new book: From Earth Spirits to Sky Gods

of relevance for comparing world-systems is a new book by
Bruce Lerro
_From Earthspirits to Sky Gods: The Socioecological Origins Of
Monotheism, Individualism And Hyperabstract Reasoning From The Stone Age
To The Axial Iron Age_ Lexington Press, 2000.

What is the difference between a spell and a prayer? Why do the gods
replace the goddesses in the creation myths of the ancient world? Why
does monotheism replace animism and polytheism at least among the upper
classes in some state societies?

This book is an attempt to a) link the sociohistorical school of
psychology, led by the marxian psychologist, Vygotsky to macrosociology
b) apply Vygotsky's cooperative theory of learning to tribal, archaic
and ancient societies in a way similar to Luria's study of the effect of
industrialization on the cognitive processes of workers and peasants c)
extend and deepen Marx and Engels' theory of religion by suggesting that
magic, unlike religion, is not a sign of alienation, but an expression
of egalitarian relations in some pre-state societies. d) to historicize
both Mead and Piaget, by arguing that both Mead's chararacteristics self
and Piaget's stages of cognitive development have an origin in history
and are not universally present.