Description:
Towards a Biosocial Science is a critical introduction to the history and conceptual concerns of sociology that incorporates the immense and revolutionary contributions evolutionary biology, behavioral genetics, and neuroscience are making to the study of human behavior and social organization.
Review Quotes:
"Although evolutionary thinking in sociology predated Darwin, Alexander Riley observes that it has been only very recently that sociologists have begun to reclaim their legacy as evolutionary scientists. Providing an excellent overview of developments in evolutionary biology that began in the mid-1960s, Riley traces the recent development of what is now becoming known as 'evolutionary sociology.' Riley provides an introduction to this exciting scientific and scholarly project that will be both accessible to readers unfamiliar with the pertinent technical literature as well as stimulating and thought-provoking to sociologists who are already actively engaged in the 'second Darwinian Revolution.' Insisting that sociological analysis must be guided by the discipline of reason and evidence, Riley encourages his peer sociologists not to allow ideological and political commitments to compromise their efforts to conduct dispassionate scientific analyses. Only then can they pursue their craft in a manner that will contribute to the development of a twenty-first century social science that can fulfill the explanatory promise envisioned by its founders."
Richard Machalek, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Wyoming
"Toward a Biosocial Science is an extraordinary book, entertaining, erudite, courageous, and a potential lifeline for sociology."
Edward O. Wilson, University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University