale, efficiency, innovation and life. Written for wide audiences of all ages, including readers interested in science, patterns in nature, similarity and non-uniformity, history and the future, and those just interested in having fun with ideas, the book shows how many “design change” concepts acquire a solid scientific footing and how they exist with the evolution of nature, society, technology and science.

Author : Daniel A. Bell
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691233985
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Just Hierarchy written by Daniel A. Bell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-10 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trenchant defense of hierarchy in different spheres of our lives, from the personal to the political All complex and large-scale societies are organized along certain hierarchies, but the concept of hierarchy has become almost taboo in the modern world. Just Hierarchy contends that this stigma is a mistake. In fact, as Daniel Bell and Wang Pei show, it is neither possible nor advisable to do away with social hierarchies. Drawing their arguments from Chinese thought and culture as well as other philosophies and traditions, Bell and Wang ask which forms of hierarchy are justified and how these can serve morally desirable goals. They look at ways of promoting just forms of hierarchy while minimizing the influence of unjust ones, such as those based on race, sex, or caste. Which hierarchical relations are morally justified and why? Bell and Wang argue that it depends on the nature of the social relation and context. Different hierarchical principles ought to govern different kinds of social relations: what justifies hierarchy among intimates is different from what justifies hierarchy among citizens, countries, humans and animals, and humans and intelligent machines. Morally justified hierarchies can and should govern different spheres of our social lives, though these will be very different from the unjust hierarchies that have governed us in the past. A vigorous, systematic defense of hierarchy in the modern world, Just Hierarchy examines how hierarchical social relations can have a useful purpose, not only in personal domains but also in larger political realms.

Author : Anna Zafeiris
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319704834
Total Pages : 110 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Why We Live in Hierarchies? written by Anna Zafeiris and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-05 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book systematically interprets and documents new, unifying principles and basic laws describing the most relevant aspects of hierarchy. To do so, it discusses recent experiments and models that are simple and realistic enough to reproduce the observations, and develops concepts for a better understanding of the complexity of systems consisting of many organisms. The book covers systems ranging from flocks of birds to groups of people. Although it focuses on hierarchical collective behavior in general, two aspects pop up in the majority of cases: collective motion and dynamically changing, partially directed networks (and the natural relation between the two). In addition, it offers a brief description of the most relevant definitions and concepts involved in the context of hierarchies, presenting both a review of the current literature and a number of new experimental and computational results in more detail. It is a valuable resource for students and scholars pursuing research on the structure of interactions within the collectives of animals and humans.

Author : Niles Eldredge
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022642619X
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Theory written by Niles Eldredge and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The natural world is infinitely complex and hierarchically structured, with smaller units forming the components of progressively larger systems: molecules make up cells, cells comprise tissues and organs that are, in turn, parts of individual organisms, which are united into populations and integrated into yet more encompassing ecosystems. In the face of such awe-inspiring complexity, there is a need for a comprehensive, non-reductionist evolutionary theory. Having emerged at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, the hierarchical approach to evolution provides a unifying perspective on the natural world and offers an operational framework for scientists seeking to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve. Coedited by one of the founders of hierarchy theory and featuring a diverse and renowned group of contributors, this volume provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. From sweeping historical reviews to philosophical pieces, theoretical essays, and strictly empirical chapters, it reveals hierarchy theory as a vibrant field of scientific enterprise that holds promise for unification across the life sciences and offers new venues of empirical and theoretical research. Stretching from molecules to the biosphere, hierarchy theory aims to provide an all-encompassing understanding of evolution and—with this first collection devoted entirely to the concept—will help make transparent the fundamental patterns that propel living systems.