Societies sharing identical technology and environment can diverge sharply in social organization.

Evidence

Many culturally distinct groups inhabit quite similar or identical environments. The Arawakan-speaking Machiguenga and the Panoan-speaking Yora, for example, represent two culturally distinct Amazonian Indian groups that possess identical technology and inhabit nearly identical and overlapping regions in and around Manu National Park in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon. Among a long list of cultural differences, the Machiguenga and Yora speak entirely different languages, with unrelated grammatical structures, different vowels, and different rules for verb conjugation: Further, the Machiguenga live in egalitarian single-family groups or small, nucleated family clusters organized through bilateral descent (Snell 1974), whereas the Yora live in larger hierarchically organized groups based on a dual moiety system and patrilineal descent (MacQuarry 1988). — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 107

Categorization

• XREF: The Machiguenga/Yora contrast echoes environment-independent cultural divergence themes and prefigures the conformity-driven cohesion argument; such paired natural experiments are central to Henrich’s case. — connects to: Shared beliefs can sustain group boundaries despite environmental and technological similarity. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 9; Similar environments and technologies produce divergent cultural systems. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 9; Human societies vary widely, supporting a potentialist view of nature (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Open societies with mobility paradoxically breed more intergroup animosity #exemplifies (0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1479
• Societies promoting equal opportunity paradoxically generate more intergroup competition and animosity. #exemplifies (0.75)
• Human societies vary widely, supporting a potentialist view of nature #expands (0.72)