Social Evolution Research Articles

Challenges and tasks of the philosophy of physical culture and sports, sports science in modern socio-political conditions

The scientific problem lies in the discrepancy between the self-reflective Western and Eastern traditions of the philosophy of sport and the very real sports process and sports science, and, by and large, the classical understanding of the scope and content of the concept of philosophy as such. The relevance of the study lies in the need to eliminate or «remove» this discrepancy, which at three levels openly complicates the development of the philosophy of sport: firstly, as a philosophy in the classical sense of the word; secondly, as a scientific philosophy; and thirdly, as a scientific philosophy of sports and sports science, and not existential, irrational, hermeneutic and other ideas and experiences about philosophizing thoughts about something vaguely reminiscent of them. The purpose of the study is to construct and briefly justify a classification of the scientific philosophy of sports and sports science from the standpoint of classical philosophy and a dialectical-materialistic worldview, as well as to indicate a short list of its main tasks in the current situation of aggravated military-political confrontation between Russia, East and West. The methodology and organization of the study are based on a comprehensive historical, philosophical and scientific theoretical and comparative analysis, including general scientific operations of grouping, systematization, abstraction, idealization and logical operations of defining and dividing concepts, induction, deduction, analogy, determining truth, proof and refutation, constructing a hypothesis. Research results and conclusions. Gradually but steadily growing since the beginning of the 21st century, global changes in the modern socio-political picture of the world are increasingly clearly and rapidly entailing equally significant changes in education and science (including specialized ones). This article presents a system for constructing the philosophy of sport and sports science, which provides a solution to the full range of modern problems of philosophical analysis and scientific research of sport as: • social phenomenon and institution; • cultural and civilizational mechanism of social evolution of humanity; • a mechanism for preserving and improving a person in his inherent parameters of a social and psychophysiological being; • an outpost for preventing the processes of human deanthropolization. It is easy to notice that this system of constructing the philosophy of sport and sports science in many aspects and in terms of system-forming factors differs significantly from its predecessors, at the same time serving as the basis for their scientific and philosophical criticism — criticism that substantiates the urgent need for a radical restructuring of the entire edifice of the philosophy of physical culture and sports, based on from the modern socio-political challenges addressed to her.

Adaptive Bi-directional Consensus Reaching Model with Social Influence Evolution for Large-Scale Group Decision-Making with an Application to Observation Scheme Selection

Adaptive Bi-directional Consensus Reaching Model with Social Influence Evolution for Large-Scale Group Decision-Making with an Application to Observation Scheme Selection

Analysis of the British National Characters From a Historical Perspective

This essay discusses the intricate formation of the British national character through a historical lens, and put forwards a view that it is combined by two contradictory elementsconservatism and radicalism on the basis of adequate historical facts and personal reflection. By illustrating with historical facts, the essay reveals the lasting traits of British conservatism, which is evident in steadfast attachments to monarchy and deep-seated respect for legal traditions. Despite periods of upheaval, such as the Glorious Revolution, the British have showed a resilience in preserving established norms and structures, which reflect a pragmatic approach to social evolution. On a contrary, the essay also demonstrates radical impulses that have propelled transformative movements for political and social equality in British history, from the Peasants' Revolt to the suffragette campaigns. Through this dialectic, British national character emerges as a dynamic synthesis of tradition and transformation, conservatism and radicalism, where ruling elites navigate change with pragmatic conservatism while social masses champion radical progress.

Southwest University of Political Science and Law

Chinese wedding culture has a long history and rich tradition. In its development, it went through two stages and from traditional to modern. This process is a sign of social evolution and progress. The author analyzes the evolution of traditional Chinese wedding rites and customs in six representative periods: the Qing (221–207 BC) and Han (206 BC — 220 AD) dynasties; the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties; the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1616–1911) dynasties; Republic of China (1912–1949); the time after establishing the People’s Republic of China until the Cultural Revolution (1949–1976), as well as after the start of the reform and opening-up policy (since 1978) to the present days.

