Societies Evolutionary And Comparative Perspectives

This publication deals with societies and their constituent parts.

Darwin famously described special difficulties in explaining social evolution in insects. More than a century later, the evolution of sociality - defined broadly as cooperative group living - remains one of the most intriguing problems in biology. Providing a unique perspective on the study of social evolution, this volume synthesizes the features of animal social life across the principle taxonomic groups in which sociality has evolved. The chapters explore sociality in a range of species, from ants to primates, highlighting key natural and life history data and providing a comparative view across animal societies. In establishing a single framework for a common, trait-based approach towards social synthesis, this volume will enable graduate students and investigators new to the field to systematically compare taxonomic groups and reinvigorate comparative approaches to studying animal social evolution.

Sanderson explores the nature of the contemporary world’s 200 societies by comparing and contrasting their basic institutions and patterns of social organization. Major topics include the rich democracies and how they became rich and democratic; the expansion of government and the welfare state; the collapse of Communism and the transition to postsocialist societies; the conditions of less-developed countries, with attention to those that are developing rapidly as well as those that continue to lag far behind; racial and ethnic divisions and conflicts worldwide; the gender revolution of the past fifty years and changing contemporary patterns of gender inequality throughout the world; major shifts in family patterns and the transition to below-replacement fertility; the global spread and expansion of mass education and educational credentialism; worldwide patterns of religious belief and practice; a detailed evaluation of the secularization thesis; economic, political, and cultural globalization; the nature of social and economic progress over the past two centuries; and nine predictions concerning the short-term and long-term future of the world. The book provides detailed and fully up-to-date statistical data on societies in forty-three tables.

This publication deals with societies and their constituent parts.

Table of contents

These ten essays reassess and continue Parson's work in sociology, weighing in on the controversies which continue to surround his thought. Topics include scientific paradigms and organizational culture, Weber's influence, complexity theory, functionalism, generalized symbolic media, the social community, and normative dilemmas. Contributors include scholars of sociology, communications, and behavioral science, from the North America, Europe, and Australia. c. Book News Inc.

Rodent Societies synthesizes and integrates the current state of knowledge about the social behavior of rodents, providing ecological and evolutionary contexts for understanding their societies and highlighting emerging conservation and management strategies to preserve them. It begins with a summary of the evolution, phylogeny, and biogeography of social and nonsocial rodents, providing a historical basis for comparative analyses. Subsequent sections focus on group-living rodents and characterize their reproductive behaviors, life histories and population ecology, genetics, neuroendocrine mechanisms, behavioral development, cognitive processes, communication mechanisms, cooperative and uncooperative behaviors, antipredator strategies, comparative socioecology, diseases, and conservation. Using the highly diverse and well-studied Rodentia as model systems to integrate a variety of research approaches and evolutionary theory into a unifying framework, Rodent Societies will appeal to a wide range of disciplines, both as a compendium of current research and as a stimulus for future collaborative and interdisciplinary investigations.

Kennett has made a major contribution to the comparative study of social policy. The book will undoubtedly serve as a major resource for social policy scholars, and the editor is to be commended for taking on what must have been a Herculean task. . . It is to be hoped that the book will be available in many university libraries. It deserves to be widely consulted not only by those interested in international issues but by anyone concerned with the challenges facing the academic field of social policy today. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare This volume makes a heroic effort to transform the abstractions floating around in the literature on comparative social policy research into a more grounded discussion of what the policy controversies are all about. The contributions in the book climb down the ladder of abstraction which asserts that context, institutions and globalization all count, and that the public private discourse has changed. The book attempts to specifically show how these abstractions matter in recent social policy practice and research. Martin Rein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US The current context of social policy is one in which many of the old certainties of the past have been eroded. The predominantly inward-looking, domestic preoccupation of social policy has made way for a more integrated, international and outward approach to analysis which looks beyond the boundaries of the state. It is in this context that this Handbook brings together the work of key commentators in the field of comparative analysis in order to provide comprehensive coverage of contemporary debates and issues in cross-national social policy research. Organized around five themes, this impressive volume explores the contextual, conceptual, analytical and processual aspects of undertaking comparative social research. In the first part, the authors are concerned with de-centring the state and extending the epistemological framework through which cross-national analysis is explored. In Parts II and III, the focus is on the conceptual and theoretical frameworks for analysing social policy cross-nationally, while Part IV examines the day-to-day reality of preparing for and carrying out cross-national analysis. In the final section, the authors highlight continuing and emerging themes and issues which are of particular relevance to understanding the contemporary social world. International in scope, this authoritative Handbook presents original cutting-edge research from leading specialists and will become an indispensable source of reference for anyone interested in comparative social research. It will also prove a valuable study aid for undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines including social policy, sociology, politics, urban studies and public policy.

Discusses the base from which modern societies developed.