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Journals / Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi / 2025 / Cilt: 17 Sayı: 1

Main factors affecting the evolvement of social tolerance in primates

İNSANLARDA VE DİĞER PRİMATLARDA SOSYAL HOŞGÖRÜNÜN GELİŞİMİNİ ETKİLEYEN BAŞLICA FAKTÖRLER

Muhsin Altun

Pages
93–128
Publication Date
2025-07-31
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Abstract

The phenomenon of social tolerance, as a general ability to accept and/or recognize the Other in its diversity has deep evolutionary origins, as well as its emotional and cultural aspects with which we are more or less familiar. This study aims to demonstrate the emergence of social tolerance amongst humans and non-human primates in an evolutionary framework. Evidences reviewed from the literature allow us to suggest that (1) although humans exhibit social tolerance in patterns similar to other primates in terms of managing interactions around vital resources (2) the evolutionary process has led them to develop a unique tolerance repertoire at both individual and group levels, and thus (3) they have become prone to framing resource competition through “identity continuity”, the distinction of “us and them”, and other cultural mechanisms that arise in parallel with the development of social bonds. We also suggest that such an understanding of the evolutionary background of variability in social tolerance may facilitate the explanation of social phenomena such as hate speech, discrimination, xenophobia, and Islamophobia etc., which tend to mark the relationships between immigrant communities and the institutions and values of the “host” society.

Özet

Öteki'ni farklılıklarıyla kabul etme ve/veya tanıma konusunda genel bir yetenek olarak sosyal hoşgörü olgusu, az çok aşina olduğumuz duygusal ve kültürel boyutlarının yanı sıra derin evrimsel kökenlere de sahiptir. Bu çalışma, insanlarda ve insan dışı primatlarda sosyal hoşgörünün ortaya çıkışını evrimsel bir çerçevede göstermeyi amaçlamaktadır. Literatürden taranan kanıtlar, (1) insanların, hayati kaynaklar etrafındaki etkileşimleri yönetme açısından diğer primatlara benzer örüntülerde sosyal tolerans sergilemelerine karşın (2) evrimsel sürecin onları hem birey hem de grup düzeyinde benzersiz bir hoşgörü repertuarı geliştirmeye yönlendirdiğini ve böylece (3) kaynak rekabetini “kimlik sürekliliği”, “biz ve onlar” ayrımı ve sosyal bağların gelişmesine paralel olarak ortaya çıkan diğer kültürel mekanizmalar üzerinden çerçevelemeye eğilimli hale geldiklerini öne sürmemize imkân vermektedir. Ayrıca, sosyal hoşgörüdeki değişkenliklerin evrimsel arka planına dair böyle bir kavrayışın, göçmen topluluklarla “ev sahibi” toplumun kurum ve değerleri arasındaki ilişkileri damgalama eğilimindeki nefret söylemi, ayrımcılık, yabancı düşmanlığı ve İslamofobi gibi sosyal fenomenlerin açıklanmasını kolaylaştırabileceğini de öne sürüyoruz.

Keywords
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Cite This Article

Altun, M. (2025). Main factors affecting the evolvement of social tolerance in primates. Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi, Cilt: 17 Sayı: 1, 93–128. https://doi.org/10.55978/sobiadsbd.1453490

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