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The Social Cage - Human Nature and the Evolution of Society (Hardcover)
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The Social Cage - Human Nature and the Evolution of Society (Hardcover)
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A wide-ranging and provocative new interpretation of the biological
foundations of sociocultural evolution, this book is a challenge
both to the extremes of sociobiology and to traditional
sociological assumptions about human nature and modern societies.
The authors' central argument revolves around a re-analysis of
human nature as it evolved over millions of years of primate
history and a reassessment of societal evolution in light of the
primate legacy of humans. They convincingly demonstrate that
sociobiology overemphasizes selection at the genic level and
underemphasizes the emergent dynamics of social structure and
culture, that sociological thought assumes humans are more social
than is warranted by the empirical evidence on primates, and that
critiques of modern social forms are largely incorrect and
misguided. The authors assert that traditional sociological
theories of human nature and society do not pay sufficient
attention to the evolution of 'big-brained hominoids,' resulting in
assumptions about humans' propensity for 'groupness' that go
against the record of primate evolution. When this record is
analyzed in detail, and is supplemented by a review of the social
structures of contemporary apes and the basic typrs of human
societies (hunter-gathering, horticultural, agrarian, and
industrial), commonplace criticisms about the de-humanizing effects
of industrial society appear overdrawn, if not downright incorrect.
The book concludes that the mistakes in contemporary social theory
- as well as much of general social commentary - stem from a
failure to analyze humans as 'big-brained' apes with certain
phylogenetic tendencies. This failure is usually coupled with a
willingness to romanticize societies of the past, notably
horticultural and agrarian systems. If the evolutionary record and
data on contemporary primates are taken seriously, the modern
industrial system is seen as far more compatible with humans'
primate legacy than either horticultural or agrarian systems. This
legacy clearly indicates that humans are far more individualistic
than most social theory assumes and that humans definitely prefer
situations allowing autonomy, freedom, and choice.
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