essay
The calculus of self-interest in the development of cooperation: sociopolitical development and risk among the northern Anasazi
Evolving complexity and environmental risk in the prehistoric Southwest : proceedings of the Workshop 'Resource Stress, Economic Uncertainty, and Human Response in the Prehistoric Southwest,' held February 25-29, 1992, in Santa Fe, NM / editors, Joseph A. Tainter, Bonnie Bagley Tainter • (24) • Published In 1996 • Pages: 169-196
By: Kohler, Timothy A., Van West, Carla R. (Carla Rebecca).
Abstract
This study attempts to formulate a new framework for analyzing and predicting the behavior of producers in various contexts of productive shortage and abundance. The authors begin by assuming that nearly all agricultural production among the northern Anasazi was at the household level. By drawing on microeconomic theory, evolutionary ecology, and recent studies in the behavioral ecology of foragers, Kohler and Van West develop a context to predict when networks of food exchange among households ought to appear, based solely on the self-interest of the households involved. Data on production variability in the Mesa Verde Region - developed by Van West - are examined in this context, and these sections draw heavily on Van West and Kohler's 1995 work. They attempt to show that networks of food sharing provide a foundation for more general elaboration of sociopolitical complexity in cases where production provides a surplus. In the last part of this work Kohler and Van West examine the implications of this work and point to some of the fruitful avenues for research that it suggests (p. 170).
- HRAF PubDate
- 2012
- Region
- North America
- Sub Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle; 2011
- Field Date
- no date
- Coverage Date
- 1300-700 BP (AD 700-1300)
- Coverage Place
- Southwestern United States
- Notes
- Timothy A. Kohler and Carla R. Van West
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-196)
- LCCN
- 95045139
- LCSH
- Indians of North America--Southwest, New--Economic conditions--Congresses.
- Indians of North America--Southwest, New--Social conditions--Congresses.
- Indians of North America--Southwest, New--Antiquities--Congresses.
- Subsistence economy--Southwest, New--Congresses.
- Hunting and gathering societies--Southwest, New--Congresses.
- Southwest, New--Environmental conditions--Congresses.
- Southwest, New--Antiquities--Congresses.