TY - JOUR
T1 - The Origin of Politics
T2 - An Evolutionary Theory of Political Behavior
AU - Alford, John R.
AU - Hibbing, John R.
PY - 2004/12
Y1 - 2004/12
N2 - In this article we propose that evolutionary biology can supply political science with a theory of the ultimate causes of human preferences and behaviors that it otherwise lacks. For the most part, political scientists are either unfamiliar with the social side of evolutionary theory or misidentify its key features. Far from being genetically deterministic or leading exclusively to predictions that all human behavior will be selfish, modern evolutionary theories stress that adaptive behavior is frequently characterized by a guarded sort of cooperation. We describe modern biological theory, offer our own version of it, discuss new and potentially useful interpretations of political attitudes and public policies, and present scientific evidence, drawn from research on autistic individuals and monozygotic and dizygotic twins, of the startlingly important role genetics plays in shaping politically relevant attitudes and behaviors.
AB - In this article we propose that evolutionary biology can supply political science with a theory of the ultimate causes of human preferences and behaviors that it otherwise lacks. For the most part, political scientists are either unfamiliar with the social side of evolutionary theory or misidentify its key features. Far from being genetically deterministic or leading exclusively to predictions that all human behavior will be selfish, modern evolutionary theories stress that adaptive behavior is frequently characterized by a guarded sort of cooperation. We describe modern biological theory, offer our own version of it, discuss new and potentially useful interpretations of political attitudes and public policies, and present scientific evidence, drawn from research on autistic individuals and monozygotic and dizygotic twins, of the startlingly important role genetics plays in shaping politically relevant attitudes and behaviors.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=20744435175&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=20744435175&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1537592704040460
DO - 10.1017/S1537592704040460
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:20744435175
SN - 1537-5927
VL - 2
SP - 707
EP - 723
JO - Perspectives on Politics
JF - Perspectives on Politics
IS - 4
ER -