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Where do social structures come from?

Advances in Group Processes

ISBN: 978-0-76230-767-8, eISBN: 978-1-84950-098-2

Publication date: 30 March 2001

Abstract

While structuralism and network theory have been enormously successful empirically, they have not been able to explain the origins of social structures and networks. I contend that the emerging field of evolutionary psychology can help us explain how some social structures and networks emerge. I illustrate my point with a persistent empirical puzzle in the social networks literature (why women have more kin in their personal networks than men do), and provide an evolutionary psychological explanation for this phenomenon. I test two implications of this explanation with the 1985 Social Networks module of the General Social Survey. The data provide support for the evolutionary psychological explanation of women's kincentric networks.

Citation

Kanazawa, S. (2001), "Where do social structures come from?", Advances in Group Processes (Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 161-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0882-6145(01)18007-0

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2001, Emerald Group Publishing Limited