Dr. Brian Hayden
Fellow
Current Employer
Simon Fraser University
Election Year
2007
Academy
Academy of Social Sciences
Discipline
Anthropology / Archaeology
Department
Department of Archaeology
Keywords
prehistory, Ethnoarchaeology, feasting, inequality, domestication
Long Citation
Brian Hayden has developed and tested hypotheses to explain how complex human social organization emerged in egalitarian societies. He argues that ambitious individuals create multiple strategies to acquire prestige and social power, notably through manipulation of surpluses and possession of arcane knowledge, and that these ambitions transform societies. His fieldwork throughout the world provides an empirical basis for hypotheses that explore the origins of agriculture, the function of religion, and the emergence of social inequality. Controversial and influential, his work has been widely published.
Short Citation
Brian Hayden has developed and tested hypotheses to explain how complex human social organization emerged in egalitarian societies. He argues that ambitious individuals create multiple strategies to acquire prestige and social power, notably through manipulation of surpluses and possession of arcane knowledge, and that these ambitions transform societies. Controversial and influential, his work has been widely published.
Brian Hayden has developed and tested hypotheses to explain how complex human social organization emerged in egalitarian societies. He argues that ambitious individuals create multiple strategies to acquire prestige and social power, notably through manipulation of surpluses and possession of arcane knowledge, and that these ambitions transform societies. His fieldwork throughout the world provides an empirical basis for hypotheses that explore the origins of agriculture, the function of religion, and the emergence of social inequality. Controversial and influential, his work has been widely published.
Short Citation
Brian Hayden has developed and tested hypotheses to explain how complex human social organization emerged in egalitarian societies. He argues that ambitious individuals create multiple strategies to acquire prestige and social power, notably through manipulation of surpluses and possession of arcane knowledge, and that these ambitions transform societies. Controversial and influential, his work has been widely published.
3447