ANTHROP 2R03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Dynamic Equilibrium, Vilfredo Pareto, Actian
24 Oct 2014
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Document Summary
1916 published mind and society. analysis of human beliefs/reasoning styles and how they shape history. All societies are an unstable equilibrium of competing forces. Groups and subgroups are always in pursuit of conflicting interests. So we find a constant shifting of power between those with the largest amount of power. There is a rough balance of contending forces. Society is not a static equilibrium, but something that shows this rough balance. When it does happen, everything eventually goes back to normal after awhile. Social change happens (internal/external causes): war, technology etc, but the change is minimal. They change in terms of their outer appearances but their inner core remains the same. Regardless of the variety of specific interest groups contending in the social arena, all complex societies have a similar structure. Small group of elite at the top and large group of masses underneath them. Nongoverning elite: economic elite, intellectual elite.
