Collective violence: An evolutionary perspective

The seeming ubiquity of war, genocide, and other forms of group conflict in human history has led many scholars to conclude that our capacity for collective violence is firmly rooted in the evolutionary history of our species. For many social scientists, however, this view is anathema: war and genocide are not evolved features of our human nature but are, rather, best viewed as evolutionary by-products, arising from particular social and ecological circumstances. The primary aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to, and critical evaluation of, evolutionary approaches to understanding collective violence. In particular, I focus on the question of whether collective violence can be considered an evolutionary adaptation or whether it is best viewed as a by-product of other evolved adaptations, emerging only in particular social, ecological, and political contexts. Although the available evidence is certainly consistent with the view that our capacity for collective violence has been selected for during the course of our evolutionary history, the idea that it is a by-product cannot be ruled out. A richer understanding of collective violence is likely to be developed through a more thorough integration of distal and proximate explanations.

Research highlights
► The present paper critically reviews evolutionary approaches to collective violence.
► The idea that collective violence may be an evolutionary adaptation is supported.
► However, alternative explanations cannot be ruled out.
► An evolutionary approach can enrich our understanding of collective violence.