On the Origin of Societies by Natural SelectionKinship, religion, and economy were not "natural" to humans, nor to species of apes that had to survive on the African savanna. Society from its very beginnings involved an uneasy necessity that often stood in conflict with humans' ape ancestry; these tensions only grew along with later, more complex-eventually colossal-sociocultural systems. The ape in us was not extinguished, nor obviated, by culture; indeed, our ancestry continues to place pressures on individuals and their sociocultural creations. Not just an exercise in history, this pathbreaking book dispels many myths about the beginning of society to gain new understandings of the many pressures on societies today. |
Contents
Figures | 1 |
Tables and Figures | 18 |
and the Elaboration of Social Structures | 173 |
Copyright | |
4 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
On the Origin of Societies by Natural Selection Jonathan H. Turner,Alexandra Maryanski Limited preview - 2015 |
On the Origin of Societies by Natural Selection Jonathan H. Turner,Alexandra Maryanski Limited preview - 2015 |
On the Origin of Societies by Natural Selection Jonathan H. Turner,Alexandra Maryanski No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
activities actors adult agrarian societies animals apes and humans areas bases of power beliefs brain bureaucracies cage capacity capital chimpanzees coercive common chimpanzee complex corporate units courts create cult structures culture differentiation distribution division of labor economic surplus elites emerged Émile Durkheim enhanced evolution evolved ape foraging forces forest fossil gorillas habitat hierarchy hominids Homo erectus horde horticultural horticultural societies human societies hunter-gatherers hunting and gathering incest increase individuals industrial and post-industrial inequality institutional domains kinship language larger last common ancestor males and females mammals markets Maryanski million years ago Miocene mobility natural selection neocortex neuroanatomy niches nuclear family offspring Old World monkeys orangutans organization patterns polity population post-industrial societies pre-adaptation prestige primate production prosimians puberty religion religious rituals savanna selection pressures sexual social bonds social structure sociocultural solidarity species supernatural symbols tion totems traits Turner weak-tie Westermarck effect