Die reproduktive soziale Einheit Familie in evolutionsbiologischer Sicht

The human family is a cultural institution on a biological basis. Its original biological task serves the functions of biogenetic reproduction. Patterns of family structures vary among human cultures, however, they can almost always be looked upon as nepotistic systems enhancing the potential of maximizing “inclusive fitness” under different economical conditions. This paper wants to demonstrate that human family organizations are the consequence of cooperative compromises between (sometimes competitive) male and female reproductive strategies which originate deeply in our mammalian phylogeny. Intersexual conflicts and the necessary compromises for successful reproductive cooperation are due to divergent options regarding mating as well as parental investment strategies. The lecture deals with these differences and its shaping influences on human family organization under the perspective of modern evolutionary biology, including the sociobiological and ethno-ecological concepts of mating patterns, parental investment (e.g. resources allocation), parental manipulation (e.g. sex-ratio adjustment and the production of “helpers at the nest”), parent-offspring conflict as well as the exogamy balance and discusses their effects on culturally transmitted normative rules.