2023/08/06 by David-Barrett, Tamas
#FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Economics and business #FOS: Physical sciences #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE) #Quantitative Methods (q-bio.QM) #Social and Information Networks (cs.SI) #Theoretical Economics (econ.TH)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.05928
The practice of marriage is an understudied phenomenon in behavioural sciences despite being ubiquitous across human cultures. This modelling paper shows that replacing distant direct kin with in-laws increases the interconnectedness of the family social network graph, which allows more cooperative and larger groups. In this framing, marriage can be seen as a social technology that reduces free-riding within collaborative group. This approach offers a solution to the puzzle of why our species has this particular form of regulating mating behaviour, uniquely among pair-bonded animals.