Social Evolution Theory Research Articles

Manipulating multi-level selection in a fungal entomopathogen reveals social conflicts and a method for improving biocontrol traits.

Changes in parasite virulence are commonly expected to lead to trade-offs in other life history traits that can affect fitness. Understanding these trade-offs is particularly important if we want to manipulate the virulence of microbial biological control agents. Theoretically, selection across different spatial scales, i.e. between- and within-hosts, shapes these trade-offs. However, trade-offs are also dependent on parasite biology. Despite their applied importance the evolution of virulence in fungal parasites is poorly understood: virulence can be unstable in culture and commonly fails to increase in simple passage experiments. We hypothesized that manipulating selection intensity at different scales would reveal virulence trade-offs in a fungal pathogen of aphids, Akanthomyces muscarius. Starting with a genetically diverse stock we selected for speed of kill, parasite yield or infectivity by manipulating competition within and between hosts and between-populations of hosts over 7 rounds of infection. We characterized ancestral and evolved lineages by whole genome sequencing and by measuring virulence, growth rate, sporulation and fitness. While several lineages showed increases in virulence, we saw none of the trade-offs commonly found in obligately-killing parasites. Phenotypically similar lineages within treatments often shared multiple single-nucleotide variants, indicating strong convergent evolution. The most dramatic phenotypic changes were in timing of sporulation and spore production in vitro. We found that early sporulation led to reduced competitive fitness but could increase yield of spores on media, a trade-off characteristic of social conflict. Notably, the selection regime with strongest between-population competition and lowest genetic diversity produced the most consistent shift to early sporulation, as predicted by social evolution theory. Multi-level selection therefore revealed social interactions novel to fungi and showed that these biocontrol agents have the genomic flexibility to improve multiple traits-virulence and spore production-that are often in conflict in other parasites.

COVID-19 Increased Mortality Salience, Collectivism, and Subsistence Activities: A Theory-Driven Analysis of Online Adaptation in the United States, Indonesia, Mexico, and Japan

How does a life-threatening pandemic affect a culture? The Theory of Social Change, Cultural Evolution, and Human Development predicts that danger, as indicated by rising death rates and narrowing social worlds, shifts human psychology and behavior toward that found in small-scale, collectivistic, and rural subsistence ecologies. In particular, mortality salience, collectivism, and engagement in subsistence activities should increase as death rates rise and the social world retracts. Studies on the psychological response to the pandemic in the United States confirmed these predicted increases. The present study sought to generalize these previous findings by comparing the frequency of conceptually relevant linguistic terms used in Google searches and Twitter posts in the United States, Japan, Indonesia, and Mexico for 30 days before the coronavirus pandemic began in each country with frequencies of the same terms for 30 days after. Generally, we found that mortality salience increased to the extent that countries experienced excess COVID mortality; collectivism increased to the extent that countries experienced excess COVID mortality and increased mortality salience; and subsistence activities increased to the extent that countries experienced excess COVID mortality and/or stay-at-home-policies. Almost all these increases went beyond the general increase in internet use, which was a control variable in all analyses. These findings support a growing body of research documenting a human response to ecological danger.

A developmental logic: Habermas's theory of social evolution

AbstractIn the paper, I first consider how his theory of social norms is connected to his theory of social evolution by examining the importance of learning in his theory of both social norms and social evolution. Then I turn to David Owen and Amy Allen's critiques of Jürgen Habermas. My aim is to develop their critique of Habermas by elucidating an important but neglected distinction between the developmental logic and the developmental dynamics in Habermas's theory of social evolution. Drawing on this distinction, I claim that Habermas's theory is problematic in that he underestimates the importance of the developmental dynamics. By introducing the distinction between individual learning and social learning, I also question his account of progress as accumulative experience of learning. This is because, unlike cumulative culture at the level of phylogenesis, individuals ontogenetically experience a kind of non‐cumulative social learning. Unlike cumulative culture, each individual has to undergo a kind of non‐cumulative social learning. The problem is that Habermas conceives the learning process too narrowly such that learning does not guarantee social evolution.

Open questions in the social lives of viruses.

