Socialising Complexity: Approaches to Power and Interaction in the Archaeological Record - Softcover

Kohring, Sheila; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1842172948 ISBN 13: 9781842172940

Publisher: Oxbow Books, 2016

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

a great deal in Kohring and Wynne-Jones volume is interesting and/or thought provoking,' --Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Stimulation (JASSS)

The volume demonstrates creative analysis of rich sets of archaeological data.' --Cambridge Archaeological Journal

About the Author:

edited by Sheila Kohring and Stephanie Wynne-Jones

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1842172948
• ISBN 13: 9781842172940
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248