The Myth of Culture - Why We Need a Genuine Natural Science of Societies (Hardcover, Unabridged edition)

Before oxygen's discovery, scientists invoked a mysterious inner principle of fire to account for burning. Today, scholars appeal to an analogously unscientific inner principle, known as culture, to account for human actions. So what is wrong with culture?! It extends from the contents of Petrie dishes to art galleries and is far too imprecise for scientific use. Science aims to separate causes from effects but social scientists use "culture" indiscriminately as both cause and effect making scientific progress impossible. Finally, culture is a smokescreen distracting us from the quest for objective influences on human behavior. (Polygamy is more about parasites than religion, for instance). This book is both a critique of culture-centered social sciences and the manifesto for a new approach - evolutionary social science - that synthesizes evolution and sociology. The author demonstrates that a natural-science approach to human societies helps us to understand social problems such as health inequality and violent crime. Written in a more high-spirited and accessible style than is customary for academic works, The Myth of Culture is a full-throttle indictment of ivory-tower social scientists whose arcane lore does more to feather their nests than to advance knowledge, or solve human problems. It should have broad appeal among college-educated people around the world.

General

Imprint:	Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	July 2008
First published:	July 2008
Authors:	Nigel Barber
Dimensions:	212 x 148 x 28mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - With dust jacket
Pages:	315
Edition:	Unabridged edition
ISBN-13:	978-1-84718-619-5
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social theory
LSN:	1-84718-619-X
Barcode:	9781847186195

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