How Culture Makes Us Human: Primate Social Evolution And The Formation Of Human Societies

Dwight W Read
Skip to product information

How Culture Makes Us Human: Primate Social Evolution And The Formation Of Human Societies

Dwight W Read
Release date:
Regular price $72.95
Sale price $72.95 Regular price $0.00
Final Sale. No returns or exchanges.
Oversized: This item will be shipped by appointment through our delivery partner.
Overweight: This item will be shipped by appointment through our delivery partner.

Digital download

Immediate access in your Kobo library

Deliver to

Notify me when back in stock

Buy online, pick up at Bay & Floor

Out of stock

Find it in store

Out of stock

Found in: Community & Culture, Cultural Conversations

Earn 365 plum points and save more with plum Rewards. Learn more

View full details

Overview

237 PAGESENGLISH

Promotional Details
  • Published date: Oct 31, 2011
  • Language: English
  • No. of Pages: 237
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • ISBN: 9781598745894
  • Dimensions: 6.0" W x 0.8" L x 8.9" H
Dwight W. Read is Professor of Anthropology and Statistics at UCLA. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a recognized expert in quantitative archaeology. He has written over 100 articles on theory, analytic methods, kinship, computer applications, biological anthropology, and field projects from California to the Kalahari, and is author of Artifact Classification (2007).

"...Dwight Read has brought his strong mathematical and logical skills to bear on the fundmental issue of what distinguishes cultural phenomena, both as systems and as evolutionary phenomena. Anyone concerned with 'what makes us human' will find new and important perspectives in this work."... --Henry Wright, University of Michigan

"Read argues for the emergence of enhanced cognitive abilities, and especially an increase in short-term working memory, as a driving force behind human behavioral evolution. The author reviews the diversity of social systems among Old World monkeys and chimpanzees, humans' closest living relatives, in an attempt to establish the foundation of human social organization. The book lead readers from an appreciation of the complexities of monkey and ape societies to an understanding of the sophistication of modern human communities; this transition is accompanied by an organizationl shift from biological kin selection to cultural group selection.
Summing up: Recommended. Undergraduate students and general readers."- A. Delgado Jr., CHOICE

"How Culture Makes Us Human is an intriguing book that I like very much. My appreciation stems from the author's ability to explicitly outline the cognitive capabilities within various primate lineages in order to demonstrate qualities of mind that allow for a cultural kinship system to develop. The book should appeal to both the evolutionary theory camp and the culture-is-unique camp in anthropology (and the social sciences) because it implies that both sides have a point. Clearly written, the book also contains numerous useful figures and illustrations. I recommend it highly for use in both graduate and undergraduate anthropology courses pertaining to evolution, the primates, hunter-gatherers, and culture."--William Raymond Yaworsky, Anthropology Review Database

Recently Viewed