Unlock the secrets of early human societies with Band Society, an insightful addition to the Political Science series. This book explores the dynamics of band societies and their influence on human social organization, governance, and cultural evolution. 1: Band Society: Discover band societies' fundamental characteristics, social structures, and roles in early human interactions. 2: Tribe: Examine the transition from band societies to tribes, focusing on changes in social complexity and governance. 3: Hunter-Gatherer: Delve into the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and how these economies influenced social organization and survival. 4: Kinship: Explore kinship's role in band societies, revealing how familial ties foster social cohesion and decision-making. 5: Hadza People: Gain insights into the Hadza, one of the last hunter-gatherer societies, and their unique cultural practices. 6: Sexual Division of Labour: Analyze the gender-based division of labor in band societies and its impact on social roles and community dynamics. 7: Kariera People: Study the Kariera people to understand their societal structures and place in the broader context of band societies. 8: Maraura: Investigate the Maraura people and their distinctive social practices, contributing to the diversity of band societies. 9: Jarildekald People: Examine the Jarildekald, shedding light on their social organization and cultural practices. 10: Tanganekald People: Discover the Tanganekald and their role in understanding variations and commonalities among band societies. 11: Robert Hamilton Mathews: Learn about Mathews' contributions to the study of Australian Aboriginal societies and their relevance to band society research. 12: Lester Hiatt: Explore Hiatt's perspectives on Aboriginal social structures and their implications for understanding band societies. 13: Aboriginal Groupings of Western Australia: Delve into the diverse Aboriginal groupings in Western Australia, revealing unique societal structures and cultures. 14: Dadi Dadi: Study the Dadi Dadi people and their significance in the broader context of band societies. 15: Ngaku: Examine the Ngaku and their social organization, contributing to the comprehensive study of band societies. 16: Daniel Sutherland Davidson: Understand Davidson's influence on Aboriginal societies and his impact on band society research. 17: Yingkarta: Discover the Yingkarta people and their distinctive societal features, enhancing understanding of band societies. 18: Tjial: Analyze the Tjial people and their contributions to the study of band societies. 19: Kurnu: Investigate the Kurnu people, offering insights into their social structures and cultural practices. 20: Ngawait: Learn about the Ngawait and their contributions to the study of band societies. 21: Marra People: Conclude with a detailed examination of the Marra people, enhancing the understanding of band societies.

The papers collected in this volume present important information on the history and culture of contemporary gathering and hunting peoples from Canada, India, Africa, Australia and the Philippines. The volume focuses on two themes: first, on the techniques which band-living foraging peoples employ to organise their social and economic lives; and second, on their fight for the right to their own lands and for a measure of cultural and political autonomy. The contributors maintain that gatherer-hunters are not examples of a disappearing way of life, but peoples who have maintained their social and economic practices through long periods of contact with stratified societies. The aim of this volume it to make known to as wide an audience as possible the daily lives, the patterns of relations between the sexes and the political orientations of the world's contemporary foragers.

Palaeolithic societies have been a neglected topic in the discussion of human origins. In this book, which succeeds and replaces The Palaeolithic Settlement of Europe, published by Cambridge University Press in 1986, Clive Gamble challenges the established view that the social life of Europeans over the 500,000 years of the European Palaeolithic must remain a mystery. In the past forty years archaeologists have recovered a wealth of information from sites throughout the continent. Professor Gamble now introduces a new approach to this material. He examines the archaeological evidence from stone tools, hunting and campsites for information on the scale of social interaction, and the forms of social life. Taking a pan-European view of the archaeological evidence, he reconstructs ancient human societies, and introduces new perspectives on the unique social experience of human beings.