Social interactions among viruses occur whenever multiple viral genomes infect the same cells, hosts, or populations of hosts. Viral social interactions range from cooperation to conflict, occur throughout the viral world, and affect every stage of the viral lifecycle. The ubiquity of these social interactions means that they can determine the population dynamics, evolutionary trajectory, and clinical progression of viral infections. At the same time, social interactions in viruses raise new questions for evolutionary theory, providing opportunities to test and extend existing frameworks within social evolution. Many opportunities exist at this interface: Insights into the evolution of viral social interactions have immediate implications for our understanding of the fundamental biology and clinical manifestation of viral diseases. However, these opportunities are currently limited because evolutionary biologists only rarely study social evolution in viruses. Here, we bridge this gap by (1) summarizing the ways in which viruses can interact socially, including consequences for social evolution and evolvability; (2) outlining some open questions raised by viruses that could challenge concepts within social evolution theory; and (3) providing some illustrative examples, data sources, and conceptual questions, for studying the natural history of social viruses.

Households and communities: evolution in Homo sapiens

ABSTRACTRecent developments in the theory of social evolution give support to arguments that the overall pattern of human evolution can effectively be seen through three linked but sequential mechanisms of biological, cultural, and social evolution. This framework is applied in an overview of the intimate group (for residence) and the community (for group defense) within primate species. For Homo sapiens, the intimate group took the form of a household led by a pairbonded couple. The essay, following introductory remarks, narrates the intimate groups and community groups within hominin species that preceded Homo sapiens, as they developed through the natural selection of biological evolution. Then basic models are reviewed for evolution of individual and group behavior in biological evolution and also in the regimes of cultural and social evolution, as expressed in terms of Darwinian variation, reproduction, and selection. The processes of emergence and transformation in the human household are then traced in theory and narrative, for overlapping eras of biological, cultural, and social evolution, and by expansion in social scale including agriculture and industry. Overall, the essay emphasizes long-term transfer of laborers from household to community sectors, expanding the characteristic productivity of each sector. It shows that the human household remains parallel to the intimate social structures of other primates but that it has become greatly distinctive because of its ability to bring numerous offspring to adulthood.

INTEGRATIVE COMMUNICATION IN CONSERVING TAOISM AND CHINESE CULTURE SIU HOK BIO TEMPLE SEMARANG, CENTRAL JAVA

Pagoda as a cultural product and religious institution that must be maintained as a national cultural treasure. Siu Hok Bio Temple is one of the oldest temples in Semarang. The pagoda is able to maintain the authenticity of the building and the values of Chinese culture and Taoist religious values, and even become a center of reference for the culture and values of Taoism. However, there are concerns about its sustainability because there is no younger generation who want to continue their cultural and religious values. Starting from this, this research wants to examine by focusing on the efforts of pagodas to maintain their existence as centers of Chinese culture and Taoist values in areas where the majority are of other religions. This research uses a theoretical approach through the perspective of social exchange evolution theory developed by Sillar, 2019 and ICT (Integrative Communication Theory) theory, 2005. The research method uses subjective interpretive research, a qualitative approach through participatory research. The conclusion of the research shows that the external approach to the environment is carried out in participatory communication quite successfully. However, in building communication with the congregation the pagoda tends to be puritanical and conservative, so that integrative communication cannot be carried out, which in the end does not occur conducive social exchange. The recommendation is to separate the values of Taoism and Chinese culture in order to be adaptive to the younger generation who have entered the digital world.

Evolutionary and neuroendocrine foundations of human aggression

Humans present a behavioural paradox: they are peaceful in many circumstances, but they are also violent and kill conspecifics at high rates. We describe a social evolutionary theory to resolve this paradox. The theory interprets human aggression as a combination of low propensities for reactive aggression and coercive behaviour and high propensities for some forms of proactive aggression (especially coalitionary proactive aggression). These tendencies are associated with the evolution of groupishness, self-domestication, and social norms. This human aggression profile is expected to demand substantial plasticity in the evolved biological mechanisms responsible for aggression. We discuss the contributions of various social signalling molecules (testosterone, cortisol, oxytocin, vasopressin, serotonin, and dopamine) as the neuroendocrine foundation conferring such plasticity.

