Parent-Offspring Conflict and Manipulation

This chapter introduces a 1974 paper that represents Richard D. Alexander's first exposition of general theory for the evolution of social behavior across all animals, including humans. Alexander's paper, integrating nepotism, reciprocity, and his new idea -parental manipulation-tackles the evolution of sociality in insects. It follows on from George Williams's critique of loose group selection thinking and on the work of William Hamilton and Robert Trivers in building an individual-centered theory. The chapter considers Alexander's argument that parents would win in conflicts with their offspring and that kin selection on offspring was not the primary force in eusociality. It includes an excerpt from his paper, entitled "The evolution of social behavior" and published in the Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics.