Inherited maternal rank shapes offspring social status among several primate species.

Evidence

Among most primates, these kinship groups are most closely associated with motheroffspring lineage bonds. Besides age, sex, size, and intelligence, in certain primate species such as yellow baboons, the social rank of the offspring is influenced by the social rank of the mother (e.g., Lee & Oliver, 1979). Studies among olive baboons have shown that the death of the mother or the loss of social status of the mother affects the social status of her offspring (Johnson, 1987). Similarly, research has shown that when the social rank of rhesus monkey mothers was experimentally manipulated by the introduction or removal of higher ranking animals, the offspring showed changes in their level of aggressive behavior congruent with their changed social rank (Marsden, 1968). — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3260

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels Coleman’s social capital work on how parental human capital transmits to children only through social ties — both are status/class inheritance mechanisms. — connects to: Animal dominance hierarchies poorly model human status structures — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 62
• QUESTION: Does this inherited-rank effect in baboons suggest an evolutionary precursor to human status reproduction across generations (e.g., aristocracy)?