Domination, social norms, and the idea of an emancipatory interest

Domination, social norms, and the idea of an emancipatory interest

The crumbs of colonialism: the immigration process-from savages to civilized and shifting of submission from one sovereign to another

The following article aims to explore the aftermath of colonialism in different shapes and forms. Moreover, the paper will also explain the ways racial and national identities are affected in the building of nationalism and its consequent effects during the process of acquiring the citizenship of another country (shifting our submission to another sovereign). I argue that colonialization was not only geographical but also racial and intellectual. The theories that evolved in the racialized colonial period such as social evolution theory are still seen in some of the workings of institutions (such as the Immigration Office). However, the application of social evolution theory is much more subtle now and essentially reflects the same colonial mindset. Hence, I will conclude that because of historical connectivity and neocolonialism immigration becomes a right. I will also deduce that the complex yet unnecessary immigration process renders the "submission to the sovereign" in limbo which disturbs the whole idea of nationalism

Valluvar's Political Principles

Thirukkural, the world-famous book contains many principles. Thirukkural is a book that makes a person to think about political science from a diverse perspective. This article explains various the various political principles in Thirukkural. Politics is an expression of social science. Politics is a term that refers to the process of making decision among the group of people. Although politics generally refers to the functioning of governmental institutions, it is worth to note that that politics is actually found in the interactions of all human groups, including office, education, and religious institutions. Thirukkural is a suitable book to give a clear definition and explanation of diverse theories such as divine theory, strength theory, social contract theory, relationship theory, evolution theory and force theory. This article examines the three chapters Arathuppal, Porutpal and Kamathuppal of Thirukkural which supports the theoretical thoughts of politics, and explains the political ideas.

Diabetes: A History of Race and Disease by Arleen Marcia Tuchman (review).

Reviewed by: Diabetes: A History of Race and Disease by Arleen Marcia Tuchman James Doucet-Battle Arleen Marcia Tuchman. Diabetes: A History of Race and Disease. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2020. xvii + 288 pp. Ill. $32.50 (978-0-300-22899-1). In Diabetes: A History of Race and Disease, Arleen Marcia Tuchman presents a comprehensive and engaging account of the ways diabetes has been viewed through racial and ethnic lenses over the last one hundred and fifty years. Tuchman traces how Jewish, African American, Native American, and LatinX categorized groups emerged successively in both the scientific and public imagination as differentially embodied carriers of inherited Type 2 risk. The book conducts a sweeping [End Page 459] interrogation of not only the putative racial and ethnic categories, but also of the nosology of diabetes diagnostic categories as well. In this way, Tuchman offers a persuasive narrative of the tortuous journey to knowledge about diabetes, a journey muddled historically and contemporaneously by the insidious racialization of both science and society. Tuchman charts the history of diabetes science as embedded within the history of racial science. From the late nineteenth century, imagined populations of diabetes risk were grouped racially, fueled by theories of social evolution and civilizational hierarchy. Such attitudes fed directly into eugenicist claims that diabetics had “defective genes,” and that therefore “insulin was harming the race by allowing individuals with defective genes to reproduce” (p. 54). Tuchman deftly contrasts ethnoracial notions of diabetes risk with an examination of how whiteness has served as an index of normative citizenship and a moral economy of care. While some high-risk and diagnosed whites were adjudged to be “defective” genetically, Tuchman illustrates how minoritized populations became seen as reservoirs of diabetes risk. Eugenicist assertions of risk attributed to defective genes in feeble-minded whites were presumed to exist, tout court, in non-whites. Diabetes makes vital connections between the ways ethnoracial groups and communities have been imagined1 and the public health approaches, medical practices, and clinical research efforts targeting these stratified populations. Throughout the book, Tuchman counterposes the seemingly endurable influence of racial thinking, with strident but furtive arguments linking environmental and social determinants of health in ascribing diabetes risk. The root of the debate about diabetes centers on whether the illness is due to either environmental or innate biological factors, and if the “innate” could be linked to race. Regarding the former, racial biology was seen to work in apposition, depending on the rankings of different groups within evolutionary social and civilizational hierarchies. For example, haphazardly categorized white and Jewish sub-populations were viewed as having acutely sensitive physical constitutions that made them more susceptible to diabetes risk. On the other hand, Native and African American groups were deemed brutish, savage, and incapable of abstract thought. Occupying a somewhat liminal position, some argued (and continue to do so) that degrees of Native American/Indigenous admixture among LatinX groups elevate Type 2 risk. Tuchman weaves a counter-narrative that contrasts and pushes against putative theories linking race and biology. The narrative presents a spatial history of nonwhite immigration, African enslavement, LatinX subordination, and Native American dispossession that illustrates the social construction of racial biologies and the political economy of power that misrecognizes the affective drivers of cardiometabolic risk in rural/urban, reservation, ghetto, and barrio environments. In this analysis, Tuchman explicates James Neel’s argument for an environmental, and not racial, contingency for Type 2 diabetes risk.2 [End Page 460] In addition to its rich historiography, Diabetes: A History of Race and Disease brings relevant appeal to scholars and students in a wide interdisciplinary range of audiences. Those in public health would benefit from examining the ways demographic change legitimated forms of surveillance based on race and ethnicity, often fed by misinformed theories of Type 2 diabetes risk rooted in perennial iterations of scientific racism. In connection, the book also calls clinical researchers and physicians to rethink putative assumptions that situate Type 2 risk differentially within racially encoded communities and bodies. Scholars in both the history of science as well as science and (technology) society studies will find the book a generative work that links science as history with...

