- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- 1 Children’s Development in Light of Evolution and Culture
- 2 Epigenetics of Mammalian Parenting
- Commentary As Time Goes By, a Touch Is More Than Just a Touch
- 3 Nonhuman Primate Models of Mental Health
- Commentary Look How Far We Have Come
- 4 Relationships and Resource Uncertainty
- Commentary Social Connectedness Versus Mothers on Their Own
- 5 Batek Childrearing and Morality
- Commentary Parenting in the Modern Jungle
- 6 Cosleeping Beyond Infancy
- Commentary Intertwining the Influences of Culture and Ecology Broadens a Definition of the Importance of Closeness in Care
- 7 Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness, Rough-and-Tumble Play, and the Selection of Restraint in Human Aggression
- Commentary Evolutionary Adaptation and Violent Aggression
- 8 Play Theory of Hunter-Gatherer Egalitarianism
- Commentary Comparative Studies of Social Play, Fairness, and Fitness
- 9 Incentives in the Family I
- 10 Preliminary Steps Toward Addressing the Role of Nonadult Individuals in Human Evolution
- Commentary Conflict and Evolution
- 11 Child Maltreatment and Early Mother–Child Interactions
- Commentary Ancestral Attachment
- 12 Importance of the Developmental Perspective in Evolutionary Discussions of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- Commentary Modeling of Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Can Benefit From Careful Integration of Evolutionary and Developmental Accounts
- 13 From the Emergent Drama of Interpretation to Enscreenment
- Commentary Darwinism and Children
- 14 Childhood Environments and Flourishing
- 15 Postscript
- Index
Play Theory of Hunter-Gatherer Egalitarianism
Play Theory of Hunter-Gatherer Egalitarianism
- Chapter:
- (p.192) 8 Play Theory of Hunter-Gatherer Egalitarianism
- Source:
- Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution
- Author(s):
Peter Gray
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Social play requires that players adopt an egalitarian attitude, because domination by one will lead others to quit. Across animal species there appears to be a correlation between amount of social play and egalitarian life style. Hunter-gatherer cultures are the most egalitarian of all human cultures, and they also appear to be the most playful. The primary thesis presented here is that hunter-gatherers more or less deliberately cultivate the playful side of their human nature in order to maintain the egalitarian attitude necessary to cooperate and share as intensively as they must for their way of life. This thesis is developed through examining the playfulness of hunter-gatherer games, religious practices, productive work, approaches to correcting those who have violated a norm, and approach to childhood education.
Keywords: hunter-gatherers, play, playfulness, teasing, egalitarianism, cooperation, dominance hierarchies
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- 1 Children’s Development in Light of Evolution and Culture
- 2 Epigenetics of Mammalian Parenting
- Commentary As Time Goes By, a Touch Is More Than Just a Touch
- 3 Nonhuman Primate Models of Mental Health
- Commentary Look How Far We Have Come
- 4 Relationships and Resource Uncertainty
- Commentary Social Connectedness Versus Mothers on Their Own
- 5 Batek Childrearing and Morality
- Commentary Parenting in the Modern Jungle
- 6 Cosleeping Beyond Infancy
- Commentary Intertwining the Influences of Culture and Ecology Broadens a Definition of the Importance of Closeness in Care
- 7 Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness, Rough-and-Tumble Play, and the Selection of Restraint in Human Aggression
- Commentary Evolutionary Adaptation and Violent Aggression
- 8 Play Theory of Hunter-Gatherer Egalitarianism
- Commentary Comparative Studies of Social Play, Fairness, and Fitness
- 9 Incentives in the Family I
- 10 Preliminary Steps Toward Addressing the Role of Nonadult Individuals in Human Evolution
- Commentary Conflict and Evolution
- 11 Child Maltreatment and Early Mother–Child Interactions
- Commentary Ancestral Attachment
- 12 Importance of the Developmental Perspective in Evolutionary Discussions of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- Commentary Modeling of Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Can Benefit From Careful Integration of Evolutionary and Developmental Accounts
- 13 From the Emergent Drama of Interpretation to Enscreenment
- Commentary Darwinism and Children
- 14 Childhood Environments and Flourishing
- 15 Postscript
- Index
