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Human Institutions

A Theory of Societal Evolution

Jonathan H. Turner

In recent years 'the New Institutionalism' has focused more on organizations in their social and cultural environments than on societal-level institutional systems. Thus, missing from these studies has been a larger sociological analysis of institutions, per se. In his newest book, leading social theorist Jonathan H. Turner offers a creative, richly grounded reinterpretation of social evolution. He ressurrects a level of analysis undertaken by earlier functionalist theorists, but with a new-found emphasis—that of discovering the larger forces driving the formation of human institutional systems. Only by exploring the larger macro-dynamics can the institutions of economy, kinship, religion, polity, law, and education be fully understood, as Turner persuasively shows in this magesterial explication of twenty millenia of human social life.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 328 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-0-7425-2558-0 • Hardback • March 2003 • $144.00 • (£111.00)

978-0-7425-2559-7 • Paperback • March 2003 • $63.00 • (£48.00)

978-0-585-46384-1 • eBook • September 2004 • $59.50 • (£46.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Sociology / General

Human Institutions

A Theory of Societal Evolution

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

In recent years 'the New Institutionalism' has focused more on organizations in their social and cultural environments than on societal-level institutional systems. Thus, missing from these studies has been a larger sociological analysis of institutions, per se. In his newest book, leading social theorist Jonathan H. Turner offers a creative, richly grounded reinterpretation of social evolution. He ressurrects a level of analysis undertaken by earlier functionalist theorists, but with a new-found emphasis—that of discovering the larger forces driving the formation of human institutional systems. Only by exploring the larger macro-dynamics can the institutions of economy, kinship, religion, polity, law, and education be fully understood, as Turner persuasively shows in this magesterial explication of twenty millenia of human social life.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 328 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-0-7425-2558-0 • Hardback • March 2003 • $144.00 • (£111.00)

978-0-7425-2559-7 • Paperback • March 2003 • $63.00 • (£48.00)

978-0-585-46384-1 • eBook • September 2004 • $59.50 • (£46.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Sociology / General

Author

Jonathan H. Turner is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at University of California, Riverside. Among his many influential books is the recently published Face to Face: Toward a Sociological Theory of Interpersonal Behavior (2002).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Institutional Analysis Chapter 2: A Theory of Macrodynamic Forces Chapter 3: The Institutional Core Chapter 4: Institutional Systems of Hunter-Gatherer Populations Chapter 5: Institutional Systems of Horticultural Populations Chapter 6: Institutional Systems of Agrarian Populations Chapter 7: Institutional Systems of Industrial and Post-Industrial Populations Chapter 8: Fundamental Interchanges Among Institutions Chapter 9 Conclusion

Human Institutions

A Theory of Societal Evolution

Jonathan H. Turner

Human Institutions

A Theory of Societal Evolution

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