Evolutionary Sociology -- Fall 2005

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University of North Carolina -- Chapel Hill

Sociology 801-002 (Formerly 326-002) -- Evolutionary Sociology

Fall 2005

Professor François Nielsen

1. Time, Place & Contacts

Classes Meet

Hamilton 151
Tue 2:00-4:30

Professor

François Nielsen -- Email: francois_nielsen@unc.edu Office: Hamilton 163 Hours: by appointment Phone: 919-962-5064 Fax: 919-962-7568
Web site http://www.unc.edu/~nielsen/

2. Description & Goals

The term Evolutionary Sociology is used here to encompass all uses of evolutionary theory for understanding social behavior. It is a vast and fascinating subject that covers distinct bodies of knowledge. These bodies of knowledge have their own literatures (e.g., center around different research problematics, academic departments, sets of journals, scientific associations...) and enjoy different degrees of acceptance and integration in the "mainstream". (As we will see what constitutes the mainstream in different fields, such as sociology and psychology, may be quite different.) The areas and sub-areas that we are going to survey in this seminar are the following.

Evolution of human behavior. Here we look at the contribution of biological evolution (by natural selection) in understanding human behavior. The focus is on genes as the agent of evolution. Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate gives a good overview of the evolutionary outlook in some of the fields of behavioral and social sciences, especially as this new outlook contrasts with traditional assumptions. In turn this area can be divided into two parts.

Human nature. Here one looks at the biological basis and evolution of human behavior viewed as a common attribute of the human species; in other words we look at the biological basis of human nature, what Gerhard Lenski in Human Societies calls the common genetic heritage of human beings. (As we will see, that common heritage may also imply the evolution of diversity in behavior, for example with respect to sexual strategies.) This topic corresponds closely to what has been called sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, or behavioral ecology. Some of the issues are the genetic bases and evolution of sexual identity, sexual strategies, cooperation, altruism, the incest taboo, behavioral differences between men and women, etc. A standard issue with respect to these topics is that of the role played by culture versus nature. This area of research was controversial in the 1970s (for reasons we will explore), but today is has been largely accepted as a subfield of psychology and as a subfield of anthropology; these ideas are much less mainstream in sociology, although a section of the American Sociological Association has recently been created at the initiative of Rosemary Hopcroft at UNC--Charlotte. What may be highly significant is that the idea of an evolutionary basis of human behavior has made considerable inroads in mainstream popular culture. For instance, one finds sociobiology all over the Discovery Channel.
Human diversity. Here one looks at the biological basis and evolution of differences in behavior among individual humans. This includes the (awkwardly named) field of behavior genetics, which looks at the relative roles of genes, of systematic aspects of the family environment (such as social class), and specific environmental influences on the individual (such as a childhood disease affecting one child but sparing the siblings) in determining a host of human traits including aspects of the personality (e.g., extraversion), cognitive abilities, and even attitudes such as religiosity and score on a liberalism-conservatism scale. (The term "behavior genetics" is unsatisfactory because the theory and research techniques of the field extend to traits that are not usually considered behaviors, such as susceptibility to asthma attacks and body mass index (BMI, a measure of obesity).) Behavior genetics is not the only approach to human differences, however. For example, evolutionary theory can be applied to the evolution of diversity in sexual identity and sexual orientation (in general, sexual strategies) within the same (animal or human) population. A striking instance of this approach is the book Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden on the evolution of variant sexual strategies. The ideas in this book may well produce novel affinities between evolutionary biology and progressive groups, especially those concerned with the treatment of sexual minorities (gay, lesbian, transsexual). This area is the one that has historically generated the most controversy, at least in the media. Today different fields of the human and social sciences show different degrees of acceptance of the idea that individual differences in behaviors and psychological traits might have a genetic basis.

Sociocultural evolution. Here we look at the evolution, not of genes, but of items of culture, entire cultures, languages and social organization. What evolves is not genes but memes (an expression coined by Richard Dawkins in Selfish Gene, to rhyme with gene)) or units of culture. The mechanisms of sociocultural evolution are analogous to, but substantively different from, mechanisms of biological evolution. Issues include the role of subsistence technology in sociocultural evolution, the relative roles of demic expansions, of cultural diffusion and borrowings, of endogenous cultural development, etc. There are also very interesting methodological issues related to the empirical analysis of comparative cross-cultural data, for instance in distinguishing between the roles of cultural diffusion, cultural inheritance, and functional convergence in the origin of a societal characteristic. Incidentally, cross-cultural comparative data lend themselves to quantitative analysis. We will look at these issues in the context of Jared Diamond's Guns, germs, and Steel, of the new book on ecological-evolutionary theory by Gerhard Lenski, and of a book by Luigi Lucca Cavalli-Sforza on the use of population genetics data to reconstruct human prehistory and population movements. This field of research (that has been labeled the Emerging Synthesis by archaeologist Colin Renfrew -- not the best of terms in my view) is a very exciting, fast-moving cross-disciplinary field involving pre-historians, linguists, and biologists (and sociologists if we want to).

