The Human Community as a Primate Society.

SOCIAL structure; HUMAN evolution; SOCIAL evolution; SOCIAL interaction; PRIMATES; SOCIOBIOLOGY; HUMAN biology -- Social aspects; MAMMALS; INTERPERSONAL relations; HUMAN behavior

This paper attempts to reconcile views from social anthropology, primatology, and human sociobiology in a summary of the distinctive features of human social organization. Primate societies are compared on a set of "species-neutral" dimensions, with 16 species classified according to their modal patterns of social organization. The human social pattern unites conjugal families within "atomistic" communities. Humans are the only primates that maintain lifelong relationships with dispersing offspring; both sexes therefore remain embedded in networks of consanguineal kin. This allows the formation of intergroup alliances through affinity. An important key to these patterns is the extent to which humans can maintain relationships in the absence of spatial proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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