| Order and Anarchy: Civil Society, Social Disorder and War Contributor(s): Layton, Robert (Author) |
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ISBN: 0521857716 ISBN-13: 9780521857710 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $79.80 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: May 2006 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science | History & Theory - General - Social Science | Violence In Society - History | Social History |
| Dewey: 303.62 |
| LCCN: 2005029844 |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.85 lbs) 204 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Through the study of civil society, the evolution of social relations, and the breakdown of social order, Order and Anarchy re-examines the role of violence in human social evolution. Drawing on anthropology, political science, and evolutionary theory, it offers a novel approach to understanding stability and instability in human society. Robert Layton provides a radical critique of current concepts of civil society, arguing that rational action is characteristic of all human societies and not unique to post-Enlightenment Europe. Case studies range from ephemeral African gold rush communities and the night club scene in Britain to stable hunter-gatherer and peasant cultures. The dynamics of recent civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, Chad, Somalia and Indonesia are compared to war in small-scale tribal societies, arguing that recent claims for the evolutionary value of violence have misunderstood the complexity of human strategies and the social environments in which they are played out. |
Contributor Bio(s): Layton, Robert: - Robert Layton is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Durham. |