Anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse makes the case that the study of humans and human society must take into account both our biological and cultural nature. Using examples from many studies, his own as well as others, he describes how three fundamental propensities of humans constrain the variability of how we live:
Conformism, the tendency to copy one another even when the purpose of the behavior is obscure.
Religiosity, which Whitehouse views as an inescapable by-product of how our brains work, but which has also changed drastically over the millenia.
Tribalism, the tendency to classify persons as part or not part of our group. This has caused not only conflict between groups, but also facilitated peaceful cooperation.
He proposes a number of ideas for policies, some of which are worthy of discussion. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to give advice in the form of "this policy needs to be put into place", with rather weak discussions of how this could be done in a democratically feasible way. Although very interesting examples from history are given, their relevance to the current situation is not adequately discussed.