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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">(From one of my current projects:)<br>
<br>
There is some research suggesting that parochialism or in-group
favouritism is a pretty common thing, often based more on internal
cooperation rather than out-group derogation.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25222635">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25222635</a><br>
This tendency seems to be proportional to the cooperation level.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ratiolab.huji.ac.il/gary/article9.pdf">http://ratiolab.huji.ac.il/gary/article9.pdf</a><br>
Conversely, competition between groups can actually lead to
increased contribution to public goods inside the group and
increased effectiveness. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4330795/">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4330795/</a> <br>
Men tend to have higher levels of parochialism, cooperating more
than women inside their group but also have higher out-group
conflict proclivity.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.452.6288&rep=rep1&type=pdf">http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.452.6288&rep=rep1&type=pdf</a><br>
<br>
What substrate does this phenomenon run on? I don't think we need
to blame genetics or intelligence, culture is more than enough. A
strongly male dominated, competitive situation, perhaps with
highly mobile people, would tend to produce a situation where
tribal identity and parochialism become strong. And of course,
once you are parochial you will develop memes that maintain your
group and explain why this is the right way of life.<br>
<br>
Note that high-trust societies are typically small and
homogeneous, or have reliable institutions that can fix conflicts.
But why do we trust the institutions? This is very much a cultural
training thing: for rule of law to work people actually have to
think there is a rule of law, and this may take generations to
build up. There is a lot invested in the social capital of
advanced societies. We better take care of it. <br>
<br>
<br>
On 2015-10-26 20:23, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Nations differ in the quality and degree of social
cohesiveness. Traditional tribal societies have very strong kin
loyalty, especially where endogamous marriage is practiced but
very weak bonds to non-kin. They say "Me and my brother against
my cousins, me and my cousins against the world". More evolved
societies, especially the ones west of the Hajnal line and the
ones comprised primarily of their blood descendants, tend to
have a more atomized familial life, and yet their large-scale
organization is more integrated and better functioning. There
appears to be a trade-off between the asabiyyah that binds the
clan, giving its warriors the strength to fight to the death,
and the more abstract bond among Westerners, that gives them the
ability to peacefully cooperate.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I wonder what is the specific biological mechanism involved
in generating this social organization difference. Is it a
different sensitivity to early social imprinting? Is it based
on detection of genetic differences by smell? Is it simply a
matter of intelligence? I never found any references to
mechanistic, genetic and biochemical research on this subject,
although there is some arm-waving evo-psych speculation in
some corners of the internets.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The billion-genome genetic research of the next 50 years
will no doubt shed some light on this issue.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Rafał</div>
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<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University
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