Book completed
Jan. 7th, 2026 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeEnd Times: Elites, Counter-elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, by Peter Turchin. In general, I was pleasantly surprised by this book, which reflects the author’s work in the new field of “cliodynamics,” where they the use of complexity science to analyze historical data and identify trends. Turchin’s writing style is congenial, and he’s not out to replace conventional history – since that’s where he gets his data.
His big concern is that the two factors most involved in political instability are happening to us right now, and he’s hoping that their work can tell us what our society needs to fix to avoid serious problems. Those two factors are the “overproduction of elites” – having more people competing for positions of wealth and power than there is space for them, for example by having too many people with advanced degrees – and the “immiseration of the general public,” which is typically associated with big disparities in wealth. Ideally we need to improve the well-being and sense of security of the average American, while making sure that those who are “over-educated” are still reasonably happy. (I’m thinking student loan forgiveness would help with that.) I suspect that there are ways that modern societies may differ from earlier societies that their models may not capture, but it’s still interesting to read about their work.
His big concern is that the two factors most involved in political instability are happening to us right now, and he’s hoping that their work can tell us what our society needs to fix to avoid serious problems. Those two factors are the “overproduction of elites” – having more people competing for positions of wealth and power than there is space for them, for example by having too many people with advanced degrees – and the “immiseration of the general public,” which is typically associated with big disparities in wealth. Ideally we need to improve the well-being and sense of security of the average American, while making sure that those who are “over-educated” are still reasonably happy. (I’m thinking student loan forgiveness would help with that.) I suspect that there are ways that modern societies may differ from earlier societies that their models may not capture, but it’s still interesting to read about their work.