O livro "The Collapse of Complex Societies" de Joseph Tainter (1988) aponta que o colapso das sociedades ocorre baseado em quatro axiomas:
1. human societies are problem-solving organizations;
2. sociopolitical systems require energy for their maintenance;
3. increased complexity carries with it increased costs per capita; and
4. investment in sociopolitical complexity as a problem-solving response reaches a point of declining marginal returns.
Maiores informações:
a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse [1]
b) http://books.google.com.br/books?id=YdW5wSPJXIoC&dq=%22The+Collapse+of+C... [2]