Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Alcock, John, 1942-

Title The triumph of sociobiology / John Alcock
Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001

Copies

Description 1 online resource (x, 257 pages) : illustrations, map
Series OUP E-Books
Contents What is sociobiology? -- What sociobiologists study -- Sociobiology and genes -- Sociobiology and science -- Science and reality -- What have sociobiologists discovered? -- The problem with cultural determinism -- Sociobiology and human culture -- The practical applications of sociobiology -- The triumph of sociobiology
Summary 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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-245) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Sociobiology.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Essays.
Sociobiology
Form Electronic book
LC no. 00061151
ISBN 9780195143836
0195143833
9780198032892
0198032897
1280531509
9781280531507
9786610531509
6610531501