Taborsky Michael, Fewell Jennifer H, Gilles Robert, Taborsky Barbara
Behavioural Ecology Division, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Hinterkappelen 3032, Switzerland.
Department of Collective Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz 78467, Germany.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2025 Mar 20;380(1922):20230261. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0261.
The social division of labour (DoL) has been renowned as a key driver of the economic success of human societies dating back to ancient philosophers such as Plato (in , 380 BCE), Xenophon (in , 370 BCE) and Aristotle (in , 350 BCE, and , 340 BCE). Over time, this concept evolved into a cornerstone of political economic thought, most prominently expressed in Smith (in , 1776). In his magnum opus, Adam Smith posited that DoL has caused a greater increase in production than any other factor in human history. There is little doubt that DoL immensely increases productive output, both in humans and in other organisms, but it is less clear how it comes about, how it is organized and what the biological roots are of this human 'turbo enhancer'. We address these questions here using results from studies of a wide range of organisms and various modelling approaches.This article is part of the theme issue 'Division of labour as key driver of social evolution'.
社会分工一直被誉为人类社会经济成功的关键驱动力，可追溯到古代哲学家，如柏拉图（公元前380年）、色诺芬（公元前370年）和亚里士多德（公元前350年和公元前340年）。随着时间的推移，这一概念演变成了政治经济思想的基石，在亚当·斯密（1776年）的著作中得到了最为突出的体现。在其巨著中，亚当·斯密认为，社会分工带来的产量增长比人类历史上的任何其他因素都要大。毫无疑问，社会分工极大地提高了人类和其他生物体的生产产出，但尚不清楚它是如何产生的、如何组织的，以及这种人类“超级增强器”的生物学根源是什么。我们在这里利用对广泛生物体的研究结果和各种建模方法来回答这些问题。本文是主题为“分工作为社会进化的关键驱动力”的特刊的一部分。
