Biosociology: An Emerging Paradigm

(Hardback)

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Biosociology is an emerging paradigm seeking to understand human behavior by integrating relevant insights from the natural sciences into traditional sociological thinking. Biosociology posits no ultimate causes of human behavior, rather it seeks to understand how biological factors interact with other factors to produce observed behavior. The book presents a brief introduction to biophysical systems that are important to the understanding of human behavior - genetics, neurophysiology, and the autonomic and endocrine systems. These systems are explored in the contexts of sociological importance, such as socialization, learning, gender roles, gender differences, sexuality, the family, deviance, and criminality.

Reviews

Because of the sheer mass of the research reviewed, the engaging style, the numerous exciting connections established between biological processess and behavioral phenomena of great substantive interest, and the low key, matter-of-fact way in which some of the most controversial topics related to the interface of biology with the social sciences are presented, this book will startle and confound sociologists and others who thought their field could remain forever isolated from biology and the rest of the natural sciences. It will educate, comfort, and encourage the growing group of social scientists who, even within sociology-traditionally the most biophobic discipline-are working at elucidating the links between biology and behavior.-Politics and the Life Sciences
"Because of the sheer mass of the research reviewed, the engaging style, the numerous exciting connections established between biological processess and behavioral phenomena of great substantive interest, and the low key, matter-of-fact way in which some of the most controversial topics related to the interface of biology with the social sciences are presented, this book will startle and confound sociologists and others who thought their field could remain forever isolated from biology and the rest of the natural sciences. It will educate, comfort, and encourage the growing group of social scientists who, even within sociology-traditionally the most biophobic discipline-are working at elucidating the links between biology and behavior."-Politics and the Life Sciences

Author Bio

ANTHONY WALSH is currently Professor of Criminal Justice at Boise State University, in Idaho. His research interests include any social-psychological topic that can be informed by biological concepts, particularly IQ and crime. Walsh is the author or coauthor of nine other books and over 60 journal articles or essays.