Evolution and Human Kinship [Hardcover]

While there have been controversial attempts to link conclusions from sociobiological studies of animal populations to humans, few behavioral scientists or anthropologists have made serious progress. In this work, Austin Hughes presents a unique and well-defined theoretical approach to human social behavior that is rooted in evolutionary biology and sociobiology, and which is additionally viewed as a direct continuation of the structural-functional tradition in anthropological research. Using mathematical and statistical techniques, Hughes applies the principles of kin selection theory--which states that natural selection can favor social acts that increase the fitness of both individuals and their relatives--to anthropological data. Among the topics covered are the subdivision of kin groups, selection of leaders in traditional societies, patronage systems, and the correspondence between social and biological kinship. The author concludes that patterns of concentration of relatedness are more important than average relatedness for predicting social behavior. He also shows that social interactions can often be predicted on the basis of common genetic interest in dependent offspring. The result is a major contribution to the field of behavioral biology.

1. Philosophical Background
2. The Theory of Kin Selection
3. Cooperation and Sharing Among Kin
4. The Structure of Relatedness
5. Kin Group Subdivision and Conflict
6. Kinship and Leadership
7. The Structure of Kinship Terminologies
8. Prospects for a Biologically Based Social Science

Hughes succeeds well, drawing on existing anthropological literature and interpreting and reinterpreting it in the light of his biological perspective. The real test, of course comes now as he invites empirical anthropologists to pick up his formal tools and to see if they can be used to push into new grounds, forcing new discoveries and revealing hitherto unsuspected links. . . .This is an imporl#&