Full Description
Few concepts are as central to sociology as institutions. Yet, like so many sociological concepts, institutions remain vaguely defined. This book expands a foundational definition of the institution, one which locates them as the basic building blocks of human societies—as structural and cultural machines for survival that make it possible to pass precious knowledge from one generation to the next, ensuring the survival of our species. The book extends this classic tradition by, first, applying advances in biological evolution, neuroscience, and primatology to explain the origins of human societies and, in particular, the first institutional sphere: kinship. The authors incorporate insights from natural sciences often marginalized in sociology, while highlighting the limitations of purely biogenetic, Darwinian explanations. Secondly, they build a vivid conceptual model of institutions and their central dynamics as the book charts the chronological evolution of kinship, polity, religion, law, and economy, discussing the biological evidence for the ubiquity of these institutions as evolutionary adaptations themselves.
Contents
Introduction
On the Origins of Human Capacities
Selection as the Force Driving Institutional Evolution
Building Human Institutions
The Dynamics of Institutional Autonomy
The First Human Institution: The Evolution of the Nuclear Family and Kinship
The Elaboration of Kinship
The Emergence of Polity in Human Societies
The Increasing Autonomy of Polity
The Emergence of Religion
Religious Evolution and Religious Autonomy
The Emergence of Economy
The Emergence of Law
Legal Autonomy and the Expanding Institutional Infrastructure
Institutional Evolution To The Brink of Modernity
Institutional Evolution and Stratification
The Evolved Institutional Order and the West
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