#121 Alan Fiske: The Four Relational Models, Virtuous Violence, and Morality
Dr. Alan Fiske is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He’s a psychological anthropologist studying how natural selection, neurobiology, ontogeny, psychology, and culture jointly shape human sociality. He’s also the author of the books Structures of Social Life: The Four Elementary Forms of Human Relations, and Virtuous Violence: Hurting and Killing to Create, Sustain, End, and Honor Social Relationships.
In this episode, we talk about the four relational models at the basis of human sociality – Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking, Equality Matching, and Market Pricing -, their universality, and also how they vary cross-culturally. We also talk about the relationship between sociality and morality, and the moral bases of violence. By the end, we also discuss moral relativism, and how science can inform morality.
Time Links:
The four Relational Models – Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking, Equality Matching, and Market Pricing
How do they vary cross-culturally?
About kin selection and reciprocal altruism
Sociality and morality
The moral bases of violence
Moral motivations to commit violence
Is some degree of violence (or threat of violence) necessary to keep societies functioning?
Are people always emotional and impulsive when they act violently?
Conformation systems theory – how people represent a relationship, and employ means for creating and maintaining the relationship
How to prevent violence
About moral relativism
How can science inform morality?
Follow Dr. Fiske’s work!
Follow Dr. Fiske’s work:
Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/yazjp5dy
Kama Muta Lab: http://kamamutalab.org/
Structures of Social Life: https://tinyurl.com/yd2tfqmg
Virtuous Violence: https://tinyurl.com/y8e3835z