Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior [Hardcover]

Christopher Boehm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999

Are humans by nature hierarchical or egalitarian? Hierarchy in the Forest addresses this question by examining the evolutionary origins of social and political behavior. Christopher Boehm, an anthropologist whose fieldwork has focused on the political arrangements of human and nonhuman primate groups, postulates that egalitarianism is in effect a hierarchy in which the weak combine forces to dominate the strong.

The political flexibility of our species is formidable: we can be quite egalitarian, we can be quite despotic. Hierarchy in the Forest traces the roots of these contradictory traits in chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, and early human societies. Boehm looks at the loose group structures of hunter-gatherers, then at tribal segmentation, and finally at present-day governments to see how these conflicting tendencies are reflected.

Hierarchy in the Forest claims new territory for biological anthropology and evolutionary biology by extending the domain of these sciences into a crucial aspect of human political and social behavior. This book will be a key document in the study of the evolutionary basis of genuine altruism.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Boehm, professor of anthropology and director of the Jane Goodall Research Center at the University of Southern California, ranges broadly in his quest to determine the evolutionary origins of social and political behavior. Combining an exhaustive ethnographic survey of human societies from groups of hunter-gatherers to contemporary residents of the Balkans with a detailed analysis of the behavioral attributes of nonhuman primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos), Boehm focuses on whether humans are hierarchical or egalitarian by nature. His thesis "is that egalitarianism does not result from the mere absence of hierarchy, as is commonly assumed. Rather egalitarianism involves a very special type of hierarchy, a curious type that is based on antihierarchical feelings." This "reverse dominance hierarchy," as Boehm calls it, depends on the rank and file banding together "to deliberately dominate their potential master if they wish to remain equal." Boehm extends his analysis to argue that the processes of group selection originally advanced by David Sloan Wilson can account for the evolution of altruistic behavior in humans. While Boehm's hypotheses are not always persuasive, they are invariably intriguing and well documented. His presentation can be difficult for the nonspecialist, but he raises topics of wide interest and his book should gain attention. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This well-written book, geared toward an audience with background in the behavioral and evolutionary sciences but accessible to a broad readership, raises two general questions: 'What is an egalitarian society?' and 'How have these societies evolved?'...[Christopher Boehm] takes the reader on a journey from the Arctic to the Americas, from Australia to Africa, in search of hunter-gatherer and tribal societies that emanate the egalitarian ethos--one that promotes generosity, altruism and sharing but forbids upstartism, aggression and egoism. Throughout this journey, Boehm tantalizes the reader with vivid anthropological accounts of ridicule, criticism, ostracism and even execution--prevalent tactics used by subordinates in egalitarian societies to level the social playing field...Hierarchy in the Forest is an interesting and thought-provoking book that is surely an important contribution to perspectives on human sociality and politics. (Ryan Earley American Scientist )

Combing an exhaustive ethnographic survey of human societies from groups of hunter-gatherers to contemporary residents of the Balkans with a detailed analysis of the behavioral attributes of non-human primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos), Boehm focuses on whether humans are hierarchical or egalitarian by nature...[Boehm's hypotheses] are invariably intriguing and well documented...He raises topics of wide interest and his book should get attention. (Publishers Weekly )

From a theoretical perspective, some of the most convincing arguments presented by Boehm center around the pivotal role of language in the evolution of egalitarianism…More provocative, however, are Boehm's ideas on how between-group selection has operated to generate egalitarianism. (Harold Gouzoules The Quarterly Review of Biology )

Hierarchy in the Forest claims new territory for biological anthropology and evolutionary biology by extending the domain of these sciences into a crucial aspect of human political and social behavior. This book will be a key document in the study of the evolutionary basis of genuine altruism. (Primate Science )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674390318
• ISBN-13: 978-0674390317
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,384,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Evolution of Human Egalitarianism April 21, 2000

By Peter Gray

Format:Hardcover

From the time I picked up this book until finishing it within 36 hours, I was captured by this excellent work on human politics from an evolutionary perspective. Boehm shows close scholarship in his summaries of hunter-gatherer and other society's ethnographic evidence bearing on politics. He also contrasts this human focus with our closest relatives, the apes, and chimps in particular. Readers may find of interest the struggle, rather than ease, with which egalitarianism appears among simple societies. The book also raises questions about the origin of human egalitarianism that will stimulate readers and research for years to come.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars infinite care and patience, great insight - a thrilling and wonderful read August 4, 2006

By rob foxcroft

Format:Paperback

I like this book a lot.

Christopher Boehm has something interesting and important to say, and he says it with a mass of supporting evidence and persuasive argumentation.

It's not an easy read, because the thinking is deep, but it's full of interest, and he tells good stories.

This is the first time that anybody has made sense, for me, of aspects of human nature which have been puzzling me since I was a child.

If you're interested in human nature read this book - especially if (1) you are intrigued by patterns of human hierarchy and anti-hierarchy; (2)(like me) have realised that these patterns are intensely dynamic (neither "cultural" nor simply "instinctive behaviours); and (3) (also like me) have failed to make sense for yourself of what IS going on.

This is a highly distinguished book. It's hard to imagine how anybody could organise such a range of knowledge into such a gripping and persuasive account.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly Careful Science July 27, 2011

By Aretae VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

As someone interested in people, I read a lot about evolutionary psychology. Unfortunately, most of the discussions of Evolutionary Psychology that I've run into are less than well founded. However, up until now, I haven't really had much chance to read anyone who was intimately familiar with the data. Chris Boehm fixed that.

What do you get if you cross an Anthropologist, familiar with latest research on the !Kung, the Yanomamo, and all the other modern hunter-gatherer types we know of, with a primatologist, a passing-good archaeologist, and a very careful thinker? Christopher Boehm, author of this book.

The question is:
What is the human being's natural relationship to authority and egalitarianism.

The answer that the author proposes is:
As with most social pack animals, Homo Sapiens' ancestors appear to have been quite hierarchical multiple millions of years ago. In a wrestling/boxing match, the strongest guy almost always wins. When humans developed weaponry (Simple clubs, spears, arrows), Egalitarianism quickly became the norm, and was the stable norm for hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million years. This is probably due to the game theory of combat with weapons (the stronger guy only wins 60% of the time). About 10K years ago, agriculture developed, followed almost immediately by food storage. Food storage again changed the game theory, and hierarchy was again established.
Human beings thus have an evolutionary history of hierarchy, followed by a rabid egalitarianism, and an evolutionarily recent re-creation of hierarchy.

More impressive though than the hypothesis is how the author writes the book. Careful, measured, and both cognizant and respectful of alternate opinions. I can't say enough nice things about the book...if you like reading academic, careful work.