Grand Challenges in Evolutionary Sociology and Biosociology

Scholars in the area of Evolutionary Sociology and Biosociology explicitly seek to examine the interplay of social and environmental factors with evolved biological factors and its implications for social behavior. It is a broad area covering a wide array of research topics and methodologies. Neurosociologists in the area describe the neural circuitry underlying social processes, such as empa-thy, understanding, and the social creation of the self and self-identity [e.g., Franks (2010)]. Other researchers examine the effects of our evolutionary history on emotional processes that influence social behaviors [e.g., Turner (2007)] and the implications for humans of comparative primatology [e.g., Turner and Maryanski (2008)]. There are researchers examining the role of stress hormones on life course events and the effects of other hormonal levels (e.g., testosterone) on social behaviors as well as the reciprocal effect of social situations on hormonal states [e.g., Mazur (2004)]. Other researchers examine the correlation between genes and social behaviors [e.g., Guo et al. (2008)] and how environments influence gene expression (epigenetics). Researchers using the techniques of behavioral genetics apportion the percentage of variation in social behaviors that can be attributed to genetic factors [e.g., Kohler et al. (1999)]. Some biosociologists examine how aspects of human appearance including voice, body, and face influence social interactions [e.g., Gregory and Webster (1996) and Mueller and Mazur (1996)]. Others test hypotheses drawn from evolutionary biology (e.g., the Trivers–Willard hypothesis, the effects of status on fertility behavior) on aggregate social outcomes [e.g., Hopcroft (2005) and Fieder and Huber (2007)]. The area is not without controversy within sociology and evolutionary sociology in particular is not accepted by many sociologists, which is one of the greatest challenges the area faces at present. Although the founders (including Durkheim, Marx, and Mead) did not disavow a role for biology in the newly created discipline of sociology, the subsequent hijacking of biology by Social Darwinists and others for racist and sexist causes, and the horrendous results over the course of the twentieth century have tarnished the enterprise of incorporating biology into sociology. Yet as the founders realized, there is nothing antithetical to the mission of sociology than incorporating biology into sociology – the scientific study of the group. The biological nature of humans is in fact the sine qua non of the discipline, as without the human biological predisposition toward sociality, there would be no need for a discipline that focuses on the emergent properties of …