Table of Contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Preliminaries
  • Principles and Explanations
  • Anthropological Antecedents
  • Monism and Materialism
  • Studies of Energy and Society
• 2. Energy Process
  • Energy Forms
  • Equilibrium
  • Equilibrium and Dissipative Structures
  • Stability and Steady States
  • Appendix: Note on Odum’s “Energy Quality”
• 3. Energy Dynamics
  • The Laws of Thermodynamics
  • Lotka’s Principle
  • Minimum Dissipation Principle
  • Trigger-Flow Mechanisms and Principles
• 4. Self-Organization
  • Introduction
  • Equilibrium Bases of Self-Organization
  • Autopoiesis
  • Perturbations
  • Self-Triggering
  • Appendix: Order and Functional Organization
• 5. Culture
  • Mental Self-Organization
  • Informational Dynamics
  • Cultural Process
  • Appendix: Energy and Values
• 6. Domestication
  • Domestication? Why Bother?
  • Ecological and Human Controls
  • Human Dominance, Culture, and Power
  • Indigenous California Society
  • The Emergence of Social Hierarchies
  • Political and Ideological Implications
  • Notes
• 7. Natural Selection
  • The Broader Issue
  • In Equilibrium Structures
  • Self-Organization of Dissipative Structures
  • Selection and Epistemology
• 8. Boundary Dynamics
  • Social Boundaries
  • Energetic Boundaries
  • Environments and Closure
• 9. Civilization
  • The Meaning of “Civilization”
  • Civilization as a Trigger
  • The Origins and Future of Civilization
  • Notes
• 10. Humanities
  • The Classics
  • Free-Floating Triggers
• 11. Expansion In Social Hierarchy: A Model
  • Social Survival Vehicles and Coaxal Structures
  • Novel and Secondary Constructions
  • The Emergence of Hierarchy: Work and Regulation
• 12. Energy and Industrialization
  • Modeling Industrialization Expansion
  • The Energy Sector Model
  • Interactive Changes among Sectors
  • Expansion of the Regulatory Sector
  • Regulation in Subnational Units
  • Notes
• Postscript: Development and Contemporary Social Evolution
• References
• Index

About the Author

Richard Newbold Adams is Rapoport Centennial Professor Emeritus of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.