3. About the Readings

Readings will be taken from the following books. (All with a paperback edition.) In approximate order of use.

Pinker, Steven. 2002. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Viking.
Sanderson, Stephen K. 2001. The Evolution of Human Sociality: A Darwinian Conflict Perspective. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
(Low, Bobbi. 2000. Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.) [Alternative reading.]
Rowe, David. 1993. The Limits of Family Influence: Genes, Experience and Behavior. New York: Guilford Press.
Roughgarden, Joan. 2004. Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca. 2001. Genes, Peoples, and Languages. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Diamond, Jared. 1999. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies. New York: Norton.
Lenski, Gerhard. 2005. Ecological-evolutionary Theory: Principles and Applications. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

There will also be a few articles.

4. Course Work

There are two main requirements in this graduate seminar.

Readings & Class Participation. You should do the readings for the day and think about issues the readings raise so you can participate in an optimal way in class discussions. Questions for discussion will sometimes (but not always) be posted in advance of the class. You are encouraged to adopt a critical, even skeptical, attitude toward the materials we read. Remember that some of these materials are currently disputed; it is important to acquire a clear view of the issues at hand.
Term Powerpoint Presentation. The main material product of the class will be a Powerpoint presentation that you will present to the group during one of the last 2 classes. (If you feel technologically challenged, you may turn in a paper instead, but no more than 5000 words please.) The presentation may be on any topic related to the class. The following are examples of acceptable topics:

a quantitative analysis of cross-cultural data (such as Ethnographic Atlas or Standard Cross-Cultural Sample) to investigate some issue(s) related to socio-cultural evolution (talk to me ahead of time about practical issues of access to data, methodology, etc.)
a critique of some application of the evolutionary approach to human behavior from a social-constructionist point of view (that's okay with me; some of my best friends are social-constructionists); if you do this you should explore the sociology/social science literature for arguments related to the issue
a discussion of the ideological (political/philosophical/spiritual) consequences of an evolutionary approach with respect to some important issue(s). Is an evolutionary approach dangerous for social justice, for gender equality, for democracy, for public attitudes concerning sexual minorities (gay, lesbian, transgender), for social peace...? Could it be liberating instead?
a critical analysis of the statement by the American Sociological Association (a few months ago) on issues of gender equality. How well does the statement fare with respect to current behavioral and social sciences literature on gender differences?

5. Outline & Schedule

Module		Date	Subject
1	Tue	30-Aug	Introduction – Sex Unknown
2	Tue	06-Sep	Biology of Behavior – Human Nature I
3	Tue	13-Sep	Biology of Behavior – Human Nature II
4	Tue	20-Sep	Biology of Behavior – Human Nature III
5	Tue	27-Sep	Biology of Behavior – Human Nature IV
6	Tue	04-Oct	Biology of Behavior – Human Diversity I
7	Tue	11-Oct	Biology of Behavior – Human Diversity II
8	Tue	18-Oct	Biology of Behavior – Human Diversity III
9	Tue	25-Oct	Biology of Behavior – Human Diversity IV
10	Tue	01-Nov	Socio-Cultural Evolution I
11	Tue	08-Nov	Socio-Cultural Evolution II
12	Tue	15-Nov	Socio-Cultural Evolution III
13	Tue	22-Nov	Socio-Cultural Evolution IV
14	Tue	29-Nov	Student Presentations I
15	Tue	06-Dec	Student Presentations II

6. Detailed Outline

Introduction

Module 1 -- Tue 30-Aug Introduction – Sex Unknown

Sex Unknown [Nova Series Video] will be shown in class
Nielsen, François. 1994. "Sociobiology and Sociology." Pp. 267-303 in Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 20, edited by John Hagan and Karen S. Cook. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews. [Copy of article will be handed out in class.]

Part 1 -- Human Nature

Please see discussion of Human Nature above (Section 2) for contents.

