Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history.

This article proposes that features of human biology and behavior that are often considered are associated with the evolution of complex society, in humans. These features are often analogous to physiological and behavioral differences found in other animals with complex societies (some species of ants, wasps and bees). process of social evolution is itself a selective agent and produces parallel features in animal species across genera and distinguishes those with complex societies from closely related species within their own genera in ways that make them appear (1). This is especially seen in humans as we have become a species with complex society in a short period of time, only one species has survived and achieved complexity and this complexity has had what seems to be a dramatic effect on the environment. Because human features that are considered are relatively new in human evolution or have unknown dates of origin (2) the conditions leading to their appearance is of interest. Aspects of mammalian social systems (e.g. monogamy & polygyny) have been shown to vary due to a number of factors (3). It is apparent, however, that we are ignorant of how quickly other complex animal societies appeared and what their immediate effect was on the environment. Some features of complexity that seem unique may also be associated with domestication. This approach is an advance in anthropology as it places recent human evolution in the context of the evolution of social complexity of other animal species who have achieved food production and domestication of other species and it reasserts Boasian emphasis of uniformitarianism of evolution over resurgent concepts of The Great Chain of Being or man as the crown of creation.

Rethinking animal social complexity measures with the help of complex systems concepts

PORCINE MALIGNANT HYPERTHERMIA, OXIDATIVE METABOLISM AND HALOTHANE

Social complexity is argued to be a driving factor in the evolution of communicative complexity. Complex social systems require individuals to form relationships with many conspecifics and interact in a wide variety of contexts over time, thus selecting for acoustic communication systems complex enough to facilitate these relationships. To better understand the evolution of such social and communicative complexity, we investigated a nocturnal, solitary forager, Garnett’s bushbaby (Otolemur garnettii), as a lorisoid model for the ancestral primate social systems from which more complex systems evolved. We hypothesized that it would be advantageous for solitary foragers to have individual differences in long-distance calls, as this could be crucial to the maintenance of their dispersed social networks. We tested for individual differences in the long distance bark vocalization. We measured 6 frequency and temporal parameters for 120 barks (15 barks from each of 8 individuals housed at the University of Southern Mississippi). Principal component and discriminant function analyses assigned the calls to the respective individuals at a rate that was moderately accurate and higher than chance (binomial test: 54.2% correct, P < 0.001, chance = 12.5%). This pilot work provides moderate evidence for individual differences and is the first such study to be conducted on lorisoids. Because individual differences have been documented in the vocalizations of solitary foraging lemuroids, we suggest that moderate individual differences may have been present in ancestral primates and contributed to the dispersed social system that is thought to have been the foundation from which increased social complexity evolved in primates.

Social identity complexity (Roccas &amp; Brewer, 2002) refers to individual differences in perception of one's multiple ingroup memberships. More specifically, social identity complexity is represented as perceived overlap in membership across pairs of ingroups, with lower overlap reflecting higher complexity. Previous research has demonstrated that social identity complexity is associated with tolerance and positive affect toward racial outgroups, and the present research explores further the nature of social identity complexity and its antecedents and correlates. Three studies are reported which examined the determinants of social identity complexity in different ways. Study 1 identified individual difference correlates of social identity complexity and demonstrated that perceived overlap predicts both explicit and implicit racial attitudes, above and beyond any effects of ideology and cognitive style. Study 2 confirmed the causal influence of the need for cognition on social identity complexity by demonstrating that manipulating need for cognitive elaboration influenced subsequent perceived overlap scores. Finally, Study 3 took advantage of a large field study with a diverse sample to assess the relationship between experience with an ethnically complex environment and social identity complexity.

Studies of eusocial invertebrates regard complex societies as those where there is a clear division of labour and extensive cooperation between breeders and helpers. In contrast, studies of social mammals identify complex societies as those where differentiated social relationships influence access to resources and reproductive opportunities. We show here that, while traits associated with social complexity of the first kind occur in social mammals that live in groups composed of close relatives, traits associated with the complexity of social relationships occur where average kinship between female group members is low. These differences in the form of social complexity appear to be associated with variation in brain size and probably reflect contrasts in the extent of conflicts of interest between group members. Our results emphasise the limitations of any unitary concept of social complexity and show that variation in average kinship between group members has far-reaching consequences for animal societies.