This four-part work describes and analyses democracy and despotism in tribes, city-states, and nation states. The theoretical framework used in this work combines Weberian, Aristotelian, evolutionary anthropological, and feminist theories in a comparative-historical context. The dual nature of humans, as both an animal and a consciously aware being, underpins the analysis presented. Part One covers tribes. It uses anthropological literature to describe the “campfire democracy” of the African Bushmen, the Pygmies, and other band societies. Its main focus is on the tribal democracy of the Cheyenne, Iroquois, Huron, and other tribes, and it pays special attention to the role of women in tribal democracies. Part Two describes the city-states of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Canaan-Phoenicia, and includes a section on the theocracy of the Jews. This part focuses on the transition from tribal democracy to city-state democracy in the ancient Middle East – from the Sumerian city-states to the Phoenician. Part Three focuses on the origins of democracy and covers Greece—Mycenaean, Dorian, and the Golden Age. It presents a detailed description of the tribal democracy of Archaic Greece – emphasizing the causal effect of the hoplite-phalanx military formation in egalitarianizing Greek tribal society. Next, it analyses the transition from tribal to city-state democracy—with the new commercial classes engendering the oligarchic and democratic conflicts described by Plato and Aristotle. Part Four describes the Norse tribes as they contacted Rome, the rise of kingships, the renaissance of the city-states, and the parliamentary monarchies of the emerging nation-states. It provides details of the rise of commercial city states in Renaissance Italy, Hanseatic Germany and the Netherlands.

How modern philosophers use and perpetuate myths about prehistoryThe state of nature, the origin of property, the origin of government, the primordial nature of inequality and war why do political philosophers talk so much about the Stone Age? And are they talking about a Stone Age that really happened, or is it just a convenient thought experiment to illustrate their points?Karl Widerquist and Grant S. McCall take a philosophical look at the origin of civilisation, examining political theories to show how claims about prehistory are used. Drawing on the best available evidence from archaeology and anthropology, they show that much of what we think we know about human origins comes from philosophers imagination, not scientific investigation.Key FeaturesShows how modern political theories employ ambiguous factual claims about prehistoryBrings archaeological and anthropological evidence to bear on those claimsTells the story of human origins in a way that reveals many commonly held misconceptions

An ethnographic and documentary study of the subsistence-settlement patterns and social organization of the Red Earth Cree of east central Saskatchewan with particular emphasis upon a “deme” (discrete intermarriage arrangement) they shared with the Shoal Lake Cree. The author argues that demes are characteristic of hunter-gatherers but that environment, the events of the contact period, and modern government have disrupted its practice among Northern Algonkians.

This detailed study maps variations in family systems throughout the world, focusing on the ways families cooperate and interact with their societies. Harrell describes families in nomadic bands, traditional African societies, Polynesian and Micronesian societies, native societies of the Pacific Northwest coast, preindustrial class societies, and modern industrial societies. His extensive case studies are clearly illustrated with unique diagrams that allow comparison of complex groups and family processes extending over a generation. }This detailed study maps the variations in family systems throughout the world, focusing on the ways families interact with their societies. Tracing the developmental cycle of families in a wide range of times and places, Stevan Harrell shows how family members in different societies must cooperate to perform various activities and thus organize themselves in particular ways. Within six major divisions, the book describes families in nomadic bands, traditional African societies, Polynesian and Micronesian societies, native societies of the Pacific Northwest coast, preindustrial class societies, and modern industrial societies. Within each group, the authors copious examples demonstrate the variation from one family system to another. His case studies are clearly illustrated with a unique set of diagrams that allow comparison of complex groups and of family processes extending over a generation. Scholars and advanced students alike will find this ambitious book an invaluable resource. }

The epic story and ultimate big history of how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los Angeles--or Borneo--with very little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: for years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper limit--about 150 people--on the size of our social groups. But human societies are in fact vastly larger. How do we manage--by and large--to get along with each other? In this paradigm-shattering book, biologist Mark W. Moffett draws on findings in psychology, sociology and anthropology to explain the social adaptations that bind societies. He explores how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how societies develop, function, and fail. Surpassing Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, The Human Swarm reveals how mankind created sprawling civilizations of unrivaled complexity--and what it will take to sustain them.

Agent-based modeling/simulation is an emergent approach to the analysis of social and economic systems. It provides a bottom-up experimental method to be applied to social sciences such as economics, management, sociology, and politics as well as some engineering fields dealing with social activities. This book includes selected papers presented at the Fifth International Workshop on Agent-Based Approaches in Economic and Social Complex Systems held in Tokyo in 2007. It contains two invited papers given as the plenary and invited talks in the workshop and 21 papers presented in the six regular sessions: Organization and Management; Fundamentals of Agent-Based and Evolutionary Approaches; Production, Services and Urban Systems; Agent-Based Approaches to Social Systems; and Market and Economics I and II. The research presented here shows the state of the art in this rapidly growing field.