Sociocultural Evolution

[Quijote]

I have a large interest in creating a historical dynamical environment for Sid Meier's Civilization IV. To achieve this I would like to add the general tendencies of socioculutral evolution to the game, but before this can be done one needs to have a good understanding of it.
I have read a few works and a couple of passages from other works, though sadly I find it very hard to find a consensus to what factors cause sociocultural distinction between civilizations.
I hope people with an interest in this field will be so kind to assist me with their knowledge - possibly someone who has studied history or culture studies - so I can answer the following questions:

What factors determine sociocultural evolution?
How come some civilizations achieve a more complex cultural/political system than others?
What are the catalysts for scientific growth?

These questions are very complex, and thus I hope to get answers that attempt to simplify the concept. I am reading literature on this subject at the current moment, but I am sure someone is able to help me.

Thank you for your time.

Library:
[DISCUSSION]Sociocultural Evolution – My post concerning the development of the MODcomponent.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=189193
Sociocultural Evolution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociocultural_evolution
History of Technology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_progress​

 

[Verbose]

I looked at your other CFC thread. I'm wondering if you've looked at the historical strategy games produced by Paradox International, in particular "Europa Universalis II" and "Victoria"?

The EUII uses a form of "cultural tech-groups", which looks a tad similar to what you're suggesting. Of course, these games aren't concerned with making a level playing field, but with reasonably modelling cultural and technological diversity. Essentially it means non-Europeans struggle just to keep up, while Europeans will never fall that far behind.

"Victoria" tries to model social developments in the 19th c., meaning it's never just a matter of military, industry and foreign policy, you also have to manage your internal social development as your population is in a sense politically self-aware. (Try sticking to autocracy and you'll see them all go communist in the end.)

Both games simultaneously tries to model technological and social developments in the period 1500-1900 (roughly). But that's about it. They don't try to really go into the mechanisms behind them, just to simulate a reasonable historical devlopment.

 

[willemvanoranje]

Ok, first of all: I am not an expert on this, I study political science and not anthropology. Therefore I do have some insight in historical processes, but not deeply linked to culture.

How come some civilizations achieve a more complex cultural/political system than others?

I'd have to guess that it has to do with population count, land area, population density, there being neighbours or not, having links to them or not, those being tight or not, religious systems, economic systems.. a lot of things that influence.

A part of this question might be answered by reading Wallerstein's theory on the World System. According to him Europe could advance over other civilizations like the Chinese because it was an economic unity, but politically split. Between the many political units (eg kingdoms, city-states, republics, etc.) there was a lot of competition, which led to the need of constant innovation..especially on warfare. China lagged behind because it was a single political unit, and had no real competition for most of its later history.

These questions are very complex, and thus I hope to get answers that attempt to simplify the concept. I am reading literature on this subject at the current moment, but I am sure someone is able to help me.

Try reading something on globalization; the emergence of markets etc. "States versus Markets" by Herman M. Schwartz is an example (first 6 chapters basically). Also: Wallerstein. For both of these goes however, that these books are several hundred pages thick, so maybe it's wise to find some kind of summary around.