申采浩의 東方被壓迫民族連帶論에 대한 試論

The theory of interstate solidarity emerged in Japan. In Japan, the theory of Asian solidarity emerged in the wake of the Meiji Restoration. Influenced by Japan's theory of Asian solidarity, Sun Wen began to advocate Asianism in earnest in the 1920s. Shin Chae-ho is also one of the intellectuals influenced by the theory of social evolution. However, he tried to overcome the limitations of Asian solidarity theory with his logic. Through the experience of the March 1st Movement, he directly confirmed the power of the people and tried to escape the theory of social evolution development logic by using them as revolutionary subjects. With the hope of overcoming and developing colonial rule, his attention naturally focused on international solidarity among the oppressed peoples of the East. However, he oppose d the alliance with Japan. There are three main reasons why he oppose d solidarity with Japan. I thought that I, the subject of history, took precedence over the East. Second, Confucian ideology was cited. Third, this is because Japan was viewed as an object to overthrow through direct struggle. Meanwhile, Shin Chae-ho did not insist on solidarity between Eastern oppressed peoples only as a theory, but tried to realize the goal of independence through the solidarity of Eastern oppressed peoples.

Social evolution of shared biofilm matrix components

Biofilm formation is an important and ubiquitous mode of growth among bacteria. Central to the evolutionary advantage of biofilm formation is cell-cell and cell-surface adhesion achieved by a variety of factors, some of which are diffusible compounds that may operate as classical public goods-factors that are costly to produce but may benefit other cells. An outstanding question is how diffusible matrix production, in general, can be stable over evolutionary timescales. In this work, using Vibrio cholerae as a model, we show that shared diffusible biofilm matrix proteins are indeed susceptible to cheater exploitation and that the evolutionary stability of producing these matrix components fundamentally depends on biofilm spatial structure, intrinsic sharing mechanisms of these components, and flow conditions in the environment. We further show that exploitation of diffusible adhesion proteins is localized within a well-defined spatial range around cell clusters that produce them. Based on this exploitation range and the spatial distribution of cell clusters, we constructed a model of costly diffusible matrix production and related these length scales to the relatedness coefficient in social evolution theory. Our results show that production of diffusible biofilm matrix components is evolutionarily stable under conditions consistent with natural biofilm habitats and host environments. We expect the mechanisms revealed in this study to be relevant to other secreted factors that operate as cooperative public goods in bacterial communities and the concept of exploitation range and the associated analysis tools to be generally applicable.

Evolution-proof inhibitors of public good cooperation: a screening strategy inspired by social evolution theory.

Interference with public good cooperation provides a promising novel antimicrobial strategy since social evolution theory predicts that resistant mutants will be counter-selected if they share the public benefits of their resistance with sensitive cells in the population. Although this hypothesis is supported by a limited number of pioneering studies, an extensive body of more fundamental work on social evolution describes a multitude of mechanisms and conditions that can stabilize public behaviour, thus potentially allowing resistant mutants to thrive. In this paper we theorize on how these different mechanisms can influence the evolution of resistance against public good inhibitors. Based hereon, we propose an innovative 5-step screening strategy to identify novel evolution-proof public good inhibitors, which involves a systematic evaluation of the exploitability of public goods under the most relevant experimental conditions, as well as a careful assessment of the most optimal way to interfere with their action. Overall, this opinion paper is aimed to contribute to long-term solutions to fight bacterial infections.

