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Browsing All posts tagged under »social change«
Timothy M. Waring. On the Application Methods for Various Types of Social Glue. A Commentary on Harvey Whitehouse
March 20, 2013 by SEF Editor
Whitehouse’s article on social cohesion provides a mix of research agenda and aspirational vision. The research agenda springs from the “Ritual, Community, and Conflict” project that he directs, but Whitehouse also aspires to employ an advanced understanding of social cohesion to “predict, prevent, and resolve civil wars,” and to “mobilize a global response to economic […]
Harvey Whitehouse Responds
March 15, 2013 by SEF Editor
I have just been reading through these very thought-provoking posts and there are many observations it would be great to discuss further, including the point that social glue can be used for immoral ends (Voron) and that often a darker side to ingroup bonding is outgroup hatred (Anderson and Zimmerman). Bill Swann echoes these points […]
The Double Helix of Inequality and Well-Being
February 8, 2013 by Peter Turchin
The on-line magazine Aeon today published an article of mine on why economic inequality tends to wax and wane in very long (‘secular’) cycles, and what consequences it has for the society. One of the central ideas in the article was that general well-being (that is, of the overwhelming majority of population) tends to move […]
Drivers vs. Pedestrians: A case study of social norms
June 17, 2012 by Peter Turchin
Social norms and institutions have been the subject of several blogs by me and others on the Social Evolution Forum. Understanding how social norms are maintained and, especially, how they change (see, e.g., the post by Bernard Winograd) is a central issue of social evolution. I have been thinking about this issue during my sojourns […]
Nicolas Baumard. The evolution of cooperation: from networks to institutions (Commentary on Dunbar)
May 8, 2012 by SEF Editor
Our ancestral environment differed greatly from our current environment, for the better (we enjoy better, safer and longer lives than our ancestors) but also for the worse. In his text, Dunbar points out, in particular, that while we used to spend our whole life with the same people, we now live mostly with strangers, people […]
R.I.M. Dunbar: Networking Past and Present
May 7, 2012 by SEF Editor
Recent history has witnessed two important dramatic changes that have had a deep bearing on our social lives. One has been the way travel has shrunk the world to create a growing level of economic interdependence: butterflies flapping their wings in Brazil really do have reverberations on the economics and politics of every other continent […]
Studying the Past to Design a Better Future
May 6, 2012 by Peter Turchin
Last week I was in St. Louis, where I first participated in the Consilience Conference, then went on a day trip to Cahokia Mounds, and finally gave a talk at Washington University. This has been a very intense and productive trip, and I already see that I will need several blogs to cover various themes […]
Guest Blog by Bernard Winograd: An Evolutionary Theory of Political Change
May 4, 2012 by SEF Editor
What creates political and social changes in a democracy? This is a question being asked a lot lately in the United States, largely because the degree of polarization of American politics is widely perceived to have increased dramatically since the 1960s, with each party becoming less tolerant of ideological diversity in its ranks and both […]
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Zoey Reeve and Dominic Johnson: Identity (con)fusion: Social Groups and the Stickiness of Social Glue. A Commentary on Harvey Whitehouse
March 26, 2013 by SEF Editor
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead Harvey Whitehouse argues that we will be better able to resolve major challenges of the 21st century—civil wars, collective action, poverty, and environmental change—if we understand the “social glue” that binds […]