BibTeX
@MISC{Macdonald_1indoctrinationand,
author = {Kevin Macdonald},
title = {1Indoctrination and Group Evolutionary Strategies},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
Indoctrination is a phenomenon that occurs within groups and, as a result, raises fundamental evolutionary questions regarding the relationship between the individual and the group. It has long been apparent to evolutionists that highly cohesive, altruistic groups would out-compete concatenations of individualists. The purpose of this essay will be to develop the idea of a group evolutionary strategy and to develop the idea that indoctrinability is an adaptation that facilitates the development of such groups. With few exceptions the data relevant to these theoretical interests will be drawn from historical and contemporary Jewish communities (see also MacDonald 1994). For purposes of this essay, a group is defined as a discrete set of individuals that is identifiably separate from other individuals (who themselves may or may not be members of groups). Groups become interesting to an evolutionist when there are active attempts to segregate the group from the surrounding peoples, a situation that results in what Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1979, 122) terms "cultural pseudospeciation. " Creating a group evolutionary strategy results in the possibility of cultural group selection resulting from between-group competition in which the groups are defined by culturally produced ingroup markings (Richerson and Boyd, 1995).
Keyphrases
group evolutionary strategy ingroup marking discrete set contemporary jewish community out-compete concatenation active attempt cultural group selection between-group competition group evolutionary strategy result altruistic group theoretical interest fundamental evolutionary question cultural pseudospeciation data relevant
