Missing the Revolution - Darwinism for Social Scientists
تفويت الثورة - الداروينية لعلماء الاجتماع
Manquer la révolution - Le darwinisme pour les sciences sociales
Social scientists have largely ignored the Darwinian revolution, and integrating evolutionary theory into the social sciences would transform our understanding of human behavior, culture, and religion.
Editorial summary
This edited volume examines the persistent resistance to evolutionary theory within the social sciences, arguing that this disciplinary blindness has impeded theoretical progress and empirical understanding. Jerome Barkow assembles contributions that collectively diagnose why social scientists have largely failed to incorporate Darwinian insights into their explanatory frameworks, despite the theory's transformative impact on biology and increasing relevance to human behavior.
The volume's central thesis holds that social scientists' rejection of evolutionary approaches stems not from scientific inadequacy but from ideological commitments, disciplinary boundaries, and misconceptions about biological determinism. Contributors demonstrate how evolutionary theory offers powerful tools for understanding human sociality, culture, and behavior without reducing these phenomena to simple genetic determinism. The work systematically addresses common objections to evolutionary social science, including fears about naturalistic fallacies, worries about political misuse, and concerns about explanatory reductionism.
Methodologically, the volume employs philosophy of science perspectives to analyze the epistemological barriers preventing productive dialogue between evolutionary biology and social sciences. Contributors examine how disciplinary socialization, academic incentive structures, and theoretical commitments create resistance to evolutionary explanations. The analysis reveals that many social scientists operate with outdated conceptions of evolution, failing to engage with contemporary developments in evolutionary theory that emphasize plasticity, gene-culture coevolution, and multilevel selection.
The work engages critically with design argument traditions by demonstrating how evolutionary theory provides naturalistic explanations for apparent design in human psychological and social systems. Rather than invoking divine design or blank-slate assumptions, contributors show how evolutionary processes generate complex adaptations that shape human cognition, emotion, and social organization. This naturalistic framework challenges both theological design arguments and social constructionist approaches that deny biological influences on human nature.
The volume's significance lies in its systematic deconstruction of disciplinary barriers that have prevented theoretical integration. By identifying specific misconceptions and institutional obstacles, the work provides a roadmap for incorporating evolutionary insights into social scientific research programs. The editors argue that this integration need not entail crude reductionism but rather offers sophisticated tools for understanding the interplay between evolved psychology, cultural variation, and social structures. The volume ultimately advocates for a more scientifically unified approach to human behavior that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
Structured analysis
Structure of the work
Argument formulations engaged
Barkow, Jerome H. (2006). Missing the Revolution - Darwinism for Social Scientists. Oxford University Press.
@book{missing-the-revolution-darwinism-for-soc,
author = {Barkow, Jerome H.},
title = {Missing the Revolution - Darwinism for Social Scientists},
year = {2006},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
url = {https://god-database.com/en/works/missing-the-revolution-darwinism-for-social-scientists}
}