"The book is an important demonstration of the viability of General Systems Theory for anthropology. Among the surprising findings directly deriving from this approach is that the Aymara transition is a response not to inputs from the industrial sector, but to instabilities within the traditional Aymara economic system itself. The Systems Theory principle of the adaptive value of deviance is the basis for an in-depth analysis of the emergence of the Seventh-Day Adventists as a power-elite in many Aymara communities."