Module 2 -- Tue 06-Sep Biology of Behavior – Human Nature I

Pinker. The Blank Slate.

Preface (vii--xiii)
Chapter 1 to 7 (Pp. 1--135)

M2 discussion topics

Module 3 -- Tue 13-Sep Biology of Behavior – Human Nature II

Pinker. The Blank Slate.

Chapter 8 to 11 (Pp. 137--194)
Chapter 16 to 18 (Pp. 283--371)
Conclusion (Pp. 421--434)

M3 discussion topics

Module 4 -- Tue 20-Sep Biology of Behavior – Human Nature III

Pinker. The Blank Slate.

Chapter 12 to 15 (Pp. 197--280)

Sanderson. The Evolution of Human Sociality.

Chapter 8 (Pp. 120--139)

Alternative reading:

Low. Why Sex Matters.

Chapter 2 to 7 (Pp. 19--126)

M4 discussion topics

Module 5 -- Tue 27-Sep Biology of Behavior – Human Nature IV

Sanderson. The Evolution of Human Sociality.

Alternative reading:

Low. Why Sex Matters.

Chapter 9 (Pp. 146--163)
Chapter 13 (Pp. 213--230)

M5 discussion topics

Additional references for Part 1

Degler. 1991. In Search of Human Nature. [A remarkable history of social thought concerning the role of biology in human affairs.] The major theoreticians of sociobiology: George Williams, William Hamilton, John Maynard Smith, Robert Trivers. The major theoreticians and public exponents of sociobiology: Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins. Major public critics: Marshall Sahlins, Stephen J. Gould, Richard C. Lewontin, Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin. See specific references in Pinker. The Blank Slate. Rose, Hilary and Steven Rose, eds. 2000. Alas, Poor Darwin: Arguments Against Evolutionary Psychology. New York: Harmony Books. [Collection of essays critical of the evolutionary approach, with chapters by Stephen J. Gould and Anne Fausto-Sterling, among others.]

Part 2 -- Human Diversity

Please see discussion of Human Diversity above (Section 2) for contents.

Part 3 -- Socio-Cultural Evolution

Please see discussion of Socio-Cultural Evolution above (Section 2) for contents.

Module 10 -- Tue 01-Nov Socio-Cultural Evolution I

Cavalli-Sforza. Genes, People, and Languages.
Preface -- Pp. vii-viii

Chapter 2 -- A Walk in the Woods -- Pp. 33-56
Chapter 3 (optional) -- Of Adam & Eve -- Pp. 57-91
Chapter 4 -- Technological Revolutions & Gene Geography -- Pp. 92-132
Chapter 5 -- Genes & Languages -- Pp. 133-172
Chapter 6 -- Cultural Transmission & Evolution -- Pp. 173-207

Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Preface -- Pp. 9-11
Prologue -- Yali's Question -- Pp. 13-32

M10 discussion topics

Module 11 -- Tue 08-Nov Socio-Cultural Evolution II

Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Chapter 1 -- Up to the Starting Line -- Pp. 35-52 [Note: in Figure 1.1 p. 37 Diamond dates the diaspora from Africa at 1,000,000 BC, which is the estimated date at which Homo Erectus left Africa; diaspora by modern humans is much later, ca. 100,000-50,000 BC.]
Chapter 4 -- Farmer Power -- Pp. 85-92
Chapter 5 -- History's Haves and Have-Nots -- Pp. 93-103
Chapter 10 -- Spacious Skies and tilted Axes -- Pp. 176-191
Chapter 12 -- Blueprints & Borrowed Letters -- Pp. 215-238
Chapter 14 -- From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy -- Pp. 265-292
Chapter 17 -- Speedboat to Polynesia -- Pp. 334-353
Chapter 19 -- How Africa Became Black -- Pp. 376-401

Nielsen, François. 2005. "Macrosociology for the Emerging Synthesis." Unpublished paper.
Extra document -- Diamond & Belwood (2003)
Extra document -- "Development of the Alphabet" at entry "alphabet" of American Heritage Dictionary
M11 discussion topics

Module 12 -- Tue 15-Nov Socio-Cultural Evolution III

Lenski. Ecological-evolutionary Theory.

