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Ecology, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality argues that we need to examine the connect global world we live in and our technological advances to discern the potential solutions to the environmental, epidemiological, political, and social challenges we face.

"The contribution of Southeast Asia to the world economy (during the late prehistoric and early historic periods) has not received much attention. It has often been viewed as a region of peripheral entrepôts, especially in the early centuries of the current era. Recent archaeological evidence revealed the existence of established and productive polities in Southeast Asia in the early parts of the historic period and earlier. This book recalibrates these interactions of Southeast Asia with other parts of the world economy, and gives the region its due instead of treating it as little more than of marginal interest."

Andre Gunder Frank and Marta Fuentes have suggested that social movements of protest tend to cluster during periods of economic downturns. With this in mind, can we examine world history over the long-term to enable us to provide a more insightful understanding of the transformative potential of social movements during times of socioeconomic, ecological and political disruptions as Frank and Fuentes suggested over a decade ago? This article examines the rise of two social movements that have emerged during different periods of world history when the world system was/is in crisis: Christian monasticism and Bioregionalism. Besides viewing Christian monasticism as a religious movement that arose in reaction to the turbulent conditions towards the end of the Roman Empire, I want to argue that Christian monasticism can also be conceived as a social institution formed in reaction to the excessive consumption, economic exploitation and ecological crisis that occurred prior to and during the Dark Ages of Antiquity. Almost 1,700 years later, our current era of socioeconomic, political and ecological crises has also sparked movements expounding alternative world-views and lifestyle options. One such anti-systemic movement is Bioregionalism which is a direct contrast to our contemporary world-view that underscores the themes of globalization, technologization of life and hyper consumption. Therefore, along a similar vein to early Christian monasticism's reaction to institutionalized religion then, Bioregionalism as a life-practice also plays a similar role in the contemporary crisis era. Both of these social movements can be considered as part of the family of social movements that have occurred in world history that Frank and Fuentes (1989, 1990) have written about in the late 20th century.

Examines the extent to which environmental & climatological factors contributed to hegemonic decline during both the "dark age" that started around 2200-1700 B.C., affecting northwestern India, the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamia, Egypt, West Asia, & the Eastern Mediterranean, & another systemic crisis that began around 1200-700 B.C., affecting West Asia, Egypt, eastern Mediterranean, & central Europe. These periods were marked by socioeconomic problems, regime transitions, center-hinterland conflicts, population losses, resource depletion, environmental degradation, & climatological changes. Although documentary evidence indicates that a partial recovery from the systemic political, economic, & ecological crisis that began around 2200 B.C. was realized around 1750 B.C., those regions that experienced severe ecological degradation did not experience recovery until 2200 B.C. or later, resulting in a shift of trade volume away from the southeastern portion of the Bronze Age system to the west & northwestern sectors. It is concluded that ecological problems increase the duration of systemic crises & analyses of hegemonic decline must consider environmental & climatological influences alongside social, political, & economic factors. Tables, References. J. Lindroth

"This book is an exploration of our evolving relationship with a specific bioregion. It engages the reader in asking deeper questions about the meaning we find in nature and the place where we dwell, and how we can work together towards a sustainable future for all life"--

Structural analysis : past, present and future. History of social structural analysis / Charles Crothers. Social structure : the future of a concept / Douglas V. Porpora -- Culture and social structure. How are structures meaningful? : cultural sociology and theories of structure / Lynn Spillman. Agency, structure and deritualization : a comparative investigation of extreme disruptions of social order / J. David Knottnerus -- Global power, hegemonic decline, and cultural narratives / Albert J. Bergesen. Situating hybridity : the positional logics of a discourse / Jonathan Friedman -- A structural theory of the five thousand year world system / Barry K. Gills and Andre Gunder-Frank. Evolutionary pulsations in the world system / George Modelski and William R. Thompson. Paradigms bridged : institutional materialism and world-systemic evolution / Christopher Chase-Dunn and Thomas D. Hall. Ecology in command / Sing C. Chew. Applications of elementary theory to structures of antiquity / Brent Simpson and David Willer -- Micro and macro structures : interactions and organizations. Gender, institutions and difference : the continuing importance of social structure in understanding gender inequality in organizations / Amy S. Wharton. Social structure and social exchange / Joseph Whitmeyer and Karen S. Cook. Social organizations across space and time : the policy process / Peter M. Hall and Patrick J. W. McGinty. Acts, persons, positions, and institutions : legitimating multiple objects and compliance with authority / Henry A. Walker, Larry Rogers, and Morris Zelditch