In Social Transformations: A General Theory of Historical Development Stephen K. Sanderson develops a general theory of social evolution and uses it to explain the most important evolutionary transformations in human history and prehistory. In this expanded edition Sanderson has added a discussion of the biological constraints acting on humans that have helped to push social evolution along strikingly similar lines throughout the world. The new discussion places the theoretical arguments of Social Transformations in the context of an even more comprehensive theory of human social behavior.
Stephen K. Sanderson is professor of sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Chapter 1 Evolutionary Material: A General Theory of Historical DevelopmentChapter 2 The Neolithic RevolutionChapter 3 The Origin of Civilization and the StateChapter 4 Agrarian States and their Evolutionary DynamicsChapter 5 The Capitalist Revolution and the Beginnings of the Modern WorldChapter 6 The Evolution of the Modern World, I: The Expanding and Evolving Modern World-SystemChapter 7 The Evolution of the Modern World, II: The Emergence of the Institutions of ModernityChapter 8 The Question of ProgressChapter 9 The Evolving FutureChapter 10 Theoretical Reprise
Among much interesting recent work in historical sociology there has been nothing more ambitious than this book by sociologist Stephen Sanderson. . . . Whatever the future of 'evolutionary materialism' may be, Sanderson has done much to justify the enterprise of historical sociology and his work can be recommended without reserve to both sociologists and historians.