The word class comes to us from the Latin classis, which referred to the division of Romans according to property. It takes on its modern sense in English from the late 18th century, when the profound sociopolitical upheavals associated with the French and Industrial Revolutions redrew the social map of Europe. Prior to this time
Complex society refers to societies with states and social classes. Three kinds of complexity are involved: there are socially and culturally differentiated and unequal groups; social segments have specialized activities and roles; and these societies are geographically complex, with unequal exchange between specialized regions. The term “complex society” is typical social scientific jargon, being both
All human societies have mechanisms that maintain social order so that decisions can be made, disputes resolved, and behavior regulated. In large states this is clearly apparent in the political and judicial structures developed for such purposes. However, in many societies these formal mechanisms seem nonexistent. In classic anthropological discourse, these egalitarian societies are “tribes
How people are socially situated in any given society vis-à-vis others is more than simply a political question, it is an issue of people’s relative “value” as this is determined by the members of a community. In anthropology, issues of rank are often found in chapters concerning political processes. While the consequences of rank invariably
Identifying the boundaries that circumscribe social groupings can present challenges, not only for anthropologists but also for those people living within the social groupings. There was a time in anthropological investigations where this did not seem to be a significant issue, when groups on the ground and living in relative communication with each other could
The transformation of modern societies into knowledge societies continues to be based, as was the case for industrial society, on changes in the structure of the economies of advanced societies. Economic capital – or, more precisely, the source of economic growth and value adding activities – increasingly relies on knowledge. The transformation of the structures