The Pleistocene social contract : culture and cooperation in human evolution / Kim Sterelny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sterelny, Kim, author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cooperation--Sociological aspects.

Cooperation.

Economic anthropology.

Social evolution.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 182 pages).

Other Title:

Culture and cooperation in human evolution

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Oxford University Press, [2021]

Summary:

In this text, Kim Sterelny builds on his original account of the evolutionary development and interaction of human culture and cooperation, which he first presented in 'The Evolved Apprentice'. Sterelny sees human evolution not as hinging on a single key innovation, but as emerging from a positive feedback loop caused by smaller divergences from other great apes, including bipedal locomotion, better causal and social reasoning, reproductive cooperation, and changes in diet and foraging style. He advances this argument in 'The Pleistocene Social Contract' with four key claims about cooperation, culture, and their interaction in human evolution, alongside a reading of the archaeological and ethnographical record.

Contents:

1. Building Cumulative Culture

1.1 Methodological Preliminaries

1.2 Culture and Cooperation

1.3 The Prehistory of an Unusual Ape

1.4 The Growing Footprint of Cultural Learning

1.5 Cumulative Cultural Learning

1.6 Adapted Minds and Environments

1.7 Overview

2. The Pleistocene Social Contract

2.1 Free-​Riders and Bullies

2.2 Curbing Dominance Hierarchies

2.3 An Economy of Reciprocation

2.4 Making Reciprocation Work: Gossip

2.5 Making Reciprocation Work: Norms

2.6 Making Reciprocation Work: Ritual

2.7 Stabilizing Cooperation

3. Cooperation in a Larger World

3.1 Cooperation between Bands

3.2 The Origins of an Open Society

3.3 Cooperation, Culture and Conflict

3.4 Individual Selection, Group Selection and Cultural Group Selection

4. Cooperation in Hierarchical Communities

4.1 The Puzzle of Farming

4.2 Cooperation in an Unequal World

4.3 Religion, Ritual and Ideology

4.4 Conflict, Hierarchy and Inequality

Epilogue: Why Only Us?

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2021.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-753140-7

0-19-753141-5

0-19-753139-3

OCLC:

1201693371