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Evolution, Mobility, and Ethnic Group Formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

David Goetze
David Goetze*
Affiliation:
Utah State University, USA
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Abstract

By drawing on ideas developed in evolutionary psychology, this article attempts to contribute to improved understanding of ethnic group formation and change. Specifically, the article asks whether and to what degree evolved mental capacities and dispositions, in interaction with human social environments, account for ethnic group formation. The central arguments are that, in recent millennia, evolved reasoning capabilities of humans have led to a revolution in the technologies of human mobility—and that this development has severed the nearly perfect association between social group formation based on functional advantages and social group formation based on perceived kinship. The scale, composition, and durability of contemporary ethnic groups are the consequence of individual tradeoffs in functionality and kinship values.

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Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 1998, pp. 59 - 71
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Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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