ESP/ANT 105. The
Evolution of Societies and Cultures. MWF 10:00 - 10:50 1132 Bainer
The
course material leverages theories and data from anthropology, psychology, and
biology to help make sense of human cultural diversity and how and why it
changes through time.
TOPICS: Human
cultural diversity in time and space. The evolution of subsistence systems.
Evolution of social systems. The
relative importance of genes, environment, and culture. Psychology of social
learning; diffusion of innovations. Climate change and human evolution. Conflicts between genetic and cultural systems, the demographic transition.
The
evolution of cooperation. The evolution of symbolically-marked groups. Evolution
of complex societies. The origin of agriculture. The origin of complex
societies. The origin of modern societies. Contemporary trends.
19th Century cartoon of Charles Darwin
as an ape.