Building communities. Presenting a model of community formation and organizational complexity in southwestern Anatolia

Download
2019-12-01
Daems, Drıes
In this paper, a model of community formation and organizational complexity is presented, focusing on the fundamental role of social interactions and information transmission for the development of complex social organisation. The model combines several approaches in complex systems thinking which has garnered increasing attention in archaeology. It is then outlined how this conceptual model can be applied in archaeology. In the absence of direct observations of constituent social interactions, archaeologists study the past through material remnants found in the archaeological record. People used their material surroundings to shape, structure and guide social interactions and practices in various ways. The presented framework shows how dynamics of social organisation and community formation can be inferred from these material remains. The model is applied on a case study of two communities, Sagalassos and Duzen Tepe, located in southwestern Anatolia during late Achaemenid to middle Hellenistic times (fifth to second centuries BCE). It is suggested that constituent interactions and practices can be linked to the markedly different forms of organizational structures and material surroundings attested in both communities. The case study illustrates how the presented model can help understand trajectories of socio-political structures and organizational complexity on a community level.
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Suggestions

Sustainability of historic rural settlements based on participatory conservation approach: Kemer Village in Turkey
Ekici, Simay Cansu; Özçakır, Özgün; Bilgin Altınöz, Ayşe Güliz (2022-04-01)
Purpose This paper aims to address the issue of the conservation and management of rural cultural heritage, with the aim being to gain an understanding of current problems and needs through a participatory approach, in recognition of the uniqueness of the relationship between nature, humankind and the built environment as an area of study. To this end, a comprehensive case study - Kemer Village in Turkey - focusing on the social sustainability and participatory approaches for the sustainable development of ...
Organizational structures and networks of four Islamıst/Islamic women's NGOs in Turkey : in the context of new social movement
Küçükoğlu, Lütfiye Sevinç; Rittersberger Tılıç, Helga İda; Department of Sociology (2004)
The main purpose of this study is to understand the organizational structures of Islamist/Islamic women̕s NGOs and explain the network mechanisms of them in the context of new social movements. This study is based on a social movement research; thus, both organizational structures and network mechanisms of Islamist/Islamic women̕s NGOs are explained and analyzed in terms of the features of new social movements, to answer the question of ءwhether Islamist/Islamic women̕s NGOs are potential and possible actor...
Encounters between children’s agency and the structures of social mobility: a case study of adolescents’ aspirations in Ankara, Turkey
Soyalp Gülcügil, Iraz Öykü; Kalaycıoğlu, Hediye Sibel; Department of Sociology (2018)
The objective of this thesis is to study the encounter between the structure and agency on the basis of adolescents’ aspirations for social mobility. The thesis has written in a Bourdieusian theoretical framework and has adopted a qualitative longitudinal methodology. Findings show that it is unfair to expect a fairer social stratification system and a more equal society based on the aspirations of adolescents. Parentocracy appears to be a more powerful determinant than meritocracy as opposed to what is sug...
Social determination of reputation: a research in Turkish context
Çalışkan, Mehmet Ali; Yeğen, Mesut; Department of Sociology (2010)
Today, the proliferation of social communication channels and the rapidization of communication cause fast dispersion of information and interpretation of social, cultural and economic developments. Therefore, societies interact with organizations not only through products and services, but also through image, visibility, perceptions, rumors, etc. Organizations have to develop reputation policies; they have to measure, track and manage their reputation. The most important element of an organization’s reputa...
Integrating Occupational Complexity Levels to Interest Assessments in Social and Enterprising Areas: Development of the Vertical Social Interest Scale
Acikgoz, Yalcin; Toker Gültaş, Yonca (2019-02-01)
With the goal of improving assessment of interests toward social and enterprising areas, we developed the Vertical Social Interest Scale (VSIS) by incorporating vertical differentiation between occupations in terms of authority and communication. Social and enterprising occupations, their complexity levels, and work activities were identified using the information in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Occupational Information Network. Three studies (N = 515 total), two of which utilized students and ...
Citation Formats
D. Daems, “Building communities. Presenting a model of community formation and organizational complexity in southwestern Anatolia,” JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, pp. 0–0, 2019, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/90405.