Cooperative and competitive? A comment on Alex Schulman's 'Evolution's republic'
In: Social science information, Band 53, Heft 4, S. 547-550
ISSN: 1461-7412
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In: Social science information, Band 53, Heft 4, S. 547-550
ISSN: 1461-7412
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 28, Heft 1, S. 86-88
ISSN: 1471-5457
In: APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper
SSRN
Working paper
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS, Band 28, Heft 1, S. 86-89
ISSN: 0730-9384
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 26, Heft 1, S. 51-70
ISSN: 1471-5457
Often since the early 1990s, feminist evolutionists have criticized evolutionary psychologists, finding fault in their analyses of human male and female reproductive behavior. Feminist evolutionists have criticized various evolutionary psychologists for perpetuating gender stereotypes, using questionable methodology, and exhibiting a chill toward feminism. Though these criticisms have been raised many times, the conflict itself has not been fully analyzed. Therefore, I reconsider this conflict, both in its origins and its implications. I find that the approaches and perspectives of feminist evolutionists and evolutionary psychologists are distinctly different, leading many of the former to work in behavioral ecology, primatology, and evolutionary biology. Invitingly to feminist evolutionists, these three fields emphasize social behavior and the influences of environmental variables; in contrast, evolutionary psychology has come to rely on assumptions deemphasizing the pliability of psychological mechanisms and the flexibility of human behavior. In behavioral ecology, primatology, and evolutionary biology, feminist evolutionists have found old biases easy to correct and new hypotheses practical to test, offering new insights into male and female behavior, explaining the emergence and persistence of patriarchy, and potentially bringing closer a prime feminist goal, sexual equality.
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS, Band 26, Heft 1, S. 51-76
ISSN: 0730-9384
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 20, Heft 2, S. 246-248
ISSN: 1471-5457
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 20, Heft 1, S. 95-96
ISSN: 1471-5457
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 18, Heft 1, S. 155-157
ISSN: 1471-5457
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 164-166
ISSN: 1471-5457
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 164-166
ISSN: 0730-9384
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 15, Heft 1, S. 133-134
ISSN: 1471-5457
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS, Band 15, Heft 1, S. 133-134
ISSN: 0730-9384
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 14, Heft 2, S. 194-197
ISSN: 1471-5457
In: Politics and the life sciences: PLS ; a journal of political behavior, ethics, and policy, Band 14, Heft 2, S. 145-162
ISSN: 1471-5457
Feminists have often been among the most outspoken critics of sociobiology, maintaining that sociobiology is inherently sexist and that it is used to uphold patriarchy. This article examines the latest research by scholars—many of them women—who have used a sociobiological approach to expand our understanding of female behavior. It shows that sociobiology recognizes complexity in human reproductive behavior and that members of both sexes employ a variety of reproductive strategies, depending upon their environments. Women are not necessarily sexually passive within the sociobiological paradigm, and they are not "naturally" parents; moreover, men clearly play a necessary and significant role in parenting. Women do have reproductive interests that are separate from those of men, and these interests clash. Despite these conflicts of reproductive interest, however, men and women can develop cooperative relationships to achieve their mutual goal of raising children to maturity. Patriarchy is not—within the sociobiological paradigm—a natural order between males and females. Sociobiology also does not suggest that women should be restricted to parenting roles; indeed, sociobiological research can provide the basis for greater freedom for both men and women in reproduction and resource acquisition.