ABSTRACTObjectivesTo determine the relationship between known social complexity and model of primary care service deliveryApproachThe impacts of the social determinants of health are well described. To understand the contribution of specific factors on primary care service use we linked social data in the Population Health Research Data Repository at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy to health system data. We included all patients visiting a Winnipeg clinic at least three times between 2010 and 2013. We allocated each participant to the primary care provider providing the majority of their care; and each provider was assigned to the model of care where they provided the majority of their clinical care. We developed eleven new indicators to describe social complexity such as: children in care, low income quintile, income assistance (welfare), high residential mobility, and involvement with the justice system. Results The cohort included 626,264 unique individuals of whom 53.1% were female. The majority of participants received their care from the fee for service (FFS) model (511,763) followed by 76,261 assigned to “reformed FFS”. 16,536 and 12,178 were assigned to the 2 team-based care alternative funded models and 9,526 to the teaching clinic model. Patients with social complexities, except for newcomers, were more likely to attend the alternative funded clinics. The patients these clinics served were generally very complex with over 15% having more than 5 complexities compared to less than 5% of those attending the FFS models. Twice as many patients in the FFS models (60%) had no complexities compared to the alternative funded models.ConclusionThe availability of social data in population health repositories provides new opportunities to understand the distribution of these social factors amongst care providers and the impact of each on the health of populations. This new understanding can support focused interventions to address specific social risk factors and provide the evidence to support different models of primary care service delivery.

The cities of the Indus civilization were expansive and planned with large-scale architecture and sophisticated Bronze Age technologies. Despite these hallmarks of social complexity, the Indus lacks clear evidence for elaborate tombs, individual-aggrandizing monuments, large temples, and palaces. Its first excavators suggested that the Indus civilization was far more egalitarian than other early complex societies, and after nearly a century of investigation, clear evidence for a ruling class of managerial elites has yet to materialize. The conspicuous lack of political and economic inequality noted by Mohenjo-daro’s initial excavators was basically correct. This is not because the Indus civilization was not a complex society, rather, it is because there are common assumptions about distributions of wealth, hierarchies of power, specialization, and urbanism in the past that are simply incorrect. The Indus civilization reveals that a ruling class is not a prerequisite for social complexity.

Social complexity reflects the intricate patterns of social interactions in societies. Understanding social complexity is fundamental for studying the evolution of diverse social systems and the cognitive innovations used to cope with the demands of social life. Social complexity has been predominantly quantified by social unit size, but newer measures of social complexity reflect the diversity of relationships. However, the association between these two sets of measures remains unclear. We used 12 years of data on 13 gorilla groups to investigate how measures of social complexity relate to each other. We found that group size was a poor proxy for relationship diversity and that the social complexity individuals experienced within the same group varied greatly. Our findings demonstrate two fundamental takeaways: first, that the number of relationships and the diversity of those relationships represent separate components of social complexity, both of which should be accounted for; and second, that social complexity measured at the group level may not represent the social complexity experienced by individuals in those groups. These findings suggest that comprehensive studies of social complexity, particularly those relating to the social demands faced by individuals, may require fine-scale social data to allow accurate comparisons across populations and species.

This paper aims to examine some societal principles that underlie the development of horse-drawn chariots in Inner Eurasia during the Middle and Late Bronze Age (cal. 2050–1750 BC). Analysis is based on an evaluation and re-examination of the archaeological evidence for horse-drawn chariots, and the social constructs they entail. Chariots were developed in the zone of the Northern Eurasian steppes before c. 2000 BC in the context of complex but stateless societies. Because chariots depend on a set of developed skills, valuable resources, and complicated technologies, which involve several outstanding improvements to previously known solutions, they require specific conditions for their development and maintenance in social life. Most fundamentally, they require a group of people with an interest in this complex technology: a class of military elites characterized by aggrandizing behavior. The competition between collectives of military elites for resources, power and prestige brought into life the earliest chariot complex in the world.

