Modern face-to-face group structures replicate ancient foraging configurations

Evidence

Caporael (1997) proposed that the face-to-face contexts of ancient foraging groups were the significant environment for the evolution of both group coordination and the mental systems that make coordination possible. Table 4.1 summarizes the broad outlines of this work. It proposes four face-to-face configurations—dyad, task group, band (or deme), and macroband (macrodeme)—organized as a nested hierarchy, or demic structure (Hull, 1988). The tasks listed are arguably characteristic of hunter-gatherers but have analogues in the activity patterns of modern peoples. For example, scientists frequently operate in core configurations of research groups (task groups), workshops (demes), and yearly association meetings (seasonal macrodemes). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 394

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to demic/multilevel selection literature and to the recurring theme of behavioral ecology explaining modern institutions, like the law-merchant and diamond-bourse social structure notes.
• SEED: Angle: modern professional life as a lingering vestige of hunter-gatherer group sizing — ‘the paleolithic boardroom.’