Cultural Evolution Branches Out

The Phylogenetic Approach in Cross-Cultural Research

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7440573
AutoresThomas E Currie (0000-0001-9861-1341, Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK, autor correspondente)
Ano2013
Volume47
Fascículo2
Páginas102-130
Data de publicação2013-01-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCross-Cultural Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1069-3971 • E-ISSN: 1552-3578
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1069397112471803
OpenAlexW2319471236
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas65

Recently there has been a movement in the social sciences to apply theories and methods developed originally in evolutionary biology to understand human behavior and cultural change. In this article, I highlight an ever growing branch of this research that analyzes cultural data using a suite of techniques based on evolutionary trees. These phylogenetic methods fall into two categories: (a) “tree-building” that is, inferring the historical relationships between units, and (b) comparative analyses that is, mapping other traits onto the tips of these trees to make inferences about trait evolution. Using lexical data I infer the phylogenetic relationships between 82 Indo-European languages. The estimated divergence time of these languages agrees with earlier studies in supporting a hypothesis that places the homeland of the Indo-Europeans somewhere in Anatolia 8000-9500 BP. Using data from Austronesian-speaking societies I give examples of the use of comparative methods to (i) infer the system of land tenure in ancestral societies, (ii) examine the ecological correlates of violence in the Polynesian and Micronesian societies, and (iii) test hypotheses about the mode and tempo of sociopolitical evolution. I examine future areas of cultural phylogenetic research in the evolutionary social sciences and argue that the kinds of studies introduced in this article hold the potential for fruitful collaborations between cultural phylogeneticists and cross-cultural researchers

Comparative method · Divergence (linguistics · Homeland · Trait · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution · Primate Behavior and Ecology