• DOI:10.1525/AP3A.1995.6.1.101
• Corpus ID: 129026022

Incorporating Heterarchy into Theory on Socio-political Development: The Case from Southeast Asia

@inproceedings{White2008IncorporatingHI,
  title={Incorporating Heterarchy into Theory on Socio-political Development: The Case from Southeast Asia},
  author={Joyce C. White},
  year={2008}
}

• Joyce C. White
• Published 28 June 2008
• Sociology

As archeological research in mainland Southeast Asia progresses beyond the pioneering stage, the emerging data pose a number of challenges to theories of socio-political development. Attempts to apply models assuming nested, conical, hierarchical progressions derivative from the band-tribe-chiefdom-state continuum often seem inadequate and somehow unable to account for the significant socio-political dynamics that are increasingly evident from the data. This chapter proposes that a shift in modeling the region's socio-political trajectory away from a stepprogression, hierarchical approach toward a dynamic, heterarchical approach will advance understanding of this region's distinctive social development and will contribute to broadening and refining theory on the formation of states and the development of social complexity.