Partial Syllabus

Networks and Social Evolution

Social Sciences 289A/249A

Fall 2004 (preliminary)

Professor Duran Bell

Each week, several arbitrarily selected students will present orally a five page paper on the material of the week’s assignment.  It is expected that students will do more than summarize the reading and challenge some aspects of the readings from methodological and/or theoretical perspectives.  The overall objective of this section of the course is to advance the development of theory and method for understanding the internal dynamics of social formations.  For questions: dbell@uci.edu

Week One:  Inter-species interaction

        Tim Ingold: Predation and Protection (30 pages)

        Alan Rogers: Resources and population dynamics  (27 pages)       

Week Two:  Intra-species interaction

        Robert L. Trivers:  Sexual selection and parental investment (48 pages)

        Bell & Song: Sacrificing reproductive sucess (10 pages)

        Fredrik Barth: Nomads of South Persia (32 pages)

        Bell: A new model of Middle Eastern Social Structures.(34 pages)

Week Three: Dynamics of wealth accumulation 

        Bell: Wealth, Power & Corp. Groups (40 pages)

        Turchin: Chapters Two, Three and  Four (68 pages)

        Korotayev and Komarova: A new model of Chinese dynastic cycles (40 pages)

Week Four: Social structure and demographic processes in early China

        Mark Edward Lewis:  Sanctioned Violence in Early China. (39 pages)

        C. Martin Wilbur:  Slavery in China During the Former Han Dynasty (33 pages)

        Hui Tin-bor:  Toward a Dynamic Theory of International Politics: Insights from Comparing    .                   .       Ancient China and Early Modern Europe (31 pages)

        Jack A. Goldstone: Chapter 4, State Breakdown in Early Modern Asia: the Ottoman Crisis and .   .       the Ming-Qing Transition (66 pages)

Week Five: Discussion papers on early Chinese demographic processes to be presented by all students

            Gray Langur