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The human swarm : how our societies arise, thrive, and fall / Mark W. Moffett.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, 2019Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First editionDescription: viii, 468 pages ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780465055685
  • 0465055680
  • 9781541617292
  • 1541617290
Subject(s):
Contents:
Affiliation and recognition. What a society isn't (and what it is) ; What vertebrates get out of being in a society ; On the move ; Individual recognition -- Anonymous societies. Ants and humans, apples and oranges ; The ultimate nationalists ; Anonymous humans -- Hunter-gatherers until recent times. Band societies ; The nomadic life ; Settling down -- The deep history of human anonymous societies. Pant hoots and passwords ; Sensing others ; Stereotypes and stories ; The great chain ; Grand unions ; Putting kin in their place -- Peace and conflict. Is conflict necessary? ; Playing well with others -- The life and death of societies. The lifecycle of societies ; The dynamic "us" ; Inventing foreigners and the death of societies -- Tribes to nations. Turning a village into a conquering society ; Building and breaking a nation -- From captive to neighbor...to global citizen? The rise of ethnicities ; Divided we stand ; The inevitability of societies -- Conclusion: identities shift and societies shatter -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- References -- Index.
Summary: The epic story and ultimate big history of how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species. If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los Angeles--or Borneo--with very little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: for years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper limit--about 150 people--on the size of our social groups. But human societies are in fact vastly larger. How do we manage--by and large--to get along with each other? In this paradigm-shattering book, biologist Mark W. Moffett draws on findings in psychology, sociology and anthropology to explain the social adaptations that bind societies. He explores how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how societies develop, function, and fail. Surpassing Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, The Human Swarm reveals how mankind created sprawling civilizations of unrivaled complexity--and what it will take to sustain them.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 301 M695 Available 33111009349289
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 301 M695 Available 33111009145810
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The epic story, ultimate big history, and "remarkable intellectual achievement" ( Quarterly Review of Biology ) describing how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species



If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los Angeles--or Borneo--with very little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: for years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper limit--about 150 people--on the size of our social groups. But human societies are in fact vastly larger. How do we manage--by and large--to get along with each other?



In this paradigm-shattering book, biologist Mark W. Moffett draws on findings in psychology, sociology and anthropology to explain the social adaptations that bind societies. He explores how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how societies develop, function, and fail. Surpassing Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens , The Human Swarm reveals how mankind created sprawling civilizations of unrivaled complexity--and what it will take to sustain them.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-448) and index.

Affiliation and recognition. What a society isn't (and what it is) ; What vertebrates get out of being in a society ; On the move ; Individual recognition -- Anonymous societies. Ants and humans, apples and oranges ; The ultimate nationalists ; Anonymous humans -- Hunter-gatherers until recent times. Band societies ; The nomadic life ; Settling down -- The deep history of human anonymous societies. Pant hoots and passwords ; Sensing others ; Stereotypes and stories ; The great chain ; Grand unions ; Putting kin in their place -- Peace and conflict. Is conflict necessary? ; Playing well with others -- The life and death of societies. The lifecycle of societies ; The dynamic "us" ; Inventing foreigners and the death of societies -- Tribes to nations. Turning a village into a conquering society ; Building and breaking a nation -- From captive to neighbor...to global citizen? The rise of ethnicities ; Divided we stand ; The inevitability of societies -- Conclusion: identities shift and societies shatter -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- References -- Index.

The epic story and ultimate big history of how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species. If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los Angeles--or Borneo--with very little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: for years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper limit--about 150 people--on the size of our social groups. But human societies are in fact vastly larger. How do we manage--by and large--to get along with each other? In this paradigm-shattering book, biologist Mark W. Moffett draws on findings in psychology, sociology and anthropology to explain the social adaptations that bind societies. He explores how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how societies develop, function, and fail. Surpassing Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, The Human Swarm reveals how mankind created sprawling civilizations of unrivaled complexity--and what it will take to sustain them.

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