These papers bring an interdisciplinary approach to bear on what is arguably the central question in the study of human social evolution: how did the simple hunting and foraging bands of the Upper Palaeolithic evolve into the institutionally complex societies of the so-called Neolithic Revolution? The contributors to this volume are leading experts from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and game theory, all of whom share a common evolutionary perspective.
The ideas presented here form a major addition to the widespread current interest in evolutionary theory as applied to human behaviour.
Ofer Bar-Yosef: From Sedentary Foragers to Village Hierarchies: the Emergence of Social Institutions Alasdair Whittle: Different Kinds of History: on the Nature of Lives and Change in Central Europe, c.6000-after 2000BC Richard Bradley: The Birth of Architecture Colin Renfrew: Commodification and Institution in Group-oriented and Individualizing Societies Jerome Barkow: Social Competition, Social Intelligence, and Why the Bugis Know More about Cooking than about Nutrition Kenneth Binmore: How and Why did Fairness Norms Evolve? Robert Foley: Evolutionary Perspectives on the Origins of Human Social Institutions Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd: Institutional Evolution in the Holocene: The Rise of Complex Societies W. G. Runciman: From Nature to Culture, from Culture to Society
Reviews for The Origin of Human Social Institutions
... prestigious volume. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
