A Brief History of Human Behaviour: And How to Become an Enlightened Global Citizen

This book studiously avoids the plethora of conjectural theories and poorly substantiated opinionation on which so much psychological and sociological research depends. Instead, it reverts to the bedrock evidence of human history, and prehistory as mirrored in primatology, to construct a succinct and very user friendly text which teenagers, parents and aspiring global citizens can readily understand. A more astute and widely assimilated comprehension of human behaviour is key to the solution of the majority of outstanding human problems.
A great many books have been published on the subject of citizenship, but almost all have so far confined themselves to a scrutiny of the rights and responsibilities of living within the enclave of a specified nation state and of conforming with its values and culture. But globalisation has created a new dimension in the way peoples of the world need to relate to each other. Whilst it has been relatively easy to categorise the rights all humans have in common, it has proved more difficult to define the responsibilities of global citizenship, particularly when these conflict with narrower partisan and doctrinal interests. The clash of competing cultures can only be overcome by informed compromise based on historical knowledge. All social progress involves a reappraisal of past failures and a rationalisation of the way in which these can be put right. For this reason, legacy precepts and practises have to be relinquished if their practical utility has expired.