- Charles Stanish (1957- ). The Evolution of Human Cooperation: Ritual and Social Complexity in Stateless Societies -- Reviews
Reviewed: The Evolution of Human Cooperation: Ritual and Social Complexity in Stateless Societies . CHARLES STANISH , 2017. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge . xiii + 336 pp. $110.00 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-107-18055-0. In this significant book, Stanish builds a model of how complex stateless societies solve collective action problems to benefit their members in the absence of coercive leadership--not in the absence of leadership but in the absence of coercive leadership. The model is framed by game theory, which is recast as anthropological game theory, and collective action theory, making the claim that humans are conditional cooperators. Crucial to successful and sustainable cooperation is a "ritualized economy": an economy with rules of co-operative economic behavior.
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This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in American Antiquity. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in American Antiquity, 83(2).