Decline and Fall, Growth and Spread, or Resilience? Approaches to Studying How and Why Societies Change

Academic and popular libraries are filled with works seeking to uncover why some past societies collapsed, or to explain why others flourished, or why a few prove resilient against the major shocks and disasters that have doomed so many others. While we have learned much from this diverse set of sch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of world history Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 497 - 525
Main Author Hoyer, Daniel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Honolulu University of Hawai'i Press 01.12.2023
University of Hawaii Press
Subjects
Climate change
Disasters
Evaluation
Fukuyama, Francis
Inequality
Libraries
Pandemics
Political scientists
Population growth
Precedents
Regression (Civilization)
Resilience
Roman civilization
Sectarian violence
Social change
Social structure
Society
Works
United States
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Academic and popular libraries are filled with works seeking to uncover why some past societies collapsed, or to explain why others flourished, or why a few prove resilient against the major shocks and disasters that have doomed so many others. While we have learned much from this diverse set of scholarship, there are still many questions about how these different aspects of societal dynamics relate to each other and we lack clear consensus on the best approach(es) to provide answers. Further, historical precedents of collapse, growth, and resilience are being sought to help craft effective responses to the forces that threaten our contemporary world, from climate change to the risk of global pandemics to rising inequality and sectarian conflict. This essay reviews recent and prominent approaches to these topics and provides some thought on how broad, holistic approaches to studying societal dynamics can shed light on these pressing issues.
ISSN:1045-6007
1527-8050
1527-8050
DOI:10.1353/jwh.2023.a912768