Comparative Social Evolution

Comparative Social Evolution
Author: Dustin R. Rubenstein
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2017-03-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1108132634

Darwin famously described special difficulties in explaining social evolution in insects. More than a century later, the evolution of sociality - defined broadly as cooperative group living - remains one of the most intriguing problems in biology. Providing a unique perspective on the study of social evolution, this volume synthesizes the features of animal social life across the principle taxonomic groups in which sociality has evolved. The chapters explore sociality in a range of species, from ants to primates, highlighting key natural and life history data and providing a comparative view across animal societies. In establishing a single framework for a common, trait-based approach towards social synthesis, this volume will enable graduate students and investigators new to the field to systematically compare taxonomic groups and reinvigorate comparative approaches to studying animal social evolution.

Social Evolution

Social Evolution
Author: Robert Trivers
Publisher: Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Company
Total Pages: 490
Release: 1985
Genre: Science
ISBN:

Evolution of the Social Contract

Evolution of the Social Contract
Author: Brian Skyrms
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2014-10-30
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1107434289

This new edition further develops the application of evolutionary game theory to an analysis of the origins of social contracts.

Ecology of Social Evolution

Ecology of Social Evolution
Author: Judith Korb
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2008-02-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3540759573

The time is ripe to investigate similarities and differences in the course of social evolution in different animals. This book brings together renowned researchers working on sociality in different animals to deal with the key questions of sociobiology. For the first time, they compile the evidence for the importance of ecological factors in the evolution of social life, ranging from invertebrate to vertebrate social systems, and evaluate its importance versus that of relatedness.

Mathematical Models of Social Evolution

Mathematical Models of Social Evolution
Author: Richard McElreath
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2008-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226558282

Over the last several decades, mathematical models have become central to the study of social evolution, both in biology and the social sciences. But students in these disciplines often seriously lack the tools to understand them. A primer on behavioral modeling that includes both mathematics and evolutionary theory, Mathematical Models of Social Evolution aims to make the student and professional researcher in biology and the social sciences fully conversant in the language of the field. Teaching biological concepts from which models can be developed, Richard McElreath and Robert Boyd introduce readers to many of the typical mathematical tools that are used to analyze evolutionary models and end each chapter with a set of problems that draw upon these techniques. Mathematical Models of Social Evolution equips behaviorists and evolutionary biologists with the mathematical knowledge to truly understand the models on which their research depends. Ultimately, McElreath and Boyd’s goal is to impart the fundamental concepts that underlie modern biological understandings of the evolution of behavior so that readers will be able to more fully appreciate journal articles and scientific literature, and start building models of their own.

Cultural Evolution

Cultural Evolution
Author: Alex Mesoudi
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2011-07-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226520455

Charles Darwin changed the course of scientific thinking by showing how evolution accounts for the stunning diversity and biological complexity of life on earth. Recently, there has also been increased interest in the social sciences in how Darwinian theory can explain human culture. Covering a wide range of topics, including fads, public policy, the spread of religion, and herd behavior in markets, Alex Mesoudi shows that human culture is itself an evolutionary process that exhibits the key Darwinian mechanisms of variation, competition, and inheritance. This cross-disciplinary volume focuses on the ways cultural phenomena can be studied scientifically—from theoretical modeling to lab experiments, archaeological fieldwork to ethnographic studies—and shows how apparently disparate methods can complement one another to the mutual benefit of the various social science disciplines. Along the way, the book reveals how new insights arise from looking at culture from an evolutionary angle. Cultural Evolution provides a thought-provoking argument that Darwinian evolutionary theory can both unify different branches of inquiry and enhance understanding of human behavior.

Evolutionism In Cultural Anthropology

Evolutionism In Cultural Anthropology
Author: Robert L. Carneiro
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2018-02-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429980302

Examines the history of evolutionism in cultural anthropology, beginning with its roots in the 19th century, through the half-century of anti-evolutionism, to its reemergence in the 1950s, and the current perspectives on it today. No other book covers the subject so fully or over such a long period of time.. Evolutionism and Cultural Anthropology traces the interaction of evolutionary thought and anthropological theory from Herbert Spencer to the twenty-first century. It is a focused examination of how the idea of evolution has continued to provide anthropology with a master principle around which a vast body of data can be organized and synthesized. Erudite and readable, and quoting extensively from early theorists (such as Edward Tylor, Lewis Henry Morgan, John McLennan, Henry Maine, and James Frazer) so that the reader might judge them on the basis of their own words, Evolutionism and Cultural Anthropology is useful reading for courses in anthropological theory and the history of anthropology. 0813337666 Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology : a Critical History

Social Evolution and Sociological Categories (Routledge Revivals)

Social Evolution and Sociological Categories (Routledge Revivals)
Author: Paul Q. Hirst
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2010-01-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1135155720

First published in 1976, this book is concerned with the nature of classification in the social sciences. Its thesis is that classifications are dependent upon and are derived from theoretical explanations. Classification is not a theoretically neutral typification or ordering of social forms. This is because objects classified – societies, social institutions – are not given to knowledge independently of the categories which construct them and because the categories of classification are themselves the products of theories.

States and Social Evolution

States and Social Evolution
Author: Robert Gregory Williams
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 404
Release: 1994
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780807844632

The national governments of Central America were constructed between 1840 and 1900, a time when coffee was transformed from a botanical curiosity to the region's most important export. In spite of their geographic proximity, the national governments that