authors:
- Whitehouse, Harvey
content: '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:


  1) Conformism, the tendency to copy one another even when the purpose of the behavior
  is obscure.


  2) Religiosity, which Whitehouse views as an inescapable by-product of how our brains
  work, but which has also changed drastically over the millenia.


  3) 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.'
date: '2024-09-20'
edition:
  published: '2024'
  publisher: Penguin
goodreads: '183932716'
html: '<p>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:</p>

  <ol>

  <li>

  <p>Conformism, the tendency to copy one another even when the purpose of the behavior
  is obscure.</p>

  </li>

  <li>

  <p>Religiosity, which Whitehouse views as an inescapable by-product of how our brains
  work, but which has also changed drastically over the millenia.</p>

  </li>

  <li>

  <p>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.</p>

  </li>

  </ol>

  <p>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 &quot;this policy
  needs to be put into place&quot;, 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.</p>

  '
isbn: '9781529152227'
language: en
lastmod: '2024-09-20'
path: /library/whitehouse-2024.html
published: '2024'
rating: 4
reference: Whitehouse 2024
subjects:
- human-evolution
- politics
title: 'Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World'
type: book