Power of Scale: A Global History Approach

Throughout history, the natural human inclination to accumulate social power has led to growth and scale increases that benefit the few at the expense of the many. John Bodley looks at global history through the lens of power and scale theory, and draws on history, economics, anthropology, and sociology to demonstrate how individuals have been the agents of social change, not social classes. Filled with tables and data to support his argument, this book considers how increases in scale necessarily lead to an increasingly small elite gaining disproportionate power, making democratic control more difficult to achieve and maintain. 1: Introduction: Imperia and the Power of Scale; 2: Imperia in Three Worlds; 3: Why Scale Matters; 4: The Political Elite Take Power; 5: The Rise of European Commercial Elites; 6: The Power Elite in Action: America's Commercial Revolution, 1787–1945; 7: Counter-Imperia: Imagining Alternative Worlds; 8: Utopian Capitalists: Constructing and Reconstructing the World Order, 1945–2000; 9: Beyond 2000: An Optimal-Scale Commercial World