A Sociology of Humankind

Summary

Based upon the interdependencies of human beings as we cooperate and conflict  with each other, how we share information, and how culture evolves, this book proposes a sociology of humanity covering three hundred millennia. Grounded in empirical findings from archaeology, history, lab-experiments and field studies--supplemented for precision with computational network models of cultural evolution, cooperation, influence, cohesion, warfare, power, social balance, and inequality--this is the first attempt at an encompassing  sociology of humankind. Informed by the theory of cultural evolution, it extends the notion that cultural evolution connects all humans of all times in a giant sociocultural network, thereby yielding coherence between a great many empirical findings. It will therefore appeal to scholars of sociology and anthropology with interests in historical sociology, cultural evolution and social theory. 

Introduction

Appraisal

"This book is a rare attempt of providing a wider perspective on the topic of cultural dynamics, providing a comprehensive look at sociology, psychology, behavioral science, cooperation, economics, innovation, competition, group formation, statistics, networks, etc. It does something that is nowadays out of fashion: it provides a framework that is general enough to encompass––as the title states––the topics of culture, cooperation and conflict––a framework that allows one to place the different aspects of these fields on a map, but it can also be quantified and is compatible with large datasets. Putting things on a map is extremely helpful: first it helps to see what is unknown, and second what should be studied together; something like a compass for interdisciplinarity––not for its own sake, but to genuinely understand cultural dynamics. The book is a joy to read. It is intellectually entertaining of the best kind. It is a free tour through the history and most relevant developments in many of the social sciences in the last century or so, valuable both as an overview and for learning details that you did not know before."

Stefan Thurner, Professor for Science of Complex Systems, Medical University of Vienna, and author of The Theory of Complex Systems.

Errata

In the first printed batch, there were four errors that have been corrected in copies sold online since 08.07.2024. In the bookshop, to be sure, check the first potential typo on p.17:

(1) p. 17  "200,000 years" should be 20,000

(2) p. 86, footnote 12  "Teotihuacan" should be deleted

The next two errors were implemented by Routledge:

(3) p. 49   There was a faulty semicolon after "water" in:  "most houses had toilets and clean drinking water 5000 years before such facilities were built in large numbers in modern cities."

(4) p. 75   There was a faulty semicolon after "discouragement" in: "High morale can plummet into discouragement, however, if many group members are lost, individuals or subgroups become isolated from one another, and/or the goals become unachievable." 

Another error:  The severity of violent events (p.79) has nothing to do with the duration of the events and the interevent times.

New research has pointed out that warfare does not entail the diffusion of inclusive institutions, and that "algebraic connectivity" is not a general measure of social cohesion.

New findings 

New findings are published continually. I am updating the manuscript (which went to the print by the end of 2023) with findings from hundreds of recent papers for the Chinese edition forthcoming in 2026/7.  Cases in point are demography, information transmission with errors, cooperation, inequality, democracy and its backsliding, hatred, and many other. Arguably one of the most spectacular new findings is that agriculture was invented almost simultaneously in China and Mesopotamia (Zhang e.a. 2024, Science). Furthermore, Michael Mann's book On Wars becomes very important in Chapter 5; my theory from the first edition will be used to explain Mann's macro findings at the micro level.