Develops a perspective on social transformation and social change. The perspective is described as social transformations as inadvertent consequences of adaptation. 5 adaptive phases since World War 11 are identified in their economic, political, military and cultural aspects. (Original abstract - amended)
We outline primary features of a theoretical perspective on processes of social change in human systems that deals with broadly defined kinds of process, the nature of variants that are expressed and consolidate as change occurs, and, with specific reference to agency, the ways in which intentional actors are implicated in the changes that befall them. Our aim is to contribute to a general theory of process that is not prejudiced by the possible misrepresentation of outcomes arising in particular contexts (e.g. modernity), or the contexts themselves, as being causal processes. We direct attention to four problems of a methodological and ethical nature that may arise when analysts strive for generality.RésuméLes auteurs ébauchent les premières grandes lignes d'une approche théorique des processus de changement social dans les systèmes humains, abordant des types de processus définis largement, la nature de variantes qui s'expriment et se consolident au fil des changements et, en faisant spécifiquement référence àl'agency, la manière dont les acteurs intentionnels sont impliqués dans les changements qui les affectent. Notre but est de contribuer à une théorie générale du processus qui n'est pas biaisée d'emblée par une possible erreur de représentation des résultats qui surviennent dans des contextes donnés (par exemple la modernité) ou des contextes eux‐mêmes, en tant que processus causaux. Nous consacrons notre attention à quatre problèmes de nature méthodologique et éthique qui peuvent se poser quand les analystes tentent de généraliser.
Introduction: Social change in Aegean prehistory -- Pre-Mycenaean pottery shapes of the central Aegean : a new resource in development / Walter Gauss and Michael Lindblom -- The temporal slicing and dicing of Minyan culture : a proposal for a tripartite division of a lengthier Greek Middle Bronze Age and the issue of nomadism at its beginning / Jeremy B. Rutter -- Early Helladic III : a non-monumental but revitalized social arena? / Erika Weiberg -- Reciprocity and exchange relationships : exploring the dynamics of Bronze Age social structures through feasting and hospitality / Daniel J. Pullen -- Domestic architecture : a means to analyse social change on the Bronze Age Greek mainland / Corien Wiersma -- Social change in middle Helladic Lerna / Sofia Voutsaki and Eleni Milka -- Social complexity in late middle Bronze Age and early late Bronze Age Cyclades : a view from Ayia Irini / Evi Gorogianni and R.D. Fitzsimons -- Long-term developments in southern mainland settlement systems from early Helladic to late Helladic times as seen through the lens of regional survey / John Bintli -- Middle Helladic reflections / John F. Cherry