Islands of Order (eBook)

A Guide to Complexity Modeling for the Social Sciences

Murray P. Cox, J. Stephen Lansing (Autoren)

eBook Download: PDF

2019
248 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-19753-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Two pioneering anthropologists reveal how complexity science can help us better understand how societies change over timeOver the past two decades, anthropologist J. Stephen Lansing and geneticist Murray Cox have explored dozens of villages on the islands of the Malay Archipelago, combining ethnographic research with research into genetic and linguistic markers to shed light on how these societies change over time. Islands of Order draws on their pioneering fieldwork to show how the science of complexity can be used to better understand unstable dynamics in culture, language, cooperation, and the emergence of hierarchies.Complexity science has opened exciting new vistas in physics and biology, but poses challenges for social scientists. What triggers fundamental, discontinuous social change? And what brings stable patterns-islands of order-into existence? Lansing and Cox begin with an incisive and accessible introduction to models of change, from simple random drift to coupled interactions, phase transitions, co-phylogenies, and adaptive landscapes. Then they take readers on a series of journeys to the islands of the Indo-Pacific to demonstrate how social scientists can harness these powerful tools to discover out-of-equilibrium social dynamics. Lansing and Cox address empirical questions surrounding the colonization of the Pacific, the relationship of language to culture, the emergence and disappearance of male and female hierarchies, and more.Unlocking new possibilities for the social sciences, Islands of Order is accompanied by an interactive companion website that enables readers to explore the models described in the book.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.10.2019
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Studies in Complexity
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Studies in Complexity
• Vorwort: Michael R. Dove
• Zusatzinfo: 64 b/w illus. 8 tables. 6 maps
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Wirtschaft
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Angewandte Mathematik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Schlagworte: Agriculture (Chinese mythology) • Alfred Russel Wallace • anthropologist • archaeology • attractor • Austronesian Languages • Austronesian peoples • Borneo • Calculation • Case study • Charles Darwin • Competition • complex adaptive system • Correlation function • Daisyworld • Decision-Making • Demographic History • Demography • Denisovan • Ecology • ecosystem • Effective population size • Emergence • energy landscape • Evolution • Explanation • female • Fisher Information • Fitness (biology) • Frequency distribution • Generative science • genetic distance • genetic diversity • geneticist • Genetic marker • genetic structure • Green Revolution • haplotype • Historical Linguistics • House society • Hunter-Gatherer • Ideology • Indonesia • Irrigation • Joshua M. Epstein • J. Stephen Lansing • kinship • language family • Likelihood Function • Local adaptation • logistic map • Marten Scheffer • matrilineality • Maxima and minima • Mitochondrial DNA • molecular clock • mutation rate • Natural selection • Neanderthal • New Guinea • Nonlinear Dynamics (journal) • nonlinear system • Papuan Languages • Parameter • Patrilineality • pest control • phase portrait • phase transition • phylogenetic tree • Pleistocene • Polynesia • Population Genetics • Population Size • power law • Prediction • Principal Component Analysis • Probability • Reproductive success • result • Ruler • Satellite Imagery • Self-Organization • self-organized criticality • Social behavior • Social organization • Social Science • Social Structure • speech community • Subak (irrigation) • Sumba • Terrace (agriculture) • the Malay Archipelago • theory of change • Trade-off • Tribe • Upstream and downstream (DNA) • Wallacea • Wallace Line • Y Chromosome • year
• ISBN-10: 0-691-19753-9 / 0691197539
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-19753-1 / 9780691197531