Complex Society

A complex society or civilization is a society in an advanced state of social development, e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations. During the course of history, many civilizations, complex societies and ancient cultures have emerged and collapsed. Romans, Aztecs and Mayan civilizations appeared and disappeared again, some societies vanished without a trace, others have left a rich heritage. The Maya and the ancient Egyptian left for example a very rich legacy of temples, palaces and sunken cities.

Emergence

Civilizations and empires can emerge from the integration and unification of previously distinct autonomous cultures and regions. People form cultures and civilizations because they have a benefit from it. They profit from division of labor, protection and coordinated major projects by a central government, distribution of surplus resources by central administration. Technological innovations make larger cultures and higher civilizations possible.

The transition from hunters and gatherers to cattle breeders and farmers (i.e the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement) during the Neolithic Revolution was a technological revolution, based on the emergence of agriculture. New agricultural technologies were invented, including irrigation and drainage, which made animals and plants the objects of a food-producing industry. More advanced civilizations were possible through standardized transportation and writing systems.

Often the emergence of new culture is accompanied either by an element of force and warfare, if a king conquers a large territory, or by an element of awe about collective victories or common buildings, such as temples, walls, pyramids, etc. Or both.

Collapse

If civilizations emerge from integration, they can of course disintegrate again. Just as the emergence of civilizations is accompanied by awe of the members, collapse is associated with disgust among the members, for example about the practices of tyrannic dictators.

There are several reasons which are responsible for the collapse of highly developed cultures and ancient civilizations.

• environmental problems: Jared Diamond pointed this out in his book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" (2005), namely resource depletion (overhunting, overfishing), environment damages deforestation, pollution) and habitat destruction

• bad leadership and government: Joseph Tainer argued in his book "The Collapse of Complex Societies" (1990) that failure of government and central problem-solving institutions can lead to collapse of societies

• destruction by other civilizations, for example the destruction of Carthage and the Phoenician culture by Rome in 146 BC

The main cause for a collapse are the people themselves. The end of classic empires and civilizations was not a catastrophe for everyone involved. Examples are the Roman Empire, the Aztec Empire and the Maya Civilization. Tainter points in his book "The Collapse of Complex Societies" that out that many people were actually better off. If a civilization is in decline, because cultures turn into autocratic empires that torture their members, sometimes people just don't want to be member of this system anymore. If the majority of members does not support the system anymore, it collapses and is replaced by a different one. Romans and Maya peoples never really disappeared completely, only the culture and the political power was replaced by a new culture.

Books

• Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Viking Press, 2005

• Joseph Tainter, The Collapse of Complex Societies, Cambridge University Press, 1990

Links

• Blog entry for The end of civilization(s)
• Wikipedia entries for Society, Civilization, High culture, Societal collapse, Maya civilization, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt