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Scaling human sociopolitical complexity.
Marcus J Hamilton1, Robert S Walker2, Briggs Buchanan3
1Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States of America.
Plos One
|July 3, 2020
Summary
Human sociopolitical complexity scales predictably, with hierarchical levels showing consistent increases in population and geographic range. This scaling reveals how population density changes with societal complexity.
Area of Science:
- Anthropology
- Sociology
- Complexity Science
Background:
- Human societies display vast diversity in size, structure, and complexity.
- Sociopolitical complexity has evolved significantly over recent centuries, ranging from small-scale societies to large states.
- A quantitative understanding of cross-cultural variations in sociopolitical complexity remains underdeveloped.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively analyze the statistical structure of global human societies across varying levels of sociopolitical complexity.
- To investigate the scaling relationships between population size, geographic range, and population density in different societal structures.
Main Methods:
- Utilized scaling analysis on a global dataset of over a thousand human societies.
- Examined statistical patterns across multiple levels of sociopolitical complexity.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated self-similarity across hierarchical levels of sociopolitical complexity, with adjacent levels showing predictable increases in population size (4x), geographic range (2x), and population density (2x).
- Established scaling laws for population size and geographic range as societal complexity increases.
- Observed considerable overlap in population metrics across scales, indicating that larger/denser populations do not always equate to higher complexity.
Conclusions:
- Societal complexity exhibits self-similar scaling properties related to population and spatial organization.
- While complexity correlates with larger and denser populations, the relationship is not strictly deterministic.
- Scaling analysis provides a quantitative framework for understanding the evolution of human sociopolitical organization.
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