Socialising Complexity: Approaches to Power and Interaction in the Archaeological Record (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781842172940)

Socialising Complexity introduces the concept of complexity as a tool, rather than a category, for understanding social formations. This new take on complexity moves beyond the traditional concern with what constitutes a complex society and focuses on the complexity inherent in various social forms through the structuring principles created within each society. The aims and themes of the book can thus be summarised as follows: to introduce the idea of complexity as a tool, which is pertinent to the understanding of all types of society, rather than an exclusionary type of society in its own right; to examine concepts that can enhance our interpretation of societal complexity, such as heterarchy, materialisation and contextualisation. These concepts are applied at different scales and in different ways, illustrating their utility in a variety of different cases; to re-establish social structure as a topic of study within archaeology, which can be profitably studied by proponents of both processual and post-processual methodologies.

Author: Sheila Kohring,Stephanie Wynne-Jones
ISBN-10: 1842172948
ISBN-13: 9781842172940
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
Language: English
Published: 11/30/2007
Pages: 248
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.37lbs
Size: 9.51h x 6.73w x 0.52d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2008 pg. 36