Alexander Richard D. - Human social evolution: the foundational works of Richard D. Alexander

Human Social Evolution

THE FOUNDATIONAL WORKS OF RICHARD D. ALEXANDER

Edited by Kyle Summers

and

Bernard Crespi

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Human social evolution : the foundational works of Richard D. Alexander / edited by Kyle Summers and Bernard Crespi.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 9780199791750 (alk. paper)

1. Alexander, Richard D.Influence. 2. Alexander, Richard D. Criticism and interpretation. 3. Human evolution. 4. Social evolution. 5. Natural selection.

I. Summers, Kyle.

GN281.H8495 2013

599.938dc23

2013017153

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper

Laura Betzig

The Adaptationist Program

Ann Arbor, MI, 48109 USA

lbetzig@gmail.com

Stan Braude

Department of Biology

Washington University in St. Louis

Campus Box 1137, One Brookings Drive

St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 USA

braude@wustl.edu

Bernard J. Crespi

Department of Biological Sciences

Simon Fraser University

8888 University Drive

Burnaby, B.C. Canada V5A 1S6

crespi@sfu.ca

Robin I.M. Dunbar

Department of Psychology

Magdalen College

University of Oxford

Oxford, OX1 2JD, United Kingdom

robin.dunbar@psy.ox.ac.uk

Mark Flinn

Department of Anthropology

University of Missouri

Columbia, Missouri 65211-1440 USA

FlinnM@missouri.edu

Steven A. Frank

Department of Ecology and

Evolutionary Biology

University of California

Irvine, CA 92697-2525 USA

safrank@uci.edu

William Irons

Department of Anthropology

Northwestern University

1810 Hinman Avenue

Evanston, IL 60208-1310 USA

w-irons@northwestern.edu

David C. Lahti

Department of Biology

Queens College, City University of

New York

65-30 Kissena Boulevard

Flushing, NY 11367 USA

david.lahti@qc.cuny.edu

Bobbi Low

School of Natural Resources and

Environment

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA

bobbilow@umich.edu

David Queller

Department of Biology

Washington University in St. Louis

Campus Box 1137, One Brookings Drive

St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 USA

queller@wustl.edu

Paul W. Sherman

Department of Neurobiology and

Behavior

W307 Seeley G. Mudd Hall

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY, 14853 USA

pws6@cornell.edu

Karl Sigmund

Faculty for Mathematics

University of Vienna

Nordbergstrasse 15

A-1090, Vienna, Austria

Karl.Sigmund@univie.ac.at

Beverly I. Strassmann

Department of Anthropology

University of Michigan

419 West Hall,

1085 S. University Ave.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107 USA

bis@umich.edu

Kyle Summers

Department of Biology

East Carolina University

Greenville, NC 27858 USA

summersk@ecu.edu

Paul Turke

Department of Pediatrics and

Communicable Diseases

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA

paulturke@gmail.com

Mary Jane West-Eberhard

Smithsonian Tropical Research

Institute

Apartado Postal 0843-03092

Panam, Repblica de Panam

mjwe@sent.com

This book is a tribute to one of the great minds in evolutionary biology, Richard D. Alexander. His help and encouragement during our graduate careers at the University of Michigan was invaluable to both of us, and we miss the penetrating discussions of complex topics in human and animal behavior and evolution that he loved to engage in. His contributions to science, and the humanities, should become standard reading for generations to come, and we hope this volume will help to make that goal a reality. Dr. Alexander provided unstinting help with various facets of the process of developing and producing this volume, and we thank him for his efforts.

We also would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who contributed to this volumetheir contributions have served to highlight Dr. Alexanders work, and illuminate the many contributions he has made to our understanding of human social evolution. These contributors also illustrate how Dr. Alexanders legacy is being passed on through the scientists that he trained and influenced during the course of his career. He taught so many of us how to think about evolution, and humanity, and how to turn these thoughts into productive science.

We also thank our families, who have tolerated our absent-mindedness, and absences during the long hours and late nights required to complete this volume.

K.S. and B.C.

Human Social Evolution

Kyle Summers and Bernard J. Crespi

After decades rife with science strife

It seems appropriate to join

The slice of life that plies the knife

Along the flip side of the coin

R. D. ALEXANDER, 2011

Richard D. Alexander is a farmer and rancher, horse trainer, poet, story teller, folk singer, song writer, musician, author, and a philosopher, as well as a husband (to Lorrie Alexander), a parent, and a grandparent. He and his wife have run a large farm in Manchester, Michigan for more than thirty-five years. Alexander grew up in rural Illinois, the child of two school teachers turned livestock farmers. His childhood passed without many of the conveniences of modern life, such as electricity and indoor plumbing. His mother cooked on a wood stove, and light after dark came from kerosene lamps. His family raised cows, pigs, and chickens on feed they grew themselves, selling meat, eggs, and cream. Alexander grew up doing chores that most people would consider hard labor, such as working his own threshing team of draft horses on different farms across the county. He went to school in a one room country schoolhouse with a single teacher for all grades. In 1946, Alexander attended Blackburn College, where he was consigned to a single dormitory with a mix of new high school graduates and veterans of World War II who were returning to school. In high school, Alexander had no thought of attending college, and when he first went to college he had no thought of a career in academia. From these rural origins sprang an intellect that has transformed our understanding of human social behavior and evolution and, we propose, ourselves.