Human Societies – An Introduction De Swaan Hardback Polity Press 9780745625911

Human SocietiesAn Introduction\nAuthor(s): Abram De Swaan, Beverley Jackson\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Polity Press\nISBN-13: 9780745625911, 978-0745625911\nSynopsis\nThis book is a brief introduction to the study of society, which may be read without any previous knowledge of the social sciences. Each chapter addresses a fundamental question about people in their various arrangements. The book begins by asking: what do people need from one another; what do they need to survive and how do these needs make them dependent upon others? Subsequent chapters deal with the ties that bind people, the expectations they entertain of one another, their means of distinguishing themselves from others, the ways they have of moulding and teaching the young, and what they believe, know and invent. De Swaan also explores the ways in which people organize their activities, from foraging bands of only a few dozen members to contemporary societies th.