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An Integrative Evolutionary Perspective on Ethnicity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Kevin MacDonald
Kevin MacDonald*
Affiliation:
California State University—Long Beach, USA
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Abstract

This paper integrates several different but mutually consistent evolutionary approaches to ethnicity: genetic similarity theory, social identity theory, individualism/collectivism, an evolved racial/ethnic human kinds module, and rational choice mechanisms relying on domain general cognitive mechanisms. These theories are consistent with each other, and together they illustrate the interplay of evolved cognitive and motivational systems with mechanisms of rational choice that are able to choose adaptive strategies in uncertain, novel environments.

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Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 2001, pp. 67 - 80
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Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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