"It
deserves to be read and used as a textbook in a wide variety of introductory
courses in sociology, anthropology and sociocultural theory. It can
also serve as a text for American studies courses since it contains in-depth
descriptions of basic trends in American society and culture, shedding
new light on the core institutions of government, global corporations,
health care bureaucracies, food production, manufacturing and many other
features of what is often but erroneously called 'post-industrialism.'
Against the main current of the social sciences, here is a book that returns
us to the classical view that societies and cultures can best be understood
as entities whose parts fit together to form systems."
--Marvin Harris
Graduate Research Professor Department of Anthropology University of Florida
|
An analysis of any part of the social system must be firmly rooted in a framework that outlines the whole system and the interrelationships of the various parts. Building on classical sociological theory, this volume proposes an original and comprehensive systems theory of sociocultural stability and change, which combines fundamental ecological relationships with social structures and culture. Relationships and concepts developed by Marx, Weber, Malthus, Mills, Harris and Durkheim are explained and synthesized into a coherent perspective, which is used to examine multiple phenomena in hyper industrial societies:
Contents: Preface; Introduction; Sociocultural Materialism; Sociocultural Evolution; Structures of Authority; Economic Rationalization; The Decline of Commitment; Factual Regularities; The Widening Gyre; The New Ideology; Possibilities; References; Index.
©Frank Elwell Send comments to felwell at rsu.edu