Abstract

I have recently proposed a model for the development of rank on the northwest coast of North America that rests on the postulate that social hierarchies arise as a result of increasing constraints on systemic responses to environmental changes. Applying that model to data from both the west and east coasts produces results which support a conclusion that social differentiation must be regarded not only as a result of change, but as a process as well, equal in importance to population growth, sedentarization and subsistence intensification.