A multitrajectory, competition model of emergent complexity in human social organization

Abstract

The repeated pattern of emergent human organization at a societal level going from small-scale, egalitarian decentralized societies to complex, stratified, and centralized societies is well-documented in the archaeological record of past societies. In this paper, I outline a multitrajectory model that relates to the broad features of this sequence of societal change. Competition is shown to play a critical role in the way interaction--among decision making, demographic parameters, and social units that organize resource ownership and procurement--either promotes or inhibits change in social organization. Multiagent simulation is discussed as a way to link culturally embedded decision making to emergent properties in the multitrajectory model.

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