Preface -- Pp. xiii-xv
Chapter 1 -- Evolutionary Theory: An Introduction-- Pp. 3-12
Chapter 2 -- Problem and Method -- Pp. 13-32
Chapter 3 -- The Biological Foundations of Human Societies -- Pp. 33-51
Chapter 4 -- Determinants of the Characteristics of Individual Societies: The Independent Variables -- Pp. 33-80
Chapter 5 -- Characteristics of Sets of Societies -- Pp. 81-109
Chapter 6 -- Characteristics of the Global System of Societies -- Pp. 111-124

M12 discussion topics

Module 13 -- Tue 22-Nov Socio-Cultural Evolution IV

Lenski. Ecological-evolutionary Theory.

Chapter 7 -- Ecological-Evolutionary Theory and Its Alternatives: A Comparison -- Pp. 125-145
Chapter 8 -- The Origins and Early Development of Ancient Israel -- Pp. 147-168
Chapter 9 -- The Rise of the West -- Pp. 169-185
Chapter 10 -- Trajectories of Development among Societies (with Patrick D. Nolan) -- Pp. 187-201
Chapter 11 -- An Experiment That Failed -- Pp. 203-218
Chapter 12 -- Retrospect and Prospect -- Pp. 221-232

M13 discussion topics

Student Presentations

Module 14 -- Tue 29-Nov Student Presentations I

Presentations:

Elizabeth
Craig
Daniel

Module 15 -- Tue 06-Dec Student Presentations II

Presentations:

Julie
J. D.
Anne

7. References

Includes readings and additional references.

Boyd, Robert and Peter J. Richerson. 2005. The origin and evolution of cultures. New York : Oxford University Press.
Buss, David M. 1999. Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind. Boston, MA: Allyn and bacon.
Campbell, Lyle. 2004. Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. 2e. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Carneiro, Robert L. 2003. Evolutionism in cultural anthropology : a critical history. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca, Paolo Menozzi and Alberto Piazza. 1994. The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [All about reconstruction of pre-historic human population movements from genetic data on modern populations.]
Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca. 2001. Genes, Peoples, and Languages. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Cohen, David B. 1999. Stranger in the Nest: Do Parents Really Shape Their Child's Personality, Intelligence, or Character? New York: Wiley. [I have not read it but it sounds similar to David Rowe's book. Cohen is at same University of Arizona as Rowe.]
Dawkins, Richard. 1982. The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene. New York: Oxford University Press.
Degler, Carl N. 1991. In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought. New York: Oxford University Press.
Diamond, Jared. 1998. Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality. New York: Basic Books.
Diamond, Jared. 1999. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies. New York: Norton.
Harris, Judith R. 1998. The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. New York: Free Press.
Jablonka, Eva and Marion J. Lamb. 2005. Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Johnson, Allen W and Timothy Earle. 2000. The evolution of human societies : from foraging group to agrarian state. (2nd edition.) Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Lenski, Gerhard. 2005. Ecological-evolutionary Theory: Principles and Applications. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Low, Bobbi. 2000. Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ruth Mace, Clare J. Holden and Stephen Shennan, eds. 2005. The evolution of cultural diversity : a phylogenetic approach. London : UCL Press.
Nielsen, François. 1994. "Sociobiology and Sociology." Pp. 267-303 in Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 20, edited by John Hagan and Karen S. Cook. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews. [Copy of article will be handed out in class.]
Nielsen, François. 1994. "Macrosociology for the Emerging Synthesis: Ecological-Evolutionary Theory & Secondary products Revolution." Unpublished manuscript. Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina.
Pinker, Steven. 1994. The Language Instinct. New York: William Morrow and Co. [About the hard-wiring of human language ability.]
Pinker, Steven. 2002. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Viking.
Richerson, Peter J. and Robert Boyd. 2005. Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Ridley, Mark. 1996. Evolution. 2e. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Science. [A very good, standard textbook on evolution; gives an idea of the scope and complexity of the theory of evolution.]
Ridley, Matt. 1993. The Red Queen. New York: Penguin.
Ridley, Matt. 1996. The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Penguin.
Rose, Hilary and Steven Rose, eds. 2000. Alas, Poor Darwin: Arguments Against Evolutionary Psychology. New York: Harmony Books. [Has chapters by Stephen J. Gould and Anne Fausto-Sterling, among others.]
Roughgarden, Joan. 2004. Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Rowe, David C. 1993. The Limits of Family Influence: Genes, Experience and Behavior. New York: Guilford Press.
Ruhlen, Merritt. 1994. The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue. New York: Wiley. [About the evolution of language and the hypothesis of descent of extant languages from common ancestor Proto-World.)
Sanderson, Stephen K. 2001. The Evolution of Human Sociality: A Darwinian Conflict Perspective. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Last modified 8 Jun 2007