SOC 302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sociobiology, Thomas Robert Malthus, Antiscience
Document Summary
Sociobiology-attempt to explain human physiology and behavior through the intersection of biological, evolutionary, and social/cultural mechanisms. Scientism: trusting in (seemingly) scientific explanations because they bear the legitimacy we afford to science. Essentialism: treating qualities of an individual as innate. Biological reductionism: treating complex phenomenon (behavior, culture, cognition) as caused only by the biological condition. Sociology"s dirty history with evolution fittest and social darwinism . Herbert spencer (1820-1903) was a sociologist who coined the terms survival of the. Was already publishing on competition and society while darwin wrote origins . Used to theorize a dark vision of society as necessarily and unforgivingly exploitative. Darwin saw population constraints as central to this thesis of evolution. Any theory of soc will recognize the general truth of biology and will refrain from violating the selection principele thru the artificial preservation of those least able to take care of themselves" . Poor, immigrants, american black people (former slaves), irish, basically anyone not winning in society.
