Do Societies Choose to Fail or Survive Essay

The society is a very important aspect on the life of any human. The very definition of the term society which is entwined on the aspect of relationships of a group of people, who depend on each other in either way make it to be of utmost importance. When viewed in broader terms, the society depicts people in a certain region and most certainly has common bonds such as culture, language or any other factors that brings them together. It is therefore common knowledge to note that although the society has the gist of prospering, other societies have fallen and the question that arises is whether a society chooses to fail or survive. Various arguments have been put across with some of the hardliners taking passionate stands on what they believe in with regard to the prosperity or failure of a society (Diamond, 2005). One of the authors who has been vocal in examining the survival of societies Jareed Diamond, probes why some of the societies in the past were able to survive and why some feel out rightly. The author bases his research mainly on concentrating on the past right to the modern world. In his award winning book titled Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, the author in the prologue states that the book â€Å"employs the comparative method to understand societal collapses to which environmental problems contribute†. The author in writing this book tends to offer a historical context of societies that have on the â€Å"collapse or survival† of the society. The author thus seems to argue that â€Å"input† variables have significant effect on the â€Å"output† (Diamond, 2005). The author highlights some of the factors that have in the past been culprits in collapse of societies. Some of them are overfishing, overpopulation, deforestation and others. He also goes further to include factors that may in the future aid in the survival or collapse of societies. The author uses the Anasazi collapse to put forward his arguments on why societies fail at sometimes. The Anasazi who are a Native American society are used by the author to clearly illustrate the link between population growth and environmental damage directly to the collapse of the Anasazi. The author as he tries to highlight is that the warfare that took place was not a significant contributor to the failure of this society (Diamond, 2005). Another incisive and highly critical book of how society thrives is the book Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability and the Aftermath of Empire. The book which has an impressive number of 15 scholarly scientists, provide an incisive look at this issue with each of the personalities contributing significantly. The authors of this book borrow appraise Diamonds work and use his â€Å"provoking inquiries† to give their valuable insights into this issue (Norman and McAnamy, 2010). Another highly critical and analytical book Marketing Conquest and the Vanishing Indian: an Indigenous Response to Jared Diamond’s Archaeology of the American Southwest, the book tries to respond to Diamond’s work. The essay seems to suggest that Diamond’s are some of the most important aspects with regards to conquest. In Diamonds books, he seems to suggest that â€Å"colonialization and conquest† were what he refers to as ‘accident’ and that modern collapses of various societies can be avoided by studying the root causes of these earlier conflicts. This essay is a direct response to Diamonds assumptions and it mainly questions the authenticity of his assumptions and comes to the conclusion that diamonds are actually an important aspect of conquest. References: Diamond, J (2005). â€Å"Prologue. † Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. New York: Penguin —. â€Å"The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and Their Neighbors. † Chapter 4 of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Penguin, 2005. McAnamy, P. A. and Norman Y (2010). Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability and the Aftermath of Empire. New York: Cambridge UP, 1-20 Wilcox, M. â€Å"Marketing Conquest and the Vanishing Indian: An Indigenous Response to Jared Diamond’s Archaeology of the American Southwest. † Eds.