Magic social numbers: On the social geometry of human groups

Abstract

The article discusses human groupings from the perspective of social geometry, i.e., social numbers and their significance in social life. It offers a generalized and interdisciplinary analysis of one as a social zero, then of social numbers two, three, and four, as well as of larger numbers. Furthermore, this article discusses the basic forms of sociality and special emphasis is put on qualitative changes that occur through quantitative changes in the social number of configurations. This is achieved through the accumulated scientific knowledge of human evolutionary history and its influence on human groupings.