Cultural niche construction with application to fertility control: A model for education and social transmission of contraceptive use.

Autor: Denton KK; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States of America. Electronic address: kaleda@stanford.edu., Kendal JR; University of Durham, Department of Anthropology, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Electronic address: jeremy.kendal@durham.ac.uk., Ihara Y; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. Electronic address: iharay@bs.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp., Feldman MW; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States of America. Electronic address: mfeldman@stanford.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Theoretical population biology [Theor Popul Biol] 2023 Oct; Vol. 153, pp. 1-14. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 13.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2023.06.001
Abstrakt: The evolution of a cultural trait may be affected by niche construction, or changes in the selective environment of that trait due to the inheritance of other cultural traits that make up a cultural background. This study investigates the evolution of a cultural trait, such as the acceptance of the idea of contraception, that is both vertically and horizontally transmitted within a homogeneous social network. Individuals may conform to the norm, and adopters of the trait have fewer progeny than others. In addition, adoption of this trait is affected by a vertically transmitted aspect of the cultural background, such as the preference for high or low levels of education. Our model shows that such cultural niche construction can facilitate the spread of traits with low Darwinian fitness while providing an environment that counteracts conformity to norms. In addition, niche construction can facilitate the 'demographic transition' by making reduced fertility socially accepted.
(Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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