Biocultural theory: the current state of knowledge

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Joseph Carroll
  • Mathias Clasen
  • Emelie Jonsson
  • Alexandra Regina Kratschmer
  • Luseadra McKerracher
  • Felix Riede
  • Jens Christian Svenning
  • Kjærgaard, Peter C.

Biocultural theory is an integrative research program designed to investigate the causal interactions between biological adaptations and cultural constructions. From the biocultural perspective, cultural processes are rooted in the biological necessities of the human life cycle: specifically human forms of birth, growth, survival, mating, parenting, and sociality. Conversely, from the biocultural perspective, human biological processes are constrained, organized, and developed by culture, which includes technology, culturally specific socioeconomic and political structures, religious and ideological beliefs, and artistic practices such as music, dance, painting, and storytelling. Establishing biocultural theory as a program that self-consciously encompasses the different particular forms of human evolutionary research could help scholars and scientists envision their own specialized areas of research as contributions to a coherent, collective research program. This article argues that a mature biocultural paradigm needs to be informed by at least 7 major research clusters: (a) gene-culture coevolution; (b) human life history theory;

Original languageEnglish
JournalEvolutionary Behavioral Sciences
Volume11
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)1-15
Number of pages15
ISSN2330-2925
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2017

    Research areas

  • Biocultural theory, Consilience, Evolutionary psychology, Geneculture coevolution, Human evolution

ID: 160605133