A01=Justin Jennings
agriculture
assemblage theory
Author_Justin Jennings
Category=JHMC
Category=NK
cities
culture change
economic theory
empires
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Equality
equity
evolution
evolutionary adaptation
evolutionary anthropology
Evolutionary psychology
foragers
global capitalism
hominid
homo-sapiens
human evolution
hunter-gatherer
pastoralism
protest
social change
states
wall street
Product details
- ISBN 9780813066745
- Weight: 740g
- Dimensions: 152 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 16 Feb 2021
- Publisher: University Press of Florida
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
In this ambitious work, Justin Jennings explores the origins, endurance, and elasticity of ideas about fairness and how these ideas have shaped the development of societies at critical moments over the last 20,000 years. He argues that humans have an innate expectation for fairness, a disposition that evolved during the Pleistocene era as a means of adapting to an unpredictable and often cruel climate. This deep-seated desire to do what felt right then impacted how our species transitioned into smaller territories, settled into villages, formed cities, expanded empires, and navigated capitalism. Paradoxically, the predilection to find fair solutions often led to entrenched inequities over time as cooperative groups grew in size, duration, and complexity.
Using case studies ranging from Japanese hunter-gatherers to North African herders to protestors on Wall Street, this book offers a broad comparative reflection on the endurance of a universal human trait amidst radical social change. Jennings makes the case that if we acknowledge fairness as a guiding principle of society, we can better understand that the solutions to yesterday's problems remain relevant to the global challenges that we face today.
Finding Fairness is a sweeping, archaeologically grounded view of human history with thought-provoking implications for the contemporary world.
Justin Jennings is senior curator of Latin American archaeology at the Royal Ontario Museum, as well as associate professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto. He is the author or editor of many books, including Globalizations and the Ancient World and Drink, Power, and Society in the Andes.
