On the structure and dynamics of global systems

Kajsa Ekholm

pp. 241-261

in: Joel S. Kahn, Josep R. Llobera (eds), The anthropology of pre-capitalist societies, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1981

Abstract

Historical materialism is usually submitted as a general theory capable of explaining the differences among societies as well as the way in which they evolve. The interest of historical materialism is clearly related to the fact that it is perhaps the most elaborate attempt to construct such a general theory of social reality. Its claim to generality is based on the assumption that the object which it takes as its point of departure — the whole society — is assumed to be the universal totality containing the necessary and sufficient conditions for the explanation of history.