Sociology

Product Description

For forty years, in a variety of books and articles, Gerhard Lenski has become the
most influential proponent of ecological and evolutionary explanations of human
societies, their development and transformations, from the Stone Age to the
present. In his newest book, Lenski offers a succinct but comprehensive
statement of the full body of his theory followed by demonstration of how it can
be used to generate new and valuable insights when applied to a set of highly
diverse issues. These include debates concerning the origin of ancient Israel and
its distinctive culture, the rise of the West in the modern era, the highly varied
trajectories of development of Third World nations in recent decades, and the
failure of Marxist efforts to transform society in the Soviet Union and elsewhere.
In the concluding chapter, Lenski discusses a number of other issues and areas
where ecological-evolutionary theory may be fruitfully applied in the future.

About The Author

Gerhard Lenski, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is the author of Power and Privilege and The Religious Factor. He is a recent recipient of the ASA Distinguished Career Award.