Analysis of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond - Book Report/Review Example

Latesvology Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 2nd April, Introduction The global economy has undergone a lot of changes in the past decade which has benefitted or adversely affected some regions. Economic change has contributed to a lot of problems and successes in different countries. As a result, the global economy has expanded while technological advancement has increased to the effect that societal values have come under pressure. This essay is going to analyze the socio-economic issues that shape Latesvology as examined through a book which captures the changes that have occurred in relation to economic and social changes. The book that we are going to analyze is ‘Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or succeed’ authored by Jared Diamond. Latesvology is a model that looks into the impacts of change in the society brought about by economical, technological and social changes. It further examines the dominant views and acceptable variance in the society related to economical or technological changes. Discussion The changing global economy has been of concern to the many people in different spheres of the global economy. Since these changes in the global economy have had an effect on the technological and social values within the society. The global world economy has grown tremendously over the years and thus various sectors such as the energy and mining sectors have grown. However, these industries have experienced growth which has boosted the technology sector but has been detrimental to the society in terms of environmental degradation. The growth in the global economy impacted negatively on the society in terms of environmental degradation. This book specifically looks at the advancement of society during the past years and gives a determination that economic growth has contributed to the collapse of different societies. The past societies of the Mayan people, the Anasazi of North America and Vikings of Greenland were great societies which were driven by economic and political success. Economic success has been a key driver of many societies and countries in the past and currently. Economic growth has led to the growth of industries and revolutions such as the agrarian revolution or the industrial age. Regions such as Europe grew in the past decades leading to growth or agriculture, industry, technology and the society. As a result, to support this growth many societies demanded more of resource allocation to be used in supporting industrial growth in order to accommodate the lifestyles of the society. However, growth in the economical aspect led to growth of industries and technology and as a result, technology was used in the exploitation of resources. Technology was used in expanding industries as new forms of technology such as growth in the transport systems improved paving way for industrial growth. As a means of sustaining the industrial growth and other forms of growth, minerals and other resources became the focal point of the development and search of these resources over the long period of time. Therefore, mining and other activities related to mineral extraction became major economic activities. The book in this case compares the race and rate of resource utilization during the Mayan, Vikings periods as equal to the current rate of resource utilization in the world (Diamond 187). The current global situation is that commodities and resources are the main drivers of the global economy. As a result, resources such as oil, steel and land are regarded as big economical factors in the development of societal life. Moreover, technology also assisted the development of the economical sector in that it was utilized in the process of acquiring resources from the earth easily for consumption. Consequently, the development of technology aided in the growth of the market economy within the business world. As the economy grew, the net effect in the society was the change in lifestyle and change of the standards of living. People began living a life that is compared to a modern life with cars, technology, modern homes and many other changes. As highlighted in Jared’ book, once the Mayan, Vikings and Anasazi kingdoms and societies grow, there was the need to exploit more resources for the continuation of their livelihood. As a result, these kingdoms grew tremendously. However, the growth of the global economy as well as the growth of these ancient kingdoms created a system where the various factors (variance) in societal value of life were distorted leading to a disturbed system. Many people and factors worked against the new form of economical growth which disturbed the order of life and came up with a system that is unequal. For instance, the growth in the global economy contributed to the scramble of resources which became scarce and started to diminish (Diamond 214). The scramble for resources has in the recent past been done without consideration for the environment, societal values or business ideals. For instance, the prices of oil once went to a level of around $ 200. In the book, Jared refers to the total disregard for the environment during the Mayan and Anasazi societies as these people went with their lives with emphasis being on resource utilization. The hunger for resources in past civilizations in the Maya and Anasazi periods led to increased population and contributing to societal pressures. Some of the pressures included hunger, droughts and chaos from the common citizens against the ruling class. These actions were in connection to the need for a societal struggle in a bid to reduce the pressure created by factors pushing for utilization and equity of resources. The same struggle is witnessed in the world today whereby due to the pressures of resources, some governments have advocated for cleaner and renewable energy such as solar, hydro-electric, bio-diesel and other systems to cure the anomaly of the hunger for resources. Governments and stakeholders in global leadership have been concerned of the need for a cap on the utilization of resources. As a result, the regulatory frameworks have been agreed upon to reduce the societal pressures created by the economic growth which has created a resource problem (Cohen 108). As a result, global economies have come up with technologies that ensure efficiency is practised within resource industries such as mining. Societal pressures that have been created by the resource utilization include price increases leading to unattainable livelihoods. Moreover, it has created the big problem of environmental chaos. In his book, Jared clearly defines the collapse of the ancient societies such the Maya was due to environmental destruction which lead to droughts, famine and disease. This chaos occurred so as to adjust the depletion of resources to an acceptable level and creating a balance that is acceptable within segments of pressure points. The current global economy has been faced with a lot of catastrophes such as hurricanes, drought and changing climatic conditions. These events have been contributed by the increase in depletion of the environment due to the scramble for resources (Diamond 231). As a result, corrective measures such the enactment of pollution laws such has the Kyoto protocol are regulatory measures aimed at reducing improper utilization of resources. In terms of societal change, there will be regulation passed by different governments which will try to change or influence fiscal and social issues. For instance, high income earners in the society will be restrained and forced to contribute to raising the standards of the common people in the society (Cohen 117). The author in the book explains that environmental degradation is a serious problem that contributes to chaos and lead to the collapse of current global systems if the issues is not addressed properly. The economic action of trying to reduce the effects of environmental degradation has contributed to the argument if it is fair to give subsidies to clean energy at the cost of economic survival. However, this argument is dispelled by the law of diminishing returns sine it signals that there is a limit to everything. For instance, increased mining of resources such as oil will contribute to decreased output over time and this will result in rise of oil prices and making the commodity unaffordable. As a result, there will be change in societal values and thus there is a limit to the extent of the utilization of resources. This is best exemplified by the current global economic crisis which proved a limit on the prosperity and growth of certain countries. Although, in Jared’ book he make use of historical and scientific prove to prove the point that if environmental protection is not addressed then the world might face imminent collapse in the future. Conclusion Latesvology looks into the transformations that occur in a certain society based on changes in the economy or technology. This is best evidenced by the sentiments of Jared Diamond in his book where he delves on the issue of the environment. Jared makes a comparison of the ancient societies with current world and how resource utilization and acquisition could lead to the ultimate collapse of the world. The destruction of the environment has created chaos that has disturbed societal balance and some people have come up with measures to fix this variance. While other people have opposed the enhancement of these measures, the global environment is changing in a bid to fix this anomaly. Works Cited Cohen, James and Stewart, Ian. The collapse of chaos. Chicago, IL: Viking, 2006. Print. Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed. London: Penguin Books, 2011. Print. Read More