Is Bergen Unseasonal? On Europe’s Shifting Relation to Seasons

This article reflects on whether and how European communities’ cultural frameworks of seasons are coming to poorly correspond to the climatic conditions they experience, and the implications for how Europe adapts to climatic (and social and environmental) change. It starts from a colder- and drier-than-normal autumn and winter (2023/2024) in Bergen, Norway, and a local researcher’s investigation into why these climatically anomalous seasons were being culturally celebrated as ‘seasonal weather’. He compares studies into the Bergen population’s cultural expectations for weather conditions in each of the four seasons, with the statistical climatic record, and reveals a mismatch. He argues that the four-season framework prominent in Europe poorly describes or anticipates meteorology in Bergen, and that other frameworks could fit better. The article argues that seasonal frameworks continuously evolve with interlinked environmental and social change – from drivers such as climate change, landscape modification, social evolution, and globalization – so that seasonal mismatches are as much about how societies culturally re-conceive of seasons as about physical climate change for instance. This is important because the way European societies divide the year by seasonal expectations affects how they relate to the meteorological conditions they come to face each season.

The power of sound: unravelling how acoustic communication shapes group dynamics.

Acoustic signalling is a key mode of communication owing to its instantaneousness and rapid turnover, its saliency and flexibility and its ability to function strategically in both short- and long-range contexts. Acoustic communication is closely intertwined with both collective behaviour and social network structure, as it can facilitate the coordination of collective decisions and behaviour, and play an important role in establishing, maintaining and modifying social relationships. These research topics have each been studied separately and represent three well-established research areas. Yet, despite the close connection of acoustic communication with collective behaviour and social networks in natural systems, only few studies have focused on their interaction. The aim of this theme issue is therefore to build a foundation for understanding how acoustic communication is linked to collective behaviour, on the one hand, and social network structure on the other, in non-human animals. Through the building of such a foundation, our hope is that new questions in new avenues of research will arise. Understanding the links between acoustic communication and social behaviour seems crucial for gaining a comprehensive understanding of sociality and social evolution. This article is part of the theme issue 'The power of sound: unravelling how acoustic communication shapes group dynamics'.

Human musical capacity and products should have been induced by the hominin-specific combination of several biosocial features: A three-phase scheme on socio-ecological, cognitive, and cultural evolution.

Various selection pressures have shaped human uniqueness, for instance, music. When and why did musical universality and diversity emerge? Our hypothesis is that "music" initially originated from manipulative calls with limited musical elements. Thereafter, vocalizations became more complex and flexible along with a greater degree of social learning. Finally, constructed musical instruments and the language faculty resulted in diverse and context-specific music. Music precursors correspond to vocal communication among nonhuman primates, songbirds, and cetaceans. To place this scenario in hominin history, a three-phase scheme for music evolution is presented herein. We emphasize (1) the evolution of sociality and life history in australopithecines, (2) the evolution of cognitive and learning abilities in early/middle Homo, and (3) cultural evolution, primarily in Homo sapiens. Human musical capacity and products should be due to the hominin-specific combination of several biosocial features, including bipedalism, stable pair bonding, alloparenting, expanded brain size, and sexual selection.

“Humanity is another corporeity”: The evolution of human bodily appearance and sociality

“Humanity is another corporeity”: The evolution of human bodily appearance and sociality

The investigation of employee voice behavior – from the perspective of social media use in China

PurposeEnterprises use social media for their daily work. The use of social media in the workplace is crucial for social connections, the growth and evolution of the enterprise, and it opens up new avenues for voice behavior. Employee voice involves the expression of ideas or opinions towards enterprise and is beneficial for employee work and enterprise development. Extant studies of voice behavior usually focus on the leadership and employee factors. However, the internal mechanism of voice behavior, especially the interrelationship between different kinds of social media use and voice behavior has not been well investigated. To fill that research gap, this study analyzes the internal mechanism of voice behavior, taking the effects of social media use and social capital into consideration.Design/methodology/approachUsing structural equation model, this study collected data from employees using social media and analyzed the data using the software of Smartpls 3.0, SPSS and AMOS, in order to analyze the internal mechanism of voice behavior among employees.FindingsBased on social capital theory, this study investigates the relationship between social media use, social capital and voice behavior, and provides some insights into the mechanism of voice behavior. The social media use, social capital and voice behavior are divided into several kinds in order to clarify the internal mechanism of voice behavior more comprehensively. The empirical results show that: (1) Social media use for both work and social-related purposes could positively affect employees’ promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors. (2) Social capital mediates the relationship between social media use and voice behavior. (3) In the process of social media use influencing employees’ voice behavior, employees of different genders and ages show significant differences in social capital and voice behavior.Originality/valueThis study explored the internal mechanism of voice behavior, which could help to elicit the relationship between social media use and voice behavior. By integrating the roles of social capital, individual differences, this study could uncover the deep internal mechanism of employee voice behavior more comprehensively, broadening social capital theory and enriching the researches of voice behavior among employees.

