scholarly journals Principles of Inter-Societal Dynamics

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 649-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Turner
Keyword(s):  
System Analysis ◽  
World System ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Global System ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
Societal Dynamics ◽  
Important Shift ◽  
Societal Relations

World-system dynamics are re-conceptualized as inter-societal systems with some de-emphasis on the notions of core, periphery, and semi-periphery.  This tri-part division has been useful in forcing sociology to rethink macro-level sociological analysis and in establishing the importance of considering inter-societal systems as a fundamental unit of human social organization, but this Weberian-like ideal type is constraining theoretical analysis. Moreover, core, periphery, and semi-periphery are not consistently found across a broad range of inter-societal systems, beginning with those among hunting and gathering societies and moving to the current capitalist inter-societal system. Furthermore, the often-implied view that the current geo-economic global system has replaced geo-political systems is overdrawn because geo-economics and geo-politics constantly intersect and interact in all inter-societal systems. Some illustrative general models are drawn for geo-political systems, while abstract principles for geo-political and geo-economic inter-societal relations are articulated.  The goal of the paper, then, is to move current world-system analysis back, in a sense, to earlier conceptualizations of geo-economics and geo-politics and empire formations that have always existed among human populations and that now drive the dynamics of the globe today. In this analysis, the seminal work of Christopher Chase-Dunn is referenced as a source of inspiration for this small, but important, shift in analysis and modes of theorizing. 

scholarly journals Human Prehistoric Demography Revealed by the Polymorphic Pattern of CpG Transitions

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 2691-2698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Liu
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Population Expansion ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Neolithic Revolution ◽  
Cpg Sites ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Polymorphic Pattern ◽  
Improved Model

Abstract The prehistoric demography of human populations is an essential piece of information for illustrating our evolution. Despite its importance and the advancement of ancient DNA studies, our knowledge of human evolution is still limited, which is also the case for relatively recent population dynamics during and around the Holocene. Here, we inferred detailed demographic histories from 1 to 40 ka for 24 population samples using an improved model-flexible method with 36 million genome-wide noncoding CpG sites. Our results showed many population growth events that were likely due to the Neolithic Revolution (i.e., the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement). Our results help to provide a clearer picture of human prehistoric demography, confirming the significant impact of agriculture on population expansion, and provide new hypotheses and directions for future research.

METAPHOR OF «DESTROYED WORLD» IN THE POLITICAL PROJECTION OF WORLD-SYSTEM ANALYSIS

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-86
Author(s):  
V.E. BAGDASARYAN ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
System Analysis ◽  
Political Process ◽  
World System ◽  
World Order ◽  
World Systems ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Catastrophe ◽  
Systemic Nature ◽  
World Center

The purpose of the article is to present an analysis of modern global political processes characterized by the unipolarity of the destruction of the former world system. The current situation of political transit is assessed as a failure of technologies of controlled chaos and transition to a state of turbulence. The basic approach of the research was the methodology of world-systems analysis. The article provides arguments that substantiate the systemic nature of the crisis of the World Center, the problematic nature of the restoration of the unipolar system of the world order. Four scenario perspectives of further development of the world political process are considered: 1. restoration of the leadership legitimacy of the World Center; 2. change of the core of the world system; 3. transition of a state of chaos to a global catastrophe; 4. the establishment of a system of a multilateral world of civilizations. It is indicated that the West-centered world-system has paradoxically diverged at some stage from the values of the Western civilization itself. And it is obvious that the transition to a multilateral world should be linked to the basic civilizational values of the world-systems, their differences from the values of other communities. As a result, practical recommendations are presented for the activity steps of building a system of multilateral world order as a desirable prospect for overcoming the state of turbulence and preventing a new geopolitical hegemony.

