Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-7-2019
Abstract
We propose that networks of cooperation and allocation of social status co-emerge in human groups. We substantiate this hypothesis with one of the first longitudinal studies of cooperation in a preindustrial society, spanning 8 years. Using longitudinal social network analysis of cooperation among men, we find large effects of kinship, reciprocity and transitivity in the nomination of cooperation partners over time. Independent of these effects, we show that (i) higher-status individuals gain more cooperation partners, and (ii) individuals gain status by cooperating with individuals of higher status than themselves. We posit that human hierarchies are more egalitarian relative to other primates species, owing in part to greater interdependence between cooperation and status hierarchy.
Recommended Citation
von Rueden, C. R., Redhead, D., O'Gorman, R., Kaplan, H., & Gurven, M. (2019). The dynamics of men's cooperation and social status in a small-scale society. Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1908), 20191367. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1367
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
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Comments
This article was originally published in Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, volume 286, issue 1908, in 2019. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1367