Taliban’s Gender Policy and Its Implications for International Relations

This research pertains to the tenets of the Taliban’s gender policy and its roots within a particular political discourse and foreign policy. Further, the research examines the cognition of related countries on Afghanistan’s gender policy and the impact of this policy on the country’s inter-state relations. This paper collects and analyses news articles and recent reports published as the supporting database and published material from JSTOR, ProQuest, Web of Science, Scopus, Gender Studies, and Wiley. The social and historical evolution of Afghanistan is discussed to better comprehend the historical trajectory of gender policy and inequality, as well as the political and diplomatic positions of different countries in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Asia. Their views on gender policies have a profound impact on its national political and economic situation and the vested interests of power that are concerned about gender equality in Afghanistan. To conclude, the article recommends how countries should approach Afghanistan and the Taliban regime to improve international relations and its foreign policies with countries of strategic significance while enhancing women’s position in the country.

Collaborative hunting in artificial agents with deep reinforcement learning.

Collaborative hunting, in which predators play different and complementary roles to capture prey, has been traditionally believed to be an advanced hunting strategy requiring large brains that involve high-level cognition. However, recent findings that collaborative hunting has also been documented in smaller-brained vertebrates have placed this previous belief under strain. Here, using computational multi-agent simulations based on deep reinforcement learning, we demonstrate that decisions underlying collaborative hunts do not necessarily rely on sophisticated cognitive processes. We found that apparently elaborate coordination can be achieved through a relatively simple decision process of mapping between states and actions related to distance-dependent internal representations formed by prior experience. Furthermore, we confirmed that this decision rule of predators is robust against unknown prey controlled by humans. Our computational ecological results emphasize that collaborative hunting can emerge in various intra- and inter-specific interactions in nature, and provide insights into the evolution of sociality.

Culture, Cooperation, and Communication: The Co-evolution of Hominin Cognition, Sociality, and Musicality

Abstract Music is a deeply entrenched human phenomenon. In this article, I argue that its evolutionary origins are intrinsically intertwined with the incremental anatomical, cognitive, social, and technological evolution of the hominin lineage. I propose an account of the evolution of Plio-Pleistocene hominins, focusing on traits that would be later implicated in music making. Such traits can be conceived as comprising the musicality mosaic or the multifaceted foundations of musicality. I then articulate and defend an account of protomusical behaviour, drawing theoretical licence from the social brain framework of Robin Dunbar and colleagues, as well as the evolutionary framework for human culture and cooperation developed by Kim Sterelny. The role of gene-culture co-evolution and niche construction is brought to the fore in articulating the evolutionary account. Finally, I defend the view that music subsequently developed via processes of social learning and cumulative culture.

Observation of female-male mounting in the carrion crow

In the biological sciences, sexual behaviours in non-human animals are traditionally investigated in the context of reproduction and direct fitness benefits. While the evolutionary functions of non-conceptive sexual behaviours (‘socio-sexual’) remain less well explored, these interactions and displays have been suggested to be important for shaping and maintaining social relationships. Here, we report an observation of a captive female carrion crow, Corvus corone corone, mounting her co-housed male partner. We highlight the importance of more systematic research and discussions of rarely observed behaviours in social evolution research, including considerations for behaviours that transcend binary or heteronormative frameworks, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of non-conceptive socio-sexual behaviours.

Thermodynamic Evaluation of Low-GWP and Environmentally Friendly Alternative Refrigerants

Refrigerant systems, crucial for modern life, are increasingly important due to their environmental impact and rising energy costs, with their advancement influenced by social life evolution and widespread use in homes and buildings. A systematic search using thermodynamic models identified 48 possible ternary mixtures and 5 pure refrigerants. These combinations, based on thermodynamics, could provide energy savings, paving the way for real-world testing and definitive conclusions, not yet studied in literature. REFPROP refers to the reference fluid properties program, developed by NIST version 9.0 for 2010, is a program for calculating the thermodynamic and transport properties of industrially important fluids and their mixtures. This program was used to evaluate the refrigerant properties in different mixing ratios. Then, using the MATLAB version of 2020 apparatus to arrange and solve all the variables to generate the results under set boundary conditions, all the characteristics were incorporated into thermodynamic equations. when compared to R134a, the results demonstrated that mixtures of natural refrigerants usually have acceptable thermal performance; these mixtures may be recommended as suitable replacements for refrigeration and air conditioning systems because they are environmentally harmless and have a low GWP.

