The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
Nicholas A. Christakis · 2019 · Science
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In Blueprint, physician and sociologist Nicholas Christakis argues that evolution has given humans a shared set of social capacities that shape every society. He calls this the social suite: the ability to recognise individual identity, love for partners and children, friendship, social networks, cooperation, a preference for one’s own group, mild hierarchy, and social learning and teaching.
To test the idea, Christakis examines cases where groups had to build a society from scratch, including shipwreck survivors and utopian communes, alongside online experiments from his own laboratory and studies of animal behaviour. He concludes that our genes do not only make us capable of conflict. They also incline us to build cooperative, reasonably good societies, and our shared human nature matters more than our differences.
Key insights
- Social instincts are hard to override. Communities that tried to suppress them, for example by weakening family ties, tended to struggle or change course.
- In crises, cooperation and fair leadership save lives. Shipwreck survivors who shared resources and kept a mild, respected hierarchy fared far better than groups that fragmented.
- Friendship is part of our evolved nature, not just a cultural habit. Humans, like some other social animals, form lasting bonds with unrelated individuals.
- In-group loyalty cuts both ways. It helps groups cooperate but also fuels suspicion of outsiders, so the circle of ‘us’ needs deliberate widening.
- Genes and culture shape each other. Our biology influences how we organise societies, and over long periods those societies can in turn shape our genes.
Read it if you want an evidence-based, hopeful account of why humans cooperate and what makes societies work.