On the origins of propaganda bio-cultural and evolutionary perspectives on social cohesion

The ability to form social groups based on shared ideas and beliefs is uniquely human. Other species, such as wolves or lions, form groups based on genetic kinship, reproduction, shared territories and immediate survival, but never, as far as we can tell, around an idea. Our closest cousins, chimpanzees and other primates, live in groups called troops, also based, in part on genetic kinship. They display many behaviors that, among humans, might commonly be associated with the formation of dominance hierarchies and “in-groups” or coalitions, which may play several roles: The formation of coalitions may result in the maintenance or the increase of the dominance of an individual, in the expulsion of certain lower ranked individuals from a group, in taking over a group, in the defense of the home range against other groups, in getting access to estrus females, and in the protection of an infant or adult female. The degree of cognition involved in coalitions is unclear. 1 Modern propaganda often leads to the same results as primate coalitions: Raising the status of a group leader, expelling people from the group, uniting members in defending the group’s homeland, and so on. The degree of cognition of the properties of coalitions among humans is, of course, signifi cantly higher.