Vietnam tourism at the crossroads of socialism and market economy

Purpose Vietnam has repositioned itself from a war-torn country to a popular tourist destination. Although research on Vietnam tourism has grown in number, a macro analysis of national tourism governance and policies has largely been missing. Design/methodology/approach This synthesis paper offers a systemic analysis of Vietnam’s tourism accommodating intensified government intervention and dramatic market changes in recent decades. The authors offer a chronological analysis of tourism development along with the major political and economic turns of the country. Findings The patterns of tourism development reflect a compromise between centralization and decentralization of the governance system and a trade-off between economic and social objectives of development. Balancing these opposites, the internal strength of the domestic market and the resilience of communities and businesses become key assets for growth in circumstances where the socialist market economy continues to inform the current and future development of the industry. Research limitations/implications Although the case of Vietnam is unique, the adaptive mechanism of the tourism industry highlighted in this paper offers a useful lesson for other developing countries. The research addresses tourism in the political economy in developing countries, which is valuable for researchers, policy analysts as well as practitioners in tourism. Practical implications The practical contribution of the study is derived from authors’ academic and industrial backgrounds. Findings from the study serve as a useful reference for those who embark on the study of tourism governance and policy-making in developing countries and problems associated with the economic transitional process. Those problems of the disparity between centralization and decentralization of the political system might not be only significant in Vietnam, but also prevail in developing countries. Thus, this study offers a point of departure for future empirical and comparative research on the kindship of tourism and political economy in a full scale. Social implications The transitional economy as viewed through the tourism industry is prominently presented in the “evolutionary” approach to the transitional economy, which exhibits several unique features: the transition from a centrally planned (command) economy to a market economy and the manifestations of a socialist orientation in the modern economic management system (Vuong et al., 2019). While data from this study is mainly illustrative of the first point, the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, the second characteristic, the manifestation of a social orientation has only slightly been addressed and will need further elaboration in a future study. While Vietnam’s tourism positions itself in a socialist market-oriented economy might set a unique case, the study highlights the politics of tourism is shaped by the politico-economic system. The authors conclude that the adaptation of Vietnam tourism to a socialist market-orientated economy is better perceived as a social evolution achievement rather than a feature of capitalism. Originality/value The latest study on tourism governance (Bui et al., 2022) has outlined the evolution of the tourism administrative system and markets in the country; however, linkages of tourism to the broader political economic system have yet to be addressed. Addressing this gap, the authors carry out analysis of policies and governance from the insider’s viewpoint, when team members have been involved in numerous tourism planning and development projects, both on international and national scales. The practical experience along with thorough review of literature and statistical data contributes to shaping a fresh understanding of tourism in a transitional economy.

Analysis of the Development Trajectory of Marxs Historical Philosophy

In his early years, Marx, inspired by Hegel, believed that history is a process of dynamic evolution. Therefore, he also paid attention to the replacement of social forms and the differences in social forms among different ethnic groups. While Hegel believed that the driving force of historical progress lies in spirit, Marx focused more on the role of material in it. Thus, in his theories of social forms and world history, Marx emphasized the historical progress brought about by changes in the mode of production. Based on this, Marx expounded his views on the evolution of social forms and the development status and prospects of world history. He consistently held a equality political inclination and continued to pay attention to the oppression suffered by backward nations. This paper summarizes Marxs social form theory, world history theory, and his related discussions on backward nations in his historical philosophy. It outlines the global perspective from the internal social evolution of nations to the coordinated development of the world, and then to Marxs humanitarian care for backward nations.

Is Pollution the Primary Driver of Infectious Syndemics?

