The Role of Ritual in the Evolution of Social Complexity

Abstract

Abstract Cultural rituals—from simple forms of greeting, leave-taking, and dining etiquette to much more elaborate ceremonies memorializing the past, appealing to supernatural beings and forces, or marking key life transitions such as weddings and funerals—have been documented in all human societies. Certain aspects of ritual are also early developing and species specific, prompting the question whether such behaviour constitutes an evolved adaptation. Moreover, rituals appear to have contributed to the rise and spread of more complex and larger-scale social formations. This chapter considers the role of ritual in the evolution of social complexity through the lens of cultural group selection theory. Seven mechanisms underlying cultural inheritance systems are considered: high-fidelity copying; conformism bias; identity markers; coordination payoffs; policing; one-to-many transmission; institutional complexity. Drawing on theories and evidence from social anthropology, history, experimental psychology, and cross-cultural surveys, it is argued that rituals have contributed to the operation of all seven mechanism in the evolution of social complexity.