The First Institutional Spheres in Human Societies
eBook - ePub

The First Institutional Spheres in Human Societies

Evolution and Adaptations from Foraging to the Threshold of Modernity

  1. 472 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The First Institutional Spheres in Human Societies

Evolution and Adaptations from Foraging to the Threshold of Modernity

Book details
Table of contents
Citations

About This Book

Few concepts are as central to sociology as institutions. Yet, like so many sociological concepts, institutions remain vaguely defined. This book expands a foundational definition of the institution, one which locates them as the basic building blocks of human societies—as structural and cultural machines for survival that make it possible to pass precious knowledge from one generation to the next, ensuring the survival of our species. The book extends this classic tradition by, first, applying advances in biological evolution, neuroscience, and primatology to explain the origins of human societies and, in particular, the first institutional sphere: kinship. The authors incorporate insights from natural sciences often marginalized in sociology, while highlighting the limitations of purely biogenetic, Darwinian explanations. Secondly, they build a vivid conceptual model of institutions and their central dynamics as the book charts the chronological evolution of kinship, polity, religion, law, and economy, discussing the biological evidence for the ubiquity of these institutions as evolutionary adaptations themselves.

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Yes, you can access The First Institutional Spheres in Human Societies by Seth Abrutyn, Jonathan Turner in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Ciencias sociales & Teoría social. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
2022
ISBN
9781000471243
Edition
1
Topic
Ciencias sociales
Subtopic
Teoría social

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Endorsement Page
  3. Half-Title Page
  4. Series Page
  5. Title Page
  6. Copyright Page
  7. Dedication
  8. Table of Contents
  9. Introduction
  10. 1 On the Origins of Human Capacities
  11. 2 Selection as the Force Driving Institutional Evolution
  12. 3 Building Human Institutions
  13. 4 The Dynamics of Institutional Autonomy
  14. 5 The First Human Institution: The Evolution of the Nuclear Family and Kinship
  15. 6 The Elaboration of Kinship
  16. 7 The Emergence of Polity in Human Societies
  17. 8 The Increasing Autonomy of Polity
  18. 9 The Emergence of Religion
  19. 10 Religious Evolution and Religious Autonomy
  20. 11 The Emergence of Economy
  21. 12 The Emergence of Law
  22. 13 Legal Autonomy and the Expanding Institutional Infrastructure
  23. 14 Institutional Evolution to the Brink of Modernity
  24. 15 Institutional Evolution and Stratification
  25. 16 The Evolved Institutional Order and the West
  26. Bibliography
  27. Index