The Triumph of Sociobiology
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- $31.99
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- $31.99
Publisher Description
In The Triumph of Sociobiology, John Alcock reviews the controversy that has surrounded evolutionary studies of human social behavior following the 1975 publication of E.O. Wilson's classic, Sociobiology, The New Synthesis. Denounced vehemently as an "ideology" that has justified social evils and inequalities, sociobiology has survived the assault. Twenty-five years after the field was named by Wilson, the approach he championed has successfully demonstrated its value in the study of animal behavior, including the behavior of our own species. Yet, misconceptions remain--to our disadvantage.
In this straight-forward, objective approach to the sociobiology debate, noted animal behaviorist John Alcock illuminates how sociobiologists study behavior in all species. He confronts the chief scientific and ideological objections head on, with a compelling analysis of case histories that involve such topics as sexual jealousy, beauty, gender difference, parent-offspring relations, and rape. In so doing, he shows that sociobiology provides the most satisfactory scientific analysis of social behavior available today.
Alcock challenges the notion that sociobiology depends on genetic determinism while showing the shortcoming of competing approaches that rely on cultural or environmental determinism. He also presents the practical applications of sociobiology and the progress sociobiological research has made in the search for a more complete understanding of human activities. His reminder that "natural" behavior is not "moral" behavior should quiet opponents fearing misapplication of evolutionary theory to our species. The key misconceptions about this evolutionary field are dissected one by one as the author shows why sociobiologists have had so much success in explaining the puzzling and fascinating social behavior of nonhuman animals and humans alike.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Darwinist heavyweight Alcock (Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach) understands what's at stake in evolution as well as any scientist living. In this dispassionate appeal to scientific method, he champions the idea introduced by E.O. Wilson in his classic and controversial book, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis: that human nature is the product of natural selection. Since its publication in 1975, Sociobiology has been denounced by many feminist and socialist thinkers as a justification for human evil, and all but marginalized by fellow scientists equally leery of its political implications. Alcock reclaims sociobiology from detractors who, he claims, persist in setting humankind above the natural order. The author argues against the competing blank-slate "culture is all" theory, and he dispels the misconception that sociobiology is in any way an ideological endorsement of racism, sexism or the social dominance of the rich over the poor. Indeed, Alcock points out, current research focuses more on the behavioral evolution of animals and social insects than it does on humans. The caution exercised by critics may not be entirely unjustified, however. Alcock's case studies on female beauty and genocide may, in the eyes of some, lend credence to the charge by popular writer Stephen Jay Gould that sociobiologists tell "just-so stories." But, as Alcock also argues, if sociobiology is to be dismissed out of hand, let it be through hypothesis and experiment, not hysteria and censorship. This is an important and necessary reappraisal of humankind's place in the Darwinist puzzle one that will undoubtedly provoke renewed debate. Illus.
