Since the emergence of Western philosophy and science among the
classical Greeks, debates have raged over the relative significance
of biology and culture on an individual's behavior. Today, recent
advances in genetics and biological science have pushed most
scholars past the tired nature vs. nurture debate to examine the
ways in which the natural and the social interact to influence
human behavior. In What's Normal?, Allan Horwitz brings a fresh
approach to this emerging perspective. Rather than try to solve
these issues universally, Horwitz demonstrates that both social and
biological mechanisms have varying degrees of influence in
different situations. Through case studies of human universals such
as incest aversion, fear, appetite, grief, and sex, Horwitz first
discusses the extreme instances where biology determines behavior,
where culture dominates, and where culture overrides basic
biological instincts. He then details the variety of ways in which
genes and environments interact; for instance, the primal drive to
eat and store calories when food supplies were scarce and
behavioral patterns in a society where food is abundant and obesity
stigmatized. Now that it's often easier to change our biology
rather than our culture, an understanding of which behaviors and
traits are simply normal or abnormal, and which are pathological or
necesitate treatment is more important than ever. Wide-ranging and
accessible, What's Normal? provides a crucial guide to the
biological and social bases of human behavior at the heart of these
matters.
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