The Large Society Problem in Northwest Europe and East Asia
Open Access
- 1 January 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. in Advances in Anthropology
- Vol. 10 (03), 214-234
- https://doi.org/10.4236/aa.2020.103012
Abstract
Kinship was the organizing principle of early societies, defining how people should behave toward each other. Social and economic activity was thus organized mostly among closely related individuals, a limitation that would keep societies from realizing their full potential as they grew larger. The “large society problem” has not been fully solved anywhere, but Northwest Europeans and East Asians have gone the farthest toward a solution. In general, the solution has been to weaken the relative importance of kinship and strengthen forms of sociality that can include everyone, and not just close kin. In particular, one must think and feel in certain ways, i.e., be susceptible to social norms that are absolute, universal, and independent of kinship; feel guilty after breaking social norms; feel empathy for non-kin; and orient oneself toward society. This mindset shows similarities and differences between Northwest Europeans and East Asians. Both groups adapted to a larger social environment by becoming more empathetic toward non-kin and more susceptible to universal social norms. Northwest Europeans became more individualistic while acquiring stronger internal controls of behavior (affective empathy, guilt proneness). East Asians became more collectivistic while acquiring stronger internal controls (cognitive empathy) and stronger external controls (shaming, family-community surveillance, inculcation of normative behavior).Keywords
This publication has 85 references indexed in Scilit:
- Molecular evidence for a single evolutionary origin of domesticated riceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- Assessing Jail Inmates’ Proneness To Shame and GuiltCriminal Justice and Behavior, 2011
- Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young AdultsCurrent Biology, 2011
- Testosterone administration impairs cognitive empathy in women depending on second-to-fourth digit ratioProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene Associated with Fairness Preference in Ultimatum GamePLOS ONE, 2010
- Acute stress modulates genotype effects on amygdala processing in humansProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- The neurogenetics of remembering emotions pastProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Culture–gene coevolution of individualism–collectivism and the serotonin transporter geneProceedings. Biological sciences, 2009
- Associations between the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and affect, loneliness and intelligence in normal subjectsProgress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 2009
- Recent acceleration of human adaptive evolutionProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007