At the beginning of the 21st century, genes are used to explain almost every aspect of human life, from social inequalities to health, sexuality, and criminality. Although few people have studied genetics, our culture is full of casual references to them. The Darwinian, if asked to comment on our evident 'love of shopping,' would declare it to be in our genes. As former hunters and gatherers, they would say, there is no qualitative difference between gathering fruits and shopping for food, clothes, housewares or knickknacks. One can read not only about the "shopping gene," but also about the "reading gene," the "humility gene," the "coaching gene." Pop science, fostered by Darwinian psychology, run amok. This book is a critique of Darwinian psychology--alias evolutionary psychology, alias sociobiology--the study of the social behavior of animals and people based on evolution. In this provocative work, Innis Dagg, an eminent and outspoken critic of this ideology, first presents an overview of the theory and its popularity both among professionals and lay people, then she examines concepts of social behavior--based on 'genes vs culture'--including: aggression in the form of rape, infanticide, homicide, gang violence and war, and general criminality; homosexuality in both the human and the animal world; and race, IQ, and environment. Focusing on the problems present in much Darwinian psychological research--flawed data, faulty analysis, and political motives--this controversial book offers the first comprehensible critique of the most popular scientific theory of the late 20th century: Evolutionary Psychology. In the end, Innis Dagg presents a new perspective which acknowledges the complexity of life by placing at its center the living organism, in its environment, rather than the gene. --- from the publisher Table of Contents 1 A Strange Tale Of Non-Darwinian Lions 2 Theory Driving the Data--Infanticide 3 Stereotypes--Aggression 4 How Would Inheritance Work?--Aggression 5 Groups As Such Don't Have Genes--Gang Violence And War 6 A Never-Ending Stereotype--Male Dominance 7 Silly Assumptions--Dominant Men And Other "Universals" 8 Blaming The Victim--Criminality 9 False References And Other Academic Booboos--Rape 10 How Evolution Really Works--Sperm Competition In Animals 11 Irrelevant Nonsense--Sperm Competition In Women 12 Denying Reality--Homosexual Behavior In Animals 13 Genetics Versus Culture?--Human Homosexuality 14 Bypassing Academic Standards--"Race" 15 Politics Masquerading as Science--"Race" And IQ 16 Hijacking A Valid Theory--Fluctuating Asymmetry 17 Evolution By Crafty, Curvy Women And Their Body Parts? 18 Conclusions Appendix A Bibliography Index Aboout the Author Anne Innis Dagg has an MA in Genetics and a Ph.D. in Animal Behavior. She is the author of numerous books, including The Camel: Its Ecology, Behavior and Relationship With Man, Canadian Wildlife and Man, and Harems and Other Horrors: Sexual Bias in Behavioral Biology. She is currently a Biological Consultant to World Book and an Academic Advisor in the Independent Studies Program of the University of Waterloo in Ontario. |