What is democratic backsliding?

What is democratic backsliding?

Heterogeneity in resource competition covaries with individual variation in long-term social relationships

Abstract Resource competition among conspecifics is central to social evolution, as it serves as one of the primary selective pressures of group living. This is because the degree of competition for resources impacts the costs and benefits of social interactions. Despite this, how heterogeneity in resource competition drives variation in the type and quantity of long-term social relationships individuals foster has been overlooked. By measuring male mating competition and female foraging competition in a highly social, long-lived mammal, we demonstrate that individual variation in long-term intrasexual social relationships covaries with preferred habitat and experienced resource competition, and this effect differs based on the sex of the individual. Specifically, greater resource competition resulted in fewer social preferences, but the magnitude of the effect varied by both habitat and sex, whereas for social avoidances, both the directionality and magnitude of the effect of resource competition varied by habitat and sex. Together our work shows how fine-scale variation in individual socioecological niches (i.e., unique physical and social environments) can drive extensive variation in individual social behavior (here long-term relationships) within a population, thereby broadening current theories of social evolution.

Structural equation modeling reveals decoupling of ecological and self-perceived outcomes in a garden box social-ecological system

It is well known that green urban commons enhance mental and physical well-being and improve local biodiversity. We aim to investigate how these outcomes are related in an urban system and which variables are associated with better outcomes. We model the outcomes of an urban common—box gardening—by applying the Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework. We expand the SES framework by analyzing it from the perspective of social evolution theory. The system was studied empirically through field inventories and questionnaires and modeled quantitatively by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This method offers powerful statistical models of complex social-ecological systems. Our results show that objectively evaluated ecological outcomes and self-perceived outcomes are decoupled: gardening groups that successfully govern the natural resource ecologically do not necessarily report many social, ecological, or individual benefits, and vice versa. Social capital, box location, gardener concerns, and starting year influenced the changes in the outcomes. In addition, the positive association of frequent interactions with higher self-perceived outcomes, and lack of such association with relatedness of group members suggests that reciprocity rather than kin selection explains cooperation. Our findings exemplify the importance of understanding natural resource systems at a very low “grassroot” level.

Elava rahvalaulu juurde jõudmine: Herbert Tampere teadlaseisiksuse kujunemine

Elava rahvalaulu juurde jõudmine: Herbert Tampere teadlaseisiksuse kujunemine

Financial professionals and the formation of proprietarian ideology

Financial professionals and the formation of proprietarian ideology

A Synthesis of Game Theory and Quantitative Genetic Models of Social Evolution.

Two popular approaches for modeling social evolution, evolutionary game theory and quantitative genetics, ask complementary questions but are rarely integrated. Game theory focuses on evolutionary outcomes, with models solving for evolutionarily stable equilibria, whereas quantitative genetics provides insight into evolutionary processes, with models predicting short-term responses to selection. Here we draw parallels between evolutionary game theory and interacting phenotypes theory, which is a quantitative genetic framework for understanding social evolution. First, we show how any evolutionary game may be translated into two quantitative genetic selection gradients, nonsocial and social selection, which may be used to predict evolutionary change from a single round of the game. We show that synergistic fitness effects may alter predicted selection gradients, causing changes in magnitude and sign as the population mean evolves. Second, we show how evolutionary games involving plastic behavioral responses to partners can be modeled using indirect genetic effects, which describe how trait expression changes in response to genes in the social environment. We demonstrate that repeated social interactions in models of reciprocity generate indirect effects and conversely, that estimates of parameters from indirect genetic effect models may be used to predict the evolution of reciprocity. We argue that a pluralistic view incorporating both theoretical approaches will benefit empiricists and theorists studying social evolution. We advocate the measurement of social selection and indirect genetic effects in natural populations to test the predictions from game theory and, in turn, the use of game theory models to aid in the interpretation of quantitative genetic estimates.