Table of Contents

Introduction The Rise and Demise of Neoevolutionist Theory.- The Theory of Collective Action as Applied to Pre-Modern States.- Historical Backgrounds to the Study Regions and the Coded Societies, Part I: Introduction and East Asia.- Background to State Formation and the Coded Polities in Southeast Asia.- Background to State Formation and the Coded Polities in South Asia and the Coded Polities .- Background to Sub-Saharan African State Formation.- Background to State Formation in Western Eurasia and the Mediterranean/North Africa.- Background to the New World States.- Material and Social Background to the Coded Societies of East Asia and Tibet.- Material and Social Background to the Coded Southeast Asian Societies.- Material and Social Background to the Coded Societies of South Asia.- Material and Social Background to the Coded African Societies.- Material and Social Background to the Coded Societies of West Eurasia and the Mediterranean/North Africa.- Material and Social Background to the New World Coded Societies.- A Method for Comparing Revenue Sources.- Public Goods.- Bureaucratization.- Modes of Control of the Behavior of Principals.- Main Results and Conclusions.- Conclusions, Part II: Collective Action in Relation to World-System, Region, and Community.- Final Reflections on Collective Action as an Approach to the Study of Pre-Modern States.- What is a “Modern” State?

About the Author

Dr. Blanton is a professor of Anthropology at Purdue University.  He is known for his research on the evolution of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican civilization, especially in Central Mexico and the Valley of Oaxaca but has also contributed to several more general anthropological topics, including the economics of peasant households and household archaeology, the evolution of market systems in early civilizations, pre-modern world-systems, and cultural ecology.  Blanton's recent theoretical and comparative research on the nature of early state formation and political economy is regarded as a new departure that is making a contribution to the current discourse on the evolution of complex human societies.  He is a founding member of the Society for Economic Archaeology and has served as its president.