Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to supply the reader with foundational information about life history theory without which the remainder of the book would not make sense. Herein, it is explained that life history was originally an exclusively biological theory relevant to the timing of gestation, development, maturation, and death. Later, it was used to explain variation among human populations not only on these core biological variables, but also on psychological and social variables. Psychological variables include personality traits like conscientiousness, mating strategy, and intelligence, while sociological variables include altruistic effort, cultural capital, and communal affiliation. With this primer on life history evolution, the reader can better assimilate specific life history knowledge detailed in subsequent sections.
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Notes
- 1.
As previously described (Hertler 2016), “the r used above refers to rate, which, along with K for carrying capacity, was part of the shorthand notations used by the innovators of life history theory, MacArthur and Wilson. Though the density dependence that these notations were used to calculate has been superseded by direct measures of mortality, their use above follows the modern convention of using r and K as shorthand references to fast and slow life histories respectively.”
- 2.
Disposable Soma Theory Encapsulated
The concept of a disposable soma can be disconcerting, given that the organism, whether animal or person, author or reader, is simply a temporary vehicle for the propagation of genetic material. Such a view undermines the view of self, especially as it has been exalted since the Renaissance, as an ultimate end. Putting aside the many existential and philosophical implications of somas being disposable, it is important to provide some further explanation of this important concept. Such a theory would hardly be conceivable without the work of Richard Dawkins and W. D. Hamilton. Dawkins achieved a conceptual revolution in Darwinian evolution by discussing the gene, instead of the organism, as the level of selection. This more precisely emphasized that the evolutionary process is simply a change in gene frequencies. Hamilton showed the soma to be disposable through a similar emphasis on genes by developing his theory of inclusive fitness, otherwise known as kin selection. By either name, this process recognizes relatives as repositories of shared genes. The higher the level of genomic overlap, the more the interests of self and other overlap. It is in this way that self-sacrifice is more likely for a daughter than a niece; for a niece than a cousin; for a cousin than a stranger. Genetic propagation, not individual survival, is paramount; a process that is illustrated by the male Australian Redback Spider which increases offspring viability or number by becoming a nuptial meal for his mating partner.
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Hertler, S.C. (2016). Life History Evolution: An Explanatory Framework. In: Life History Evolution and Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48784-7_3
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