Simple SummaryIt is currently well accepted that animals differ from one another in their behaviour and tendency to perform actions, a property we refer to as animal personality. In group-living animals, variation in animal personality can be important to determine group survival, as it determines how individuals interact with each other and with their environment. However, we have little knowledge of the proximal mechanisms underlying personality, particularly in group-living organisms. Here, we investigate the relationship between gene expression and two behavioural types (bold and shy) in a gregarious species: the American cockroach. Our results show that bold individuals have upregulated genes with functions associated with sensory activity (phototaxis and odour detection) and aggressive/dominant behaviour, and suggest that social context can modulate gene expression related to bold/shy characteristics. This work could help identify genes important in the earliest stages of group living and social life, and provides a first step toward establishing cockroaches as a focal group for the study of the evolution of sociality.Consistent inter-individual variation in the propensity to perform different tasks (animal personality) can contribute significantly to the success of group-living organisms. The distribution of different personalities in a group influences collective actions and therefore how these organisms interact with their environment. However, we have little understanding of the proximate mechanisms underlying animal personality in animal groups, and research on this theme has often been biased towards organisms with advanced social systems. The goal of this study is to investigate the mechanistic basis for personality variation during collective behaviour in a species with rudimentary societies: the American cockroach. We thus use an approach which combines experimental classification of individuals into behavioural phenotypes (‘bold’ and ‘shy’ individuals) with comparative gene expression. Our analyses reveal differences in gene expression between behavioural phenotypes and suggest that social context may modulate gene expression related to bold/shy characteristics. We also discuss how cockroaches could be a valuable model for the study of genetic mechanisms underlying the early steps in the evolution of social behaviour and social complexity. This study provides a first step towards a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms associated with differences in boldness and behavioural plasticity in these organisms.

Since the late 1970s, household archaeology has become a key theoretical and methodological framework for research on the development of permanent social inequality and complexity, as well as for understanding the social, political and economic organization of chiefdoms and states. This volume is the cumulative result of more than a decade of research focusing on household archaeology as a means to gain understanding of the evolution of social complexity, regardless of underlying economy.

Lourandos, H. 1985. Intensification in Australian prehistory. In T. Price and J. Brown (eds), Prehistoric Hunters and Gatherers: The Emergence of Social and Cultural Complexity, pp. 385-423. Academic, New York. McGuire, R. 1983. Breaking down cultural complexity: inequality and heterogeneity. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 6:91-142. Meillassoux, C. 1972. From reproduction to production : a Marxist approach to economic anthropology. Economy and Society 1:93-105. Millon, R. nd. The last years of Teotihuacan. In N. Yoffee and G. Cowgill (eds), The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations (forthcoming). Murra, J. 1962. Cloth and its function in Inca State. American Anthropologist 64:710-728. Murra, J. 1980. The Economic Organization of the Inka State. JAI Press, Greenwich. Rathje, W. 1978. Melanesian and Australian exchange systems: a view from Mesoamerica. Mankind 11:165-174. Renfrew, C. 1975. Trade as action at a distance : questions of integration and communication. In J. Sabloff and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (eds), Ancient Civilization and Trade, pp. 359. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Runciman, W. 1982. Origins of states: the case of archaic Greece. Comparative Studies in Society and History 24:351-377. Santley, R. and Arnold III, P. J. 1984. Obscured by clouds Journal of Anthropological Research 40:211-230. Service, L·. ly/j. lhe Origins of Civilization and the State. Norton, New York. Spence, M. 1981. Obsidian production and the state in Teotihuacan. American Antiquity 46:69-88. Upfield, A. 1983 [1957]. Bony Buys a Woman. William Heineman, Woollahra. Vertesalji, P. P. 1984. Babylonien zur Kupfersteinzeit. Dr Ludwig Reichert, Wiesbaden. Wright, H. and Johnson, G. 1975. Population, exchange and early state formation in south-western Iran. American Anthropologist 77:267-289. Yoffee, N. 1979. The decline and rise of Mesopotamian civilization : an ethnoarchaeological perspective on the evolution of social complexity. A mencan Antiquity 44:5-35. Yoffee, N. 1981. Explaining Trade in Ancient Western Asia. Undena Publications, Malibu, CA. Yoffee, N. nd a. Level and trend in social evolution. Manuscript. Yoffee, N. nd b. The collapses of Mesopotamian civilization. In N. Yoffee and G. L. Cowgill (eds), The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations (forthcoming).

This chapter overviews the theory of Big Gods and the contrasting views of researchers concerning this theory. It then argues for the advantages of shifting the weight of research from linear and causal models regarding the appearance of Big Gods, social complexity, and prosociality, to multivariant approaches that think in terms self-organizing dynamic systems that give rise to functional assemblage of co-evolving cultural traits that are mutually reinforcing.

Quantitative measures of social complexity derived from three different research endeavors are compared statistically for the same fifty societies. The scales are found to be correlated at a high level of significance; this suggests that the variables used are valid indicators of degree of social complexity and development.