Induced Altruism in the Maintenance of Institutionalized Celibacy

Celibacy is an altruistic act when it involves an individual\u27s sacrifice of lifelong reproduction for the benefit of others. Where this occurs for the primary benefit of non-kin, as in many institutions which demand celibacy of their members, it will often be difficult to maintain. This dissertation explores the institutionalized maintenance and reinforcement of celibacy vows through the concept of induced altruism. Because humans generally recognize kin only by means of indirect cues, these cues may be manipulated so that individuals behave altruistically for the benefit of non-kin. Human kinship-recognition cues include association, phenotypic similarity, and the use of kinship terms and symbols. Additional factors which can aid kinship manipulation include young developmental age of potential altruists and their separation from true kin. A central prediction stemming from this model is that the manipulation of these kinship recognition cues and associated factors should be present in celibate institutions whose members are unlikely to be close genetic relatives. An appraisal of historical sources on major religions that exhibit institutionalized celibacy, as well as a comparative analysis of ethnographic data drawn from the Sample of Cross-Cultural Societies, support this prediction

The interstitial, musical authenticity, and social identity

Se exploran los procesos de autentificación musical examinando las reacciones de expertos de música y auditorios frente a la música de un grupo neoyorquino "intersticial", es decir, entre diferentes géneros, "Los Cubanos Postizos". Parece que cuestiones de autenticidad musical son de importancia para los críticos y el auditorio del grupo, al contrario de las expectativas basadas en características del arte posmoderno, de la globalización social y de la constitución compleja del grupo mismo. De 54 comentarios examinados (im­pre­sos, distribuidos por el Internet, o en entrevistas), 40 definen autenticidad por uno o más de los cuatro criterios siguientes: intención artística, características musicales técnicas, emoción musical y las credenciales de los artistas. Esto sugiere la continuidad de la relevancia de la autentificación para la formación y el mantenimiento de identidades de grupos en la sociedad contemporánea.This paper explores the process of musical authentication by examining the reactions of music experts and audiences to the music of an interstitial (inter-genre) New York group, "Los Cubanos Postizos". Contrary to expectations based on characteristics of postmodern art, social globalization, and the complicated nature of the group itself, issues of musical authenticity appear to be important to the band’s reviewers and audience. Of 54 print, web, and interview commentaries examined, 40 address authenticity by means of one or more of the following four criteria: artistic intent, technical musical characteristics, musical emotion, and the credentials of the artists. This suggests the continuing relevance of authentication to the formation and maintenance of group identities in contemporary society

Cultural Performance and Differential Fitness in a U.S. University Population

The notion of “cultural performance” is proposed as a theoretical paradigm for the cross-cultural understanding of the relationship between cultural and biological goals. The concepts of conformity and manipulation are discussed, and literature is cited in support of the notion that performing a cultural script, regardless of its nature (thus accounting for the persistence of “neutral” and even maladaptive traits), is adaptive in a Darwinian sense. Lastly, a study is presented in which an attempt has been made to support this hypothesis that cultural performance is adaptive. Former students of the University of Tennessee (class of 1965) were questioned regarding their cultural performance, which was operationalized in terms of participation in group activities and a “sense of belonging”, or conforming, to the group. This information was compared to the students’ biological performance in terms of somatic and reproductive fitness. Results suggest that there is a relationship between the two variables, as those who “performed” better averaged greater sexual access while at the university and higher realized fertility in subsequent life history