Sociobiology and Sociology

Sociobiology is the scientific study of the biological bases of social behavior among animals, including humans. The new field of evolutionary sociology is the product of recent efforts by sociologists to integrate sociobiological reasoning into their theoretical thinking and empirical research. Evolutionary sociologists reject the Standard Social Science Model of human nature and human social behavior and replace it with a new model based upon evolutionary biology. The human brain and mind is the product of evolution by natural selection that occurred in archaic, ancestral “environments of evolutionary adaptedness.” Early hominids overcame the limits to sociality posed by the weak social ties that are characteristic of most species of apes and evolved behavioral capabilities conducive to the evolution of primary groups based upon strong social ties. More than most other social species, humans have evolved the ability to form largescale societies not restricted to social relationships among genetic kin. Evolutionary sociologists identify and study the patterns of social organization that acted as selection forces which helped shape the design properties of the human brain and mind. Adapted to the scale and organizational features of hunting-gathering societies, the human mind confronts novel social environments in post-hunting-gathering eras, especially in urbanindustrial societies. Although equipped with extensive learning abilities and cultural resources, a “mismatch” occasionally occurs between the evolved features of human nature and various features of contemporary, urban-industrial societies. This mismatch poses novel behavioral challenges to the inhabitants of urban-industrial societies, and these challenges express themselves in psychological, social, and health contexts. Evolutionary sociologists have employed sociobiological theory and research findings to develop and pursue new research programs on topics of traditional sociological interest, such as sex, reproduction, family, kinship, social inequality, ethnic relations, and crime.