"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."