#210 Dwight Read: Cultural Kin Systems, And The Evolution Of Human Sociality
Dr. Dwight Read is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). His research interests include mathematical anthropology, the structural logic of kinship terminologies, theory of social organization, cultural evolution, and archaeological classification. He’s the author of books like Artifact Classification: A Conceptual and Methodological Approach, Human Thought and Social Organization: Anthropology on a New Plane, and How Culture Makes Us Human: Primate Social Evolution and the Formation of Human Societies.
In this episode, we discuss the evolutionary bases of human sociality. We talk about how sociality evolved from Old World monkeys to chimpanzees and to humans. We refer to the role of biological kin selection, and the biological traits that provided a basis for the cultural evolution of kin systems. We discuss the social function of kin systems, their limits, and group identities beyond kin.
Time Links:
The evolutionary bases of human sociality, and comparisons with other primate societies (Old World monkeys and chimpanzees)
The role of (biological) kin selection
Do we need reciprocal altruism to explain human sociality?
The role of pair-bonding in the structuring of human societies
The biological traits at the basis of cultural kin systems
The role of kin systems/terminologies in hunter-gatherer societies
The limits to kinship
Group identities above kin
Are there any patterns in cross-cultural variation in kin systems?
Follow Dr. Read’s work!
Follow Dr. Read’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/2DdRWWP
Researchgate profile: https://bit.ly/2v0nX05
Adacemia.edu profile: https://bit.ly/2Fb57Zy
How Culture Makes Us Human: Primate Social Evolution and the Formation of Human Societies: https://amzn.to/2DbCqL8