On the Human "Interaction Engine"

Abstract

In this chapter, the author aims to make the case that the roots of human sociality lie in a special capacity for social interaction, which itself holds the key to human evolution, the evolution of language, the nature of much of daily concerns, the building blocks of social systems, and even the limitations of political systems. He tries to stand back and extract some generalizations about the special human abilities that seem to lie behind the structure of social interaction. Many sociocultural anthropologists may react with hostility to the ideas so far discussed—the direction of argument may seem to belittle the role of the cultural construction of social life, like so many ideas in sociobiology, human ethology, or evolutionary psychology. The hypothesis is that the interaction engine will be most recognizable in informal, everyday conversation, which forms the normal matrix for language acquisition and socialization.

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