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kin selection and culture
Author(s) -
HAWKES KRISTEN
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1983.10.2.02a00090
Subject(s) - kinship , sociobiology , kin selection , inclusive fitness , fictive kinship , selection (genetic algorithm) , sociology , social evolution , new guinea , soundness , genealogy , epistemology , anthropology , biology , evolutionary biology , ethnology , philosophy , computer science , linguistics , artificial intelligence , history
Social kinship is not equivalent to genetic relatedness, and it is social kinship that organizes much of human action. The soundness of this generalization does not imply that the theory of kin selection developed in evolutionary biology is inapplicable to culture. This paper uses data from Binumarien, a small Highland New Guinea community, to test a prediction from kin selection and to illustrate the use of sociobiological perspectives to explain culture, not explain it away. [culture and biology, kinship, inclusive fitness, social organization, sociobiology, Highland New Guinea]