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The disunity of cultural group selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Olivier Morin
Olivier Morin*
Affiliation:
Konrad Lorenz Institute, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria. [email protected]://sites.google.com/site/sitedoliviermorin/
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Abstract

I argue that demographic selection, migration, and cultural diffusion, three mechanisms of institutional change, have little in common. Two of these lack the key features associated with group selection: they do not present us with group-level selection pressures counteracting individual-level ones, need not produce behavioral altruism, and do not require competition between groups whose members cooperate preferentially with one another. Cultural norms vary, change, and influence cooperation; but that is not group selection.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e46
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

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