Cultural macroevolution matters
Edited by Andrew Whiten, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Andrew G. Clark May 29, 2017 (received for review January 16, 2017)
Abstract
Evolutionary thinking can be applied to both cultural microevolution and macroevolution. However, much of the current literature focuses on cultural microevolution. In this article, we argue that the growing availability of large cross-cultural datasets facilitates the use of computational methods derived from evolutionary biology to answer broad-scale questions about the major transitions in human social organization. Biological methods can be extended to human cultural evolution. We illustrate this argument with examples drawn from our recent work on the roles of Big Gods and ritual human sacrifice in the evolution of large, stratified societies. These analyses show that, although the presence of Big Gods is correlated with the evolution of political complexity, in Austronesian cultures at least, they do not play a causal role in ratcheting up political complexity. In contrast, ritual human sacrifice does play a causal role in promoting and sustaining the evolution of stratified societies by maintaining and legitimizing the power of elites. We briefly discuss some common objections to the application of phylogenetic modeling to cultural evolution and argue that the use of these methods does not require a commitment to either gene-like cultural inheritance or to the view that cultures are like vertebrate species. We conclude that the careful application of these methods can substantially enhance the prospects of an evolutionary science of human history.
Data Availability
Data deposition: The data reported in this paper have been deposited in the D-PLACE (https://d-place.org/home), Pulotu (https://pulotu.shh.mpg.de), and ABVD (https://abvd.shh.mpg.de/austronesian/) databases.
Acknowledgments
We thank colleagues Quentin Atkinson, Carlos Botero, Joseph Bulbulia, Michael Gavin, Simon Greenhill, and Oliver Sheehan for their important contributions to the joint work on the cultural evolution of religion discussed here. Olivier Morin and Kim Sterelny made useful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by John Templeton Foundation Grant 28745; a PhD scholarship from the University of Auckland; and Marsden Fund Grant UOA1104.
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Data Availability
Data deposition: The data reported in this paper have been deposited in the D-PLACE (https://d-place.org/home), Pulotu (https://pulotu.shh.mpg.de), and ABVD (https://abvd.shh.mpg.de/austronesian/) databases.
Submission history
Published online: July 24, 2017
Published in issue: July 25, 2017
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Acknowledgments
We thank colleagues Quentin Atkinson, Carlos Botero, Joseph Bulbulia, Michael Gavin, Simon Greenhill, and Oliver Sheehan for their important contributions to the joint work on the cultural evolution of religion discussed here. Olivier Morin and Kim Sterelny made useful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by John Templeton Foundation Grant 28745; a PhD scholarship from the University of Auckland; and Marsden Fund Grant UOA1104.
Notes
This paper results from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences, “The Extension of Biology Through Culture,” held November 16–17, 2016, at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering in Irvine, CA. The complete program and video recordings of most presentations are available on the NAS website at www.nasonline.org/Extension_of_Biology_Through_Culture.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. A.W. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Cultural macroevolution matters, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
114 (30) 7846-7852,
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620746114
(2017).
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