Warfare and the Evolution of Social Complexity: A Multilevel-Selection Approach
Peter Turchin
Multilevel selection is a powerful theoretical framework for understanding how complex hierarchical systems evolve by iteratively adding control levels. Here I apply this to major transition in human social evolution, from small-scale egalitarian groups large-scale societies such as states and empires. A mathematical result multilevel selection, the Price equation, specifies conditions concerning structure of cultural variation selective pressures that promote evolution larger-scale societies. Specifically, large should arise regions where culturally very different people are contact, interpolity competition – warfare particularly intense. For period history Axial Age Discovery (c.500 BCE–1500 CE), favorable rise empires obtained on steppe frontiers, contact between nomadic pastoralists settled agriculturalists. An empirical investigation lethality, focusing fates populations conquered cities, indicates genocide was an order magnitude more frequent steppe-frontier wars than similar groups. overall test theory’s predictions shows over ninety percent largest historical arose world classified frontiers.
Structure and dynamics