The Collapse of Complex SocietiesPolitical disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. The Collapse of Complex Societies, though written by an archaeologist, will therefore strike a chord throughout the social sciences. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all such societies in both the present and future. Dr. Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. He then develops a new and far-reaching theory that accounts for collapse among diverse kinds of societies, evaluating his model and clarifying the processes of disintegration by detailed studies of the Roman, Mayan and Chacoan collapses. |
Contents
Introduction to collapse | 1 |
The nature of complex societies | 22 |
The study of collapse | 39 |
North and South America 61 The Harappan Civilization 62 Mesopotamia 62 The Hittite Empire | 63 |
Social dysfunction | 73 |
Chance concatenation of events | 86 |
Relationship of marginal and average product | 93 |
Average returns of agriculture | 96 |
Growth of GNP per capita | 109 |
Reductions in fuel consumption of steam engines resulting from increases in thermal efficiency | 110 |
Marginal yield in a branch of science | 113 |
The marginal product of increasing complexity | 119 |
The marginal product of increasing complexity with technological innovation or acquisition of an energy subsidy | 125 |
complexity and marginal returns in collapsing societies | 127 |
The Roman Empire at the time of Hadrian | 130 |
Roman emperors | 131 |
Marginal returns of agriculture in India | 97 |
Productivity of caloric intake for increasing life expectancy | 98 |
Patent applications and issues in respect to population and scientifictechnical personnel 18701950 | 100 |
Patent applications in respect to research inputs | 101 |
Productivity of the U S health care system 193082 | 103 |
American expenditures on higher education 190060 | 104 |
Specialization in American education 18701960 | 105 |
Productivity of educational investment for the development of specialized expertise | 106 |
British Admiralty statistics 191467 | 107 |
specialization 106 Overall economic productivity 108 | 108 |
Debasement of the denarius from Nero to Septimius Severus | 136 |
Emperors and pretenders from 235 to 285 A D | 138 |
The Mayan area showing major subdivisions and selected sites | 154 |
Construction of dated monuments at Classic Maya sites | 165 |
Southern Lowland Mayan radiocarbon dates from elite contexts 28 Southern Lowland Mayan radiocarbon dates from commoner contexts | 168 |
San Juan Basin and surrounding terrain | 176 |
The Chacoan regional system A D 10501175 | 181 |
The Roman collapse 188 The Mayan collapse 189 The Chacoan collapse | 190 |
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Common terms and phrases
administration agricultural Altar de Sacrificios archaeological architecture areas argued barbarians benefits Boak capital centers century A.D. Chaco Canyon Chacoan civilization collapse competition complex societies conflict conquest costly costs Culbert n.d. declining marginal productivity declining marginal returns denarii Diocletian discussed dominant early economic elite emerged Emperors energy expansion factors Hammond hierarchy Huari Imperial increased complexity increasingly information processing intensification investment in complexity Jones kilometers labor land Late Classic Late Preclassic less Machlup MacMullen 1976 major Marcus marginal productivity Maya Civilization Mayan military monumental Outliers pattern peasant percent period Peten political population density population growth Pueblo Puleston R. E. W. Adams regional return on investment Rio Bec Roman Empire Rome Rostovtzeff 1926 San Juan Basin Sanders Schelberg 1982 Septimius Severus social sociopolitical complexity Southern Lowlands square kilometers strategy stress surges subsistence suggests support population taxes Teotihuacan third century Tikal Valentinian III Webster Wilkinson 1973 yield