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Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 From Primate to Human -- 2 The Emergence of Symbolic Reasoning -- 3 Cognition and Adaptation -- 4 Encountering the Cultural World -- 5 Nature in Culture -- 6 Nonlinearity in the Social World -- 7 Nonmodernity and the Emergence of Cognition and Culture -- Bibliography.

"This title was first published in 2000: Complex Life argues for the importance of the new perspective of non modern social theory in understanding human agency. Darwinian natural selection theory and complexity theory are used to provide new insights into human origins, mind and culture. Through bringing these ideas together it is argued that nature and culture are inseparably linked within human agency and that in consequence it is time to transcend the limitations of both modern and postmodern social science. This book argues that nature has never been controlled or transcended. Humankind is instead an emerged outcome of the historical interweaving of the environment, morphology, mind and culture. This wide-ranging analysis offers new insights into human nature for anthropologists and sociologists interested in human evolution, social theory or human agency."--Provided by publisher

From the adoption of the Constitution in 1787, the executive department has been the primary vehicle through which the government of the United States has administered its programs. Their organization and effectiveness are therefore matters that demand constant attention.

The reasons why some people use illicit drugs recreationally and in a dependent, harmful, way are not clearly understood. Various factors have been put forward, each of which may play some part in affecting individual drug using outcomes. Rounsaville (1982), for example, analysed the life records of approximately 400 opiate users and identified two antecedents to drug use, childhood trauma and early antisocial or delinquent behaviour. Social background and deprivation have also been noted as possible preceding factors. Parker et al (1987) found correlations between heroin use and unemployment, overcrowding and other indices of deprivation. Other perspectives on use, cited by Johns (1990), include availability and peer influence. Sub‐culture has also been suggested as an important context to use (Becker, 1963; Williams, 1989). The Third Triennial Report to Congress (Department of Health and Public Service, 1991) focused on individual 'risks', which were categorised as biological (genetic), psychological, behavioural (anti‐social and delinquent activies), demographic (such as gender or ethnic factors), and environmental (arising from family or peer group influence). However, despite these and many other perspectives on pathways to illicit drug use and drug‐related harm, a comprehensive account which seeks to ground such practices in the complex interplay between the individual, their community and elements of social structure has yet to be achieved.

One of the most important aspects of the management of the executive branch of the federal government relates to the organization and administration of the 13 executive departments. Yet there has been little attention given to this aspect of public administration in the literature. If the functions of the government of the United States are to be efficiently executed, it is vital that the executive departments be well conceived, structured, and managed. This means that they should be set up to carry out definable major purposes of the government, the enacting statutes should provide for adequate authority in the secretaries, there should be substantial freedom to adapt the departments to changes in priorities, greater attention should be given to the design and implementation of modern management systems, and reliance should be placed on the career civil servants who alone have the knowledge and continuity to assure efficient and consistent administration. It is likely, however, that there is so little agreement as to how the shortcomings of our departments can be remedied that something like a new Hoover Commission may be required to identify solutions and raise public awareness of the urgency of the situation.