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Book Cover
E-book
Author Norenzayan, Ara, 1970-

Title Big gods : how religion transformed cooperation and conflict / Ara Norenzayan
Published Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2013]

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Description 1 online resource (xvi, 248 pages) : illustrations
Contents Religious evolution -- Supernatural watchers -- Pressure from above -- In big gods we trust -- Freethinkers as freeriders -- True believers -- Big gods for big groups -- The gods of cooperation and competition -- From religious cooperation to religious conflict -- Cooperation without God
Summary How did human societies scale up from small, tight-knit groups of hunter-gatherers to the large, anonymous, cooperative societies of today--even though anonymity is the enemy of cooperation? How did organized religions with "Big Gods"--The great monotheistic and polytheistic faiths--spread to colonize most minds in the world? In Big Gods, Ara Norenzayan makes the surprising and provocative argument that these fundamental puzzles about the origins of civilization answer each other. Sincere faith in watchful Big Gods unleashed unprecedented cooperation within ever-expanding groups, yet at the same time it introduced a new source of potential conflict between competing groups. And in some parts of the world, societies with atheist majorities—some of the most cooperative and prosperous in the world—have climbed religion’s ladder, and then kicked it away. Big Gods answers fundamental questions about the origins and spread of world religions and helps us understand the rise of cooperative societies without belief in gods. -- Publisher
Analysis Religion
Civilisation
Civil society
Psychology
Atheism
Overseas item
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Psychology, Religious.
Psychology -- Religious aspects.
Faith development -- Psychological aspects
Cooperation -- Religious aspects.
Conflict management -- Religious aspects.
psychology of religion.
RELIGION -- Comparative Religion.
RELIGION -- Essays.
RELIGION -- Reference.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Sociology of Religion.
Conflict management -- Religious aspects
Cooperation -- Religious aspects
Psychology, Religious
Psychology -- Religious aspects
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2013011723
ISBN 9781400848324
1400848326
1299779174
9781299779174
0691169748
9780691169743