98 John B. Calhoun 



between 10 and 20 adults. When the group exceeds 20 adults a budding 

 process occurs, 10 adults forming a minimal-sized horde. These approxima- 

 tions of BirdseU's again suggest a basic group size not diverging greatly 

 from the 12 presumably fixed by much earlier evolution. Occasionally, 

 the horde may fragment temporarily into single family groups when 

 scarcity of food demands such dispersal. 



Also, occasionally an average of five hordes, 50 adults, may temporarily 

 assemble into a supra-horde. However, this grouping appears to be a less 

 basic one than the other four. The third grouping, the tribe, lacks any 

 form of authority, and only on rare occasions do the 12 or so hordes forming 

 the typical tribe assemble. However, common bonds of culture, their cus- 

 toms and value systems, clearly delineate the tribe as a social entity. 

 Furthermore, marriages are primarily restricted to those between in- 

 dividuals of different hordes within the same tribe. Only in one local region 

 of Australia has a higher-order grouping evolved. Three supra-tribes, 

 averaging 2200 adults, represent an assembly of tribes bound together by 

 a more advanced type of political organization characterized by matrilineal 

 descent. 



These data suggest that cultural evolution has proceeded by saltatorial 

 steps, each characterized by some accretion to the culture. It wnll be my 

 hypothesis, to be developed in more detail in Sections XHI, B, 2 and B, 3, 

 that the sole function of culture is to provide a mold which enables inter- 

 actions to transpire in a larger group such that their physiological conse- 

 quences to the average individual closely approximate those that would 

 result were the individuals still living in a closed social group of about 12 

 individuals. 



Hallowell (1960, pp. 345-846) states that "... a normative orientation 

 becomes an inherent aspect of the functioning of all socio-cultural systems, 

 since traditionally recognized standards and values are characteristic of 

 them. Techniques are appraised as good or bad; .... Knowledge and 

 beliefs are judged true or false. Art forms and linguistic expression are 

 evaluated in relation to ethical values. All cultures are infused with ap- 

 praisals that involve cognitive, appreciative, and moral \'alues," and "if 

 the total ramifications of the normative orientation of human societies 

 are taken into account, we have a major clue to the kind of psychological 

 transformation that must have occurred in hominoid evolution w^hich 

 made this level of adaptation possible and some measure of its depth and 

 significance for an understanding of the dynamics of human social systems 

 of social action." Culture so conceived as normative orientation in which 

 individuals play sanctioned roles provides the structure which allows in- 

 dividuals to reap the maximum rewards (the theta, 9, of Section XHI, A) 

 from participation in the social system. 



