Description
Evolution, biology, and society is a catch-all phrase encompassing any scholarly work that utilizes evolutionary theory and/or biological or behavioral genetic methods in the study of the human social group, and The Oxford Handbook of Evolution, Biology, and Society contains an much needed overview of research in the area by sociologists and other social scientists. The examined topics cover a wide variety of issues, including the origins of social solidarity; religious beliefs; sex differences; gender inequality; determinants of human happiness; the nature of social stratification and inequality and its effects; identity, status, and other group processes; race, ethnicity, and race discrimination; fertility and family processes; crime and deviance; and cultural and social change.The scholars whose work is presented in this volume come from a variety of disciplines in addition to sociology, including psychology, political science, and criminology. Yet, as the essays in this volume demonstrate, the potential of theory and methods from biology for illuminating social phenomena is clear, and sociologists stand to gain from learning more about them and using them in their own work. The theory focuses on evolution by natural selection, the primary paradigm of the biological sciences, while the methods include the statistical analyses sociologists are familiar with, as well as other methods that they may not be familiar with, such as behavioral genetic methods, methods for including genetic factors in statistical analyses, gene-wide association studies, candidate gene studies, and methods for testing levels of hormones and other biochemicals in blood and saliva and including these factors in analyses.This work will be of interest to any sociologist with an interest in exploring the interaction of biological and sociological processes. As an introduction to the field it is useful for teaching upper-level or graduate students in sociology or a related social science.
Table of Contents
Part I: Introduction1. Introduction: Evolution, Biology, and SocietyRosemary L. Hopcroft2. Divergence and Possible Consilience between Evolutionary Biology and SociologyRichard Machalek3. Sociology's Contentious Courtship with Biology: A BalladDouglas A. Marshall4. Edward Westermarck: The First SociobiologistStephen K. SandersonPart II: Social Psychological Approaches5. Discovering Human Nature through Cross-Species AnalysisJonathan H. Turner6. The Neurology of Religion: An Explanation from Evolutionary SociologyAlexandra Maryanski and Jonathan H. Turner7. Reward Allowances and Contrast Effects in Social Evolution: A Challenge to Zygmunt Bauman's Liquid ModernityMichael Hammond8. Sex Differences in the Human BrainDavid D. Franks9. The Savanna Theory of HappinessSatoshi Kanazawa and Norman P. Li10. How Evolutionary Psychology Can Contribute to Group Process ResearchJoseph M. WhitmeyerPart III: Biosociological Approaches11. The Genetics of Human Behavior: A Hopeless Opus?Colter Mitchell12. DNA is Not DestinyRose McDermott and Peter K. Hatemi13. On the Genetic and Genomic Basis of Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial BehaviorKevin M. Beaver, Eric J. Connolly, Joseph L. Nedelec, and Joseph A. Schwartz14. Genetics and Politics: A Review for the Social ScientistAdam Lockyer and Peter K. Hatemi15. Genes and Status AchievementFrançois Nielsen16. Peer Networks, Psychobiology of Stress Response, and Adolescent DevelopmentOlga Kornienko and Douglas A. Granger17. Stress and Stress HormonesJeff Davis and Kristen Damron18. Social Epigenetics of Human BehaviorDaniel E. Adkins, Kelli M. Rasmussen, and Anna R. Docherty19. Physiology of Face-to-face CompetitionAllan MazurPart IV: Evolutionary Approaches20. Evolutionary Behavioral Science: Core Principles, Common Misconceptions, and a Troubling TendencyTimothy Crippen21. Evolutionary Family SociologyAnna Rotkirch22. Evolution and Human ReproductionMartin Fieder and Susanne Huber23. Evolution, Societal Sexism, and Universal Average Sex Differences in Cognition and BehaviorLee Ellis24. Evolutionary Theory and CriminologyAnthony Walsh and Cody Jorgensen25. The Biosocial Study of EthnicityFrank Salter26. Human Sociosexual Dominance TheoryKristin Liv Rauch and Rosemary L. HopcroftPart V: Sociocultural Evolution27. From Paganism to World Transcendence: Religious Attachment Theory and the Evolution of the World ReligionsStephen K. Sanderson28. The Evolutionary Approach to History: Sociocultural PhylogeneticsMarion Blute and Fiona JordanPart VI: Conclusion29. Why Sociology Should Incorporate BiologyRosemary L. Hopcroft