World-System Analysis 2.0

2017 ◽  
pp. 390-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Delvenne ◽  
Pablo Kreimer
Keyword(s):  
System Analysis ◽  
World System

scholarly journals The Role of Kuzbass in the New Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of Russia in the Fourth System Cycle of Capitalist Accumulation: the World-System Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 04032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalya Osokina
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
System Integration ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
World System ◽  
The World ◽  
Socio Economic Development ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

The aim of the research is to develop the conceptual foundations of the strategy of socio-economic development for mining region (on the example of Kuzbass) under the conditions of the fourth systemic cycle of capitalist accumulation. The relevance of the issue is determined by the need to eliminate the growing lag of Russia behind the world economy leaders, which is impossible without a new vision of the role of resourceproducing regions in the national economic system. Integration of Russia into the capitalist world-system on the basis of the Washington Consensus has formed in it a raw-materials export model in which its natural resources serve the accelerated economic growth of the competing countries. The accumulation of individual capitals dominates the social capital accumulation, which leads to a reduction in Russia's share in world GDP and population. This article presents the conceptual foundations of the Kuzbass development strategy in accordance with the new conditions for the Russian economy performance in the fourth systemic cycle of capitalist accumulation.

Hunter-gatherers on the best-seller list: Steven Pinker and the “Bellicose School's” treatment of forager violence

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lethal Violence ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Farmers ◽  
Philosophical Debates

Purpose – The question of violence in hunter-gatherer society has animated philosophical debates since at least the seventeenth century. Steven Pinker has sought to affirm that civilization, is superior to the state of humanity during its long history of hunting and gathering. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon a series of recent studies that assert a baseline of primordial violence by hunters and gatherers. In challenging this position the author draws on four decades of ethnographic and historical research on hunting and gathering peoples. Design/methodology/approach – At the empirical heart of this question is the evidence pro- and con- for high rates of violent death in pre-farming human populations. The author evaluates the ethnographic and historical evidence for warfare in recorded hunting and gathering societies, and the archaeological evidence for warfare in pre-history prior to the advent of agriculture. Findings – The view of Steven Pinker and others of high rates of lethal violence in hunters and gatherers is not sustained. In contrast to early farmers, their foraging precursors lived more lightly on the land and had other ways of resolving conflict. With little or no fixed property they could easily disperse to diffuse conflict. The evidence points to markedly lower levels of violence for foragers compared to post-Neolithic societies. Research limitations/implications – This conclusion raises serious caveats about the grand evolutionary theory asserted by Steven Pinker, Richard Wrangham and others. Instead of being “killer apes” in the Pleistocene and Holocene, the evidence indicates that early humans lived as relatively peaceful hunter-gathers for some 7,000 generations, from the emergence of Homo sapiens up until the invention of agriculture. Therefore there is a major gap between the purported violence of the chimp-like ancestors and the documented violence of post-Neolithic humanity. Originality/value – This is a critical analysis of published claims by authors who contend that ancient and recent hunter-gatherers typically committed high levels of violent acts. It reveals a number of serious flaws in their arguments and use of data.

Fire Ecology, Animal Populations and Man: a Study of some Ecological Relationships in Prehistory

1976 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 15-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Mellars
Keyword(s):  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Reproductive Rate ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Relative Growth ◽  
Relative Growth Rates ◽  
Ecological Relationships ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Hunting And Gathering

SummaryThe occurrence of fires in many types of woodland and forested environments would have benefited human populations in several different ways. In addition to greatly increasing the mobility of the human groups, the occurrence of fire in many types of forest would have led to substantial improvements in the economic potential of the environment. Improvements in both the quantity and nutritional quality of the food supplies available to herbivorous animals would have increased not only the total carrying capacity of the environment for these species, but also the relative growth-rates and reproductive rate of the animals. In certain cases it is likely that burning would have increased the overall ‘productivity’ of ungulate populations by a factor of × 10. Similar improvements may have been achieved in the yields of certain vegetable food resources. The potential impact of these environmental changes on the population numbers and settlement patterns of human communities is discussed, and it is suggested that the adoption of systematic policies of forest burning by hunting and gathering populations may have led in certain situations to the emergence of more complex patterns of man-animal relationships which were closely similar to those of traditional ‘herding’ or ‘pastoralist’ economies.

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