By Bruce G. Trigger Sociocultural Evolution: Calculation and Contingency (1st First Edition) [Paperback]

by Bruce G. Trigger

Sociocultural evolution is the most important concept that has guided social science thought over the past 300 years. Throughout this time it has, however, been fiercely contested and has changed as it has slowly discarded the providential concerns that originally characterized it. This book traces the gradual development of the concept of sociocultural evolution and relates how it is currently understood, and misunderstood, to the major political and cultural debates of the present day. The author examines, in particular, issues relating to neo-conservative socioeconomic policy and postmodernism, which he regards as the chief cultural expression of transnational capitalism. He argues that continued sociocultural development requires a greater degree of planning than ever before in human history and far more general participation in the planning process than has been possible or attempted in the past. Sociocultural Evolution will be welcomed by students of anthropology, history, and archaeology, as well as general readers interested in the concerns surrounding further technological development and social change.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Bruce Graham Trigger, OC OQ FRSC was a Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist, and ethnohistorian.

He received a doctorate in archaeology from Yale University in 1964. His research interests at that time included the history of archaeological research and the comparative study of early cultures. He spent the following year teaching at Northwestern University and then took a position with the Department of Anthropology at McGill University in Montreal, and remained there for the rest of his career.

Reviews

[Rob Woodard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts out great, with a nice overview of cultural-evolutionary thought. But it falters badly when Trigger starts trying evaluate more recent theories and especially when he promotes his own ideas; it becomes almost unreadable at points and he displays some truly shallow, shoddy thinking (which is unusual, because the late Mr. Trigger was in general a very interesting and worthwhile anthropological thinker). Maybe some anthropologists will find parts of this worthwhile, but it's probably best avoided by everyone else.The three stars are given mostly for the book's early portions.

[Carlos Belotti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Trigger is a Cannadian archaeologist with an interest on marxism, epistemology and progress. On this book he makes a brief history of theories about Sociocultural Evolution, an intelectual tradition of humanities, from philosophy to archaeology, which proposes the existance of a general pattern of increasing scale and complexity of social systems from the paleolithic to the post-industrial society. But, Sociocultural Evolution is not a textbook only. Trigger believes in a better future and his work is a defense of long-term planning.