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From: bpvanstr@yoho.uwaterloo.ca ()
Subject: Re: The evolution of hierarchies
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Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 17:10:40 GMT
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In article <829073856.914@shimbir.demon.co.uk>,
 <rick@shimbir.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>This posting has been stimulated by a David Attenborough TV programme, on 
>meercat societies in South Africa.
>
>1. Under what ecological conditions are hierarchies within individual 
>animal socities, such as meercats, adaptive ? I am assuming there are 
>many animals whose relationships with each other are not noticably 
>hierarchical in their order.
>
>2. If there are some environmental conditions that do favour hierarchies, 
>how do they come about through the actions of individual agents, since 
>they will act on the basis of individual interest, not collective 
>interest ?
>
>This inquiry is in the context an interest in the origin and 
>function of hierarchies in human organisations.
>

Instead of a really long post telling you all my answers, I'll just
direct you to a good lay-book that parallels my thoughts somewhat:

" The Moral Animal : The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology"
by Robert Wright. 1994, Random House.

He spends a an entire chapter addressing those questions.  It is a bit
rambling though.

	Brian Van Straalen
