The Oxford Handbook of Evolution, Biology, and Society

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.

Auteur

Rosemary L. Hopcroft is Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has published widely in the areas of evolutionary sociology and comparative and historical sociology, in journals that include the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Evolution and Human Behavior, and Human Nature. She is the author of Evolution and Gender: Why It Matters for Contemporary Life, Routledge 2016).

Contenu

Part I: Introduction 1. Introduction: Evolution, Biology, and Society Rosemary L. Hopcroft 2. Divergence and Possible Consilience between Evolutionary Biology and Sociology Richard Machalek 3. Sociology's Contentious Courtship with Biology: A Ballad Douglas A. Marshall 4. Edward Westermarck: The First Sociobiologist Stephen K. Sanderson Part II: Social Psychological Approaches 5. Discovering Human Nature through Cross-Species Analysis Jonathan H. Turner 6. The Neurology of Religion: An Explanation from Evolutionary Sociology Alexandra Maryanski and Jonathan H. Turner 7. Reward Allowances and Contrast Effects in Social Evolution: A Challenge to Zygmunt Bauman's Liquid Modernity Michael Hammond 8. Sex Differences in the Human Brain David D. Franks 9. The Savanna Theory of Happiness Satoshi Kanazawa and Norman P. Li 10. How Evolutionary Psychology Can Contribute to Group Process Research Joseph M. Whitmeyer Part III: Biosociological Approaches 11. The Genetics of Human Behavior: A Hopeless Opus? Colter Mitchell 12. DNA is Not Destiny Rose McDermott and Peter K. Hatemi 13. On the Genetic and Genomic Basis of Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior Kevin M. Beaver, Eric J. Connolly, Joseph L. Nedelec, and Joseph A. Schwartz 14. Genetics and Politics: A Review for the Social Scientist Adam Lockyer and Peter K. Hatemi 15. Genes and Status Achievement François Nielsen 16. Peer Networks, Psychobiology of Stress Response, and Adolescent Development Olga Kornienko and Douglas A. Granger 17. Stress and Stress Hormones Jeff Davis and Kristen Damron 18. Social Epigenetics of Human Behavior Daniel E. Adkins, Kelli M. Rasmussen, and Anna R. Docherty 19. Physiology of Face-to-face Competition Allan Mazur Part IV: Evolutionary Approaches 20. Evolutionary Behavioral Science: Core Principles, Common Misconceptions, and a Troubling Tendency Timothy Crippen 21. Evolutionary Family Sociology Anna Rotkirch 22. Evolution and Human Reproduction Martin Fieder and Susanne Huber 23. Evolution, Societal Sexism, and Universal Average Sex Differences in Cognition and Behavior Lee Ellis 24. Evolutionary Theory and Criminology Anthony Walsh and Cody Jorgensen 25. The Biosocial Study of Ethnicity Frank Salter 26. Human Sociosexual Dominance Theory Kristin Liv Rauch and Rosemary L. Hopcroft Part V: Sociocultural Evolution 27. From Paganism to World Transcendence: Religious Attachment Theory and the Evolution of the World Religions Stephen K. Sanderson 28. The Evolutionary Approach to History: Sociocultural Phylogenetics Marion Blute and Fiona Jordan Part VI: Conclusion 29. Why Sociology Should Incorporate Biology Rosemary L. Hopcroft