Doctoral Dissertation Research: Testing evolutionary theories of leadership in a population of transitional foragers

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

The research supported by this award will investigate the nature of leadership in human societies. All societies have leaders but the forms, functions, and effects of leadership vary from society to society. For the vast majority of human evolutionary history, people lived as hunter-gatherers in small nomadic bands and had social structures likely characterized by high degrees of egalitarianism, a lack of inherited social distinctions, and a cultural ethos of sharing. Leadership under these conditions would be quite different from leadership in contemporary societies, which are larger and less homogeneous. Therefore, to understand the origins and development of leadership, the roots of contemporary leadership forms, it is necessary to collect data in the few small-scale societies that remain. The research is important because leadership is a major force in shaping human behavior, health, culture, and society. A complete understanding of human leadership begins with a detailed understanding of leadership in small-scale egalitarian societies. The research will be conducted by Washington State University doctoral student, Zachary Garfield, with oversight by Dr. Edward H. Hagen. The researchers will test four evolutionary theories of leadership among the Chabu, a population of approximately 2,000 recently settled Ethiopian hunter-gatherers who now subsist on a mix of hunting, gathering, horticulture, and cash crops. The Chabu recently adopted the Kebele system, a local administrative unit of the Ethiopian government in which the community elects multiple leaders to fulfill several internal and external functions. Hence, there is a unique opportunity to investigate leadership among a contemporary egalitarian society currently transitioning to a more hierarchical social structure within the male-dominated Ethiopian state. The four theoretical models of leadership to be investigated are (1) the egalitarian forager model, (2) the dominance-prestige model, (3) the wealth inequality model, and (4) collective action models of leadership. Data will be collected using self-report, peer-ratings, anthropometry, and free-listing for a sample of approximately 250 individuals. These data will be used to test preregistered predictions and other analyses. Findings from this research will contribute to improving theories of leadership currently based primarily on contemporary Western societies. Findings will also be communicated to help organizations concerned with developing new forms of leadership to meet business and public service objectives. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.