Economics is a social science and the social sciences are about humans and human behaviour. Studies conducted in the other social sciences make it clear that humans behave very differently than the way economics assumes. The gene structure favours an altruistic attitude — not egoism. People tend to form groups, seeing this to be the best chance of survival. They cooperate with each other inside the groups and tend to rally against out-groups, whom they often see as a threat. The relations inside groups and among the members may be governed by three types of socio-economic patterns: a market economy, a tributary economy, and a kin-oriented system. Parts of all three patterns are found in most societies all over the world. How they interact with each other may differ from place to place. Human behaviour is not the same irrespective of background, religion, nature and upbringing (culture in a broad sense). On the contrary, different people will respond differently to similar questions, particularly in relation to other human beings, depending on exactly those cultural elements. It would seem that much of the social sciences themselves, and particularly economics, falls into this category — being based on studies by people and of people with a Western background, and with diminishing validity as it is applied beyond that base.