%0 Film or Broadcast
%A Gray, Russell D.
%+ Linguistic and Culture Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society
%T Did Religion Play a Causal Role in the Evolution of Large, Complex Societies? : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0007-53B6-E
%R 10.21036/LTPUB10216
%D 2016
%X The notion of a powerful god is often said to play a significant role in supporting the transition from small relatively equal hunter and gatherer societies to big hierarchical societies. However, as RUSSELL GRAY explains in this video, while there is a correlation between “big gods” and “big societies”, this is no causal relationship. By comparing the evolution of different forms of social organization in cultures with a common ancestry in the Pacific and Southeast Asia the researchers found that these societies grew bigger first and only then borrowed the notion of a powerful god through the influence of Muslim traders. Another result on the influence of religion is that ritual human sacrifice played a major role in maintaining or even promoting social inequality. 
%U https://lt.org/publication/did-religion-play-causal-role-evolution-large-complex-societies