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Loading... The sources of social power, Vol. 1: A history of power from the beginning to A.D. 1760 (edition 1986)by Michael Mann
Work InformationA History of Power from the Beginning to AD 1760 by Michael Mann
  
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Belongs to SeriesThe Sources of Social Power (Volume 1)
Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies - ideological, economic, military and political - The Sources of Social Power traces their interrelations throughout human history. In this first volume, Michael Mann examines interrelations between these elements from neolithic times, through ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the classical Mediterranean age and medieval Europe, up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England. It offers explanations of the emergence of the state and social stratification; of city-states, militaristic empires and the persistent interaction between them; of the world salvation religions; and of the particular dynamism of medieval and early modern Europe. It ends by generalizing about the nature of overall social development, the varying forms of social cohesion and the role of classes and class struggle in history. First published in 1986, this new edition of Volume 1 includes a new preface by the author examining the impact and legacy of the work. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)303.3Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Social Processes Coordination and control ; PowerLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.92)
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The author argues that there are four kinds of organized power networks: economic, military, ideological and political. As far as agrarian civilizations were concerned I thought this division worked well and the first half of the book was very interesting. However, I must admit that I failed to keep up in the second half. The author goes into a lot more detail in discussing Europe and England, which makes his analysis quite hard to read and understand. It's not made any easier by his style, which often tends to move deeper and deeper into the subject without pausing for any intermediate summaries. Even the summary at the end of the book seemed diffuse to me.
For the above reasons this seems like a book for professionals in historical sociology (for generations to come). To me it was a bit too difficult. If you want to actually benefit from reading this work, you should study thoroughly in European political, economic and religious history (about 1000-1800) before tackling it. In other words, it's a challenge but certainly worth the effort if you can put some work into it.