Syndemics, the adverse interaction of two or more coterminous diseases or other negative health conditions, have probably existed since human settlement, plant and animal domestication, urbanization, and the growth of social inequality beginning about 10-12,000 years ago. These dramatic changes in human social evolution significantly increased opportunities for the spread of zoonotic infectious diseases in denser human communities with increased sanitation challenges. In light of a growing body of research that indicates that anthropogenic air pollution causes numerous threats to health and is taking a far greater toll on human life and wellbeing than had been reported, this paper proposes the possibility that air pollution is now the primary driver of infectious disease syndemics. In support of this assertion, this paper reviews the growth and health impacts of air pollution, the relationship of air pollution to the development and spread of infectious diseases, and reported cases of air pollution-driven infectious disease syndemics, and presents public health recommendations for leveraging the biosocial insight of syndemic theory in responding to infectious disease.

Looking at the bid picture: A framework for identifying reverse auctions in ecological systems.

Biological market theory can be used to explain intraspecific cooperation, interspecific mutualism, and sexual selection through models of game theory. These models describe the interactions between organisms as two classes of traders (buyers/sellers) exchanging commodities in the form of goods (e.g. food, shelter, matings) and services (e.g. warning calls, protection). Here, we expand biological market theory to include auction theory where bidding serves to match buyers and sellers. In a reverse auction, the seller increases the value of the item or decreases the cost until a buyer steps forward. We provide several examples of ecological systems that may have reverse auctions as underlying mechanisms to form mutualistic relationships. We focus on the yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) mating system as a case study to propose how the mechanisms of a reverse auction, which have the unintended but emergent consequence of producing a mutually beneficial outcome that improves collective reproductive benefits of the troop in this multi-female multi-male polygynandrous social system. For the yellow baboon, we posit that the "seller" is the reproductively cycling female, and the "buyer" is a male looking to mate with a cycling female. To the male, the "item for the sale" is the opportunity to sire an offspring, the price is providing safety and foraging time (via consortship) to the female. The "increasing value of the item for sale" is the chance of conception, which increases with each cycle since a female has resumed cycling post-partum. The female's sexual swelling is an honest indicator of that cycle's probability of conception, and since resident males can track a female's cycle since resumption, there is transparency. The males presumably know the chance of conception when choosing to bid by offering consortship. Across nature, this reverse auction game likely exists in other inter- and intraspecific social relationships. Considering an ecological system as a reverse auction broadens our view of social evolution and adaptations through the lens of human economic structures.

Modeling the evolution of collective overreaction in dynamic online product diffusion networks

With the development of e-commerce, collective overreactions such as buying frenzy have become prominent. However, studies have rarely investigated the mechanism of irrational consumer behavior at the group level. To investigate the evolution of collective overreaction in dynamic online product diffusion networks, we employed a sequential multiple-methods approach. A conceptual model is constructed to capture the influence of social network dynamic evolution on individual irrationality. An agent-based model (ABM) under different network dynamic growth mechanisms is implemented and verified. The findings revealed the following. In external dynamic growth mechanisms, key opinion consumer (KOC) connection can lead to positive collective overreaction (i.e., the adoption rate of consumer groups spikes). This effect fades as the probability of KOC connection increases and stabilizes as the node change rate decreases. Random connection is prone to negative collective overreaction (i.e., a sudden and sharp decline in the adoption rate of consumer groups), and key opinion leader (KOL) connection exhibits both positive and negative collective overreaction. Increasing the edge change rate increases the frequency of negative collective overreaction in KOL connections. In internal dynamic growth mechanisms, KOL and KOC connections are prone to negative collective overreaction; increasing the edge change rate can reduce the frequency of negative collective overreaction in KOL overreaction, and an appropriate edge change rate can inhibit the emergence of negative collective overreaction in KOC connection. This research contributes to the area of internet product marketing and provides a new basic framework through which to combine psychology and the ABM.

Analyzing the Impact of Innovative Features in New Social Networks on User Engagement and Content Sharing Dynamics

This study investigates the effects of novel functionalities on user behavior across emerging social media platforms. Employing a mixed-methods research design, the study integrates quantitative analysis of engagement metrics with qualitative feedback from user interviews and surveys to assess how augmented reality (AR) filters, ephemeral content, and algorithmic curation influence engagement and content sharing. Results indicate these features significantly enhance user interaction, suggesting that innovation is key to user retention and active participation. Additionally, the study examines the double-edged nature of algorithmic curation, balancing user experience personalization against the risks of creating informational echo chambers. The implications of these findings extend to various stakeholders in the digital ecosystem, including content creators, marketers, technology developers, and policymakers, emphasizing the importance of user-centric innovation and ethical considerations in platform development. This research contributes to the broader understanding of social media evolution and its impact on digital communication practices.