Emergence of kinship structures and descent systems: multi-level evolutionary simulation and empirical data analysis

Abstract

In many indigenous societies, people are categorized into several cultural groups, or clans, within which they believe they share ancestors. Clan attributions provide certain rules for marriage and descent. Such rules between clans constitute kinship structures. Anthropologists have revealed several kinship structures. Here, we propose an agent-based model of indigenous societies to reveal the evolution of kinship structures. In the model, several societies compete. Societies themselves comprise multiple families with parameters for cultural traits and mate preferences. These values determine with whom each family cooperates and competes, and they are transmitted to a new generation with mutation. The growth rate of each family is determined by the number of cooperators and competitors. Through this multi-level evolution, family traits and preferences diverge to form clusters that can be regarded as clans. Subsequently, kinship structures emerge, including dual organization and generalized or restricted exchange, as well as patrilineal, matrilineal and double descent systems. These structures emerge depending on the necessity of cooperation and the strength of mating competition. Their dependence is also estimated analytically. Finally, statistical analysis using the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, a global ethnographic database, empirically verified the theoretical results. Such collaboration between theoretical and empirical approaches will unveil universal features in anthropology.

The Roots of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: What Are the Evolutionary and Neural Bases of Human Mathematics and Technology?

“…Most generally, kinship systems appear to represent culture-specific adaptations that regulate patterns of marriage, inheritance, residence, cooperation partners, cooperation or conflict-based groupings, and other socialbehavioral fitness-related interactions [26][27][28]. The systems are notably variable across cultures and can be highly complex, with sets of rules that determine kin-related designations and prescribed or proscribed social and reproductive interactions (such as marriage, cooperation, and inheritance) that follow from their rules and structure.…”

Grouping promotes both partnership and rivalry with long memory in direct reciprocity

“…For instance, the joint effect of direct reciprocity and structured populations has been studied intensively [19,22,28,30,31], and a model unifying direct and indirect reciprocity was proposed [32]. Group structure, in particular, is known to contribute to the emergence of reputation-based norms [33], fairness [34], and kinship structure [35,36]. This study aims to add another finding to the literature by showing that the underlying tension between inter-and intra-group dynamics induced by the group structure can guide the evolutionary trajectory of direct reciprocity toward the tiny intersection between partners and rivals.…”