The Sources of Social Power

"Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies - ideological, economic, military and political - The Sources of Social Power traces their interrelations throughout human history. In this first volume, Michael Mann examines interrelations between these elements from neolithic times, through ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the classical Mediterranean age and medieval Europe, up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England. It offers explanations of the emergence of the state and socialstratification; of city-states, militaristic empires and the persistent interaction between them; of the world salvation religions; and of the particular dynamism of medieval and early modern Europe. It ends by generalizing about the nature of overall social development, the varying forms of social cohesion and the role of classes and class struggle in history. First published in 1986, this new edition includes a new preface in volume 1 by the author examining the impact and legacy of the work"--

Auteur

Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Power in the 21st Century: Conversations with John Hall (2011), Incoherent Empire (2003) and Fascists (Cambridge University Press, 2004). His book The Dark Side of Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2004) was awarded the Barrington Moore Award of the American Sociological Association for the best book in comparative and historical sociology in 2006.

Texte du rabat

Volume 1 examines interrelations between sources of power from neolithic times up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England.

Résumé
Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies ideological, economic, military and political The Sources of Social Power traces their interrelations throughout human history. In this first volume, Michael Mann examines interrelations between these elements from neolithic times up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England.

Contenu

Preface to the second edition; 1. Societies as organized power networks; 2. The end of general social evolution: how prehistoric peoples evaded power; 3. The emergence of stratification, states and multi-power-actor civilisation in Mesopotamia; 4. A comparative analysis of the emergence of stratification, states and multi-power-actor civilisations; 5. The first empires of domination: the dialectics of compulsory cooperation; 6. 'Indo-Europeans' and iron: expanding, diversified power networks; 7. Phoenicians and Greeks: decentralized multi-power-actor civilisations; 8. Revitalized empires of domination: Assyria and Persia; 9. The Roman territorial empire; 10. Ideology transcendent: the Christian ecumene; 11. A comparative excursus into the world religions: Confucianism, Islam, and (especially) Hindu caste; 12. The European dynamic: I. the intensive phase, AD 800-1155; 13. The European dynamics: II. the rise of coordinating states, 1155-1477; 14. The European dynamic: III. international capitalism and organic national states, 1477-1760; 15. European conclusions: explaining European dynamism - capitalism, Christendom, and states; 16. Patterns of world-historical development in agrarian societies; Index.