Darwinian Sociocultural Evolution

Darwinian Sociocultural Evolution
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 251
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781139485111
ISBN-13 : 1139485113
Rating : 4/5 (11 Downloads)

Synopsis Darwinian Sociocultural Evolution by : Marion Blute

Social scientists can learn a lot from evolutionary biology - from systematics and principles of evolutionary ecology to theories of social interaction including competition, conflict and cooperation, as well as niche construction, complexity, eco-evo-devo, and the role of the individual in evolutionary processes. Darwinian sociocultural evolutionary theory applies the logic of Darwinism to social-learning based cultural and social change. With a multidisciplinary approach for graduate biologists, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, social psychologists, archaeologists, linguists, economists, political scientists and science and technology specialists, the author presents this model of evolution drawing on a number of sophisticated aspects of biological evolutionary theory. The approach brings together a broad and inclusive theoretical framework for understanding the social sciences which addresses many of the dilemmas at their forefront - the relationship between history and necessity, conflict and cooperation, the ideal and the material and the problems of agency, subjectivity and the nature of social structure.

Cultural Evolution

Cultural Evolution
Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Total Pages : 281
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780226520452
ISBN-13 : 0226520455
Rating : 4/5 (52 Downloads)

Synopsis Cultural Evolution by : Alex Mesoudi

Charles Darwin changed the course of scientific thinking by showing how evolution accounts for the stunning diversity and biological complexity of life on earth. Recently, there has also been increased interest in the social sciences in how Darwinian theory can explain human culture. Covering a wide range of topics, including fads, public policy, the spread of religion, and herd behavior in markets, Alex Mesoudi shows that human culture is itself an evolutionary process that exhibits the key Darwinian mechanisms of variation, competition, and inheritance. This cross-disciplinary volume focuses on the ways cultural phenomena can be studied scientifically—from theoretical modeling to lab experiments, archaeological fieldwork to ethnographic studies—and shows how apparently disparate methods can complement one another to the mutual benefit of the various social science disciplines. Along the way, the book reveals how new insights arise from looking at culture from an evolutionary angle. Cultural Evolution provides a thought-provoking argument that Darwinian evolutionary theory can both unify different branches of inquiry and enhance understanding of human behavior.

Darwinian Social Evolution and Social Change

Darwinian Social Evolution and Social Change
Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
Total Pages : 239
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9783030779993
ISBN-13 : 3030779998
Rating : 4/5 (93 Downloads)

Synopsis Darwinian Social Evolution and Social Change by : William Kerr

This book introduces the value of a Darwinian social evolutionary approach to understanding social change. The chapters discuss several different perspectives on social evolutionary theory, and go on to link these with comparative and historical sociological theory, and two case-studies. Kerr brings together social change theory and theories on nationalism, whilst also providing concrete examples of the theories at work. The book offers a vision of rapprochement between these different areas of theory and study, and to where this could lead future studies of comparative history and sociology. As such, it should be useful to scholars and students of nationalism and social change, sociologists, political scientist and historians.

Darwin's Conjecture

Darwin's Conjecture
Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Total Pages : 303
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780226346908
ISBN-13 : 0226346900
Rating : 4/5 (08 Downloads)

Synopsis Darwin's Conjecture by : Geoffrey M. Hodgson

A theoretical study dealing chiefly with matters of definition and clarification of terms and concepts involved in using Darwinian notions to model social phenomena.

Nonzero

Nonzero
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 529
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780375727818
ISBN-13 : 0375727817
Rating : 4/5 (18 Downloads)

Synopsis Nonzero by : Robert Wright

In his bestselling The Moral Animal, Robert Wright applied the principles of evolutionary biology to the study of the human mind. Now Wright attempts something even more ambitious: explaining the direction of evolution and human history–and discerning where history will lead us next. In Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Wright asserts that, ever since the primordial ooze, life has followed a basic pattern. Organisms and human societies alike have grown more complex by mastering the challenges of internal cooperation. Wright's narrative ranges from fossilized bacteria to vampire bats, from stone-age villages to the World Trade Organization, uncovering such surprises as the benefits of barbarian hordes and the useful stability of feudalism. Here is history endowed with moral significance–a way of looking at our biological and cultural evolution that suggests, refreshingly, that human morality has improved over time, and that our instinct to discover meaning may itself serve a higher purpose. Insightful, witty, profound, Nonzero offers breathtaking implications for what we believe and how we adapt to technology's ongoing transformation of the world.

Social Evolution

Social Evolution
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 424
Release :
ISBN-10 : IND:32000007699285
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (85 Downloads)

Synopsis Social Evolution by : Benjamin Kidd

A Darwinian Left

A Darwinian Left
Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
Total Pages : 61
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780300189995
ISBN-13 : 0300189990
Rating : 4/5 (95 Downloads)

Synopsis A Darwinian Left by : Peter Singer

In this ground-breaking book, a renowned bioethicist argues that the political left must radically revise its outdated view of human nature. He shows how the insights of modern evolutionary theory, particularly on the evolution of cooperation, can help the left attain its social and political goals. Singer explains why the left originally rejected Darwinian thought and why these reasons are no longer viable. He discusses how twentieth-century thinking has transformed our understanding of Darwinian evolution, showing that it is compatible with cooperation as well as competition, and that the left can draw on this modern understanding to foster cooperation for socially desirable ends. A Darwinian left, says Singer, would still be on the side of the weak, poor, and oppressed, but it would have a better understanding of what social and economic changes would really work to benefit them. It would also work toward a higher moral status for nonhuman animals and a less anthropocentric view of our dominance over nature.

Culture Evolves

Culture Evolves
Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Total Pages : 472
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780199608966
ISBN-13 : 0199608962
Rating : 4/5 (66 Downloads)

Synopsis Culture Evolves by : Andrew Whiten

Culture shapes vast swathes of our lives and has allowed the human species to dominate the planet in an evolutionarily unique way. This book is unique in focusing on the evolutionary continuities in culture, providing an interdisciplinary exploration of culture, written by leading authorities from the biological and cognitive sciences.

Darwinian Evolution

Darwinian Evolution
Author :
Publisher : Transaction Publishers
Total Pages : 180
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1412821266
ISBN-13 : 9781412821261
Rating : 4/5 (66 Downloads)

Synopsis Darwinian Evolution by : Antony Flew

Darwinian Evolution is a study of the historical background of Darwin's ideas, of their logical structure, and of their alleged and actual implications. Flew explores the Scottish Englightenment, an important and often neglected aspect of Darwin's intellectual background. He compares Darwin with such figures as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, and Karl Marx, emphasizing not the similarities, but the differences between the natural and social sciences. Flew argues that social science must do what natural science does not: take account of individual choice.

Culture and the Evolutionary Process

Culture and the Evolutionary Process
Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Total Pages : 339
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780226069333
ISBN-13 : 0226069338
Rating : 4/5 (33 Downloads)

Synopsis Culture and the Evolutionary Process by : Robert Boyd

How do biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural factors combine to change societies over the long run? Boyd and Richerson explore how genetic and cultural factors interact, under the influence of evolutionary forces, to produce the diversity we see in human cultures. Using methods developed by population biologists, they propose a theory of cultural evolution that is an original and fair-minded alternative to the sociobiology debate.