Presentation Details
| The Evolution of Play and Politics Gordon M Burghardt. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA |
Abstract
Play behavior has always had a political dimension, especially in humans where, at least in the West, it was often considered a frivolous distraction from formal learning in school age children and productive work in adults. In recent decades findings in the comparative diversity of play throughout the animal kingdom have made the linkage between nonhuman animal and human play critical for understanding play in all its richness, as well as the adaptive benefits it may secure, some of which are reviewed. There are, however, political and social organizational consequences of adult social play beyond puritanical motives and these seem to have been unexplored in a comparative framework. New comparative analyses of adult social play in nonhuman primates uncovered strong links between authoritarian and despotic societies and the suppression of adult play in nonhuman primates. This similarity to the suppression of adult play, creativity, and the arts in human despotic and authoritarian societies throughout history reveals more deep evolutionary roots in human social organization variation and the role of play than traditional social science has entertained.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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