Sociobiological Anthropology
Sociobiological Anthropology explains human social behavior from biological perspectives, especially genes. Sociobiological Anthropologists are concerned with social behaviors that are shared by all human beings, or human universals. For example, all human beings use language for communication but individuals from different cultures may speak different languages. The behavior of using language for communication is a human universal even though each culture has its own language. Sociobiological Anthropologists believe that the universal ability to use language is affected by genes. On the other hand, the skill of speaking a specific language is not the result of genetics because this skill is a learned behavior, not an inherent biological characteristic. In other words, Sociobiological Anthropologists distinguish universal traits with cultural variations and study the former. Therefore, this theoretical school is different from the 19th century evolutionism, which attributed cultural or ethnic variations to genetics.
Sociobiological Anthropology was based on Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory. He claimed that the biological evolution of physical characteristics is the result of natural selection. The Sociobiological Anthropologists applied Darwin’s theory to explain the evolution of social behavior. In evolutional explanation, the ultimate goal of human species is reproductive success, which means to pass down one’s genes to his or her offspring and future generations. Humans generally develop certain patterns of social behavior that accurately fit to their societies and surrounding environments. Sociobiological Anthropologists argue that this evolution of social behavior is the result of reproductive success. As a result of natural selection, those individuals with certain genes survive because their genes cause behavior which adapts to a particular environment. In other words, Sociobiological Anthropologists consider genes a primary source for shaping our universal social behaviors.
Sociobiologists study the social behavior of early humans and the social structures of contemporary simple societies. Since they analyze behaviors from biological perspectives, they focus on such factors as population growth, gene flow, and demography rather than cultures. Sociobiologists also study animal societies, their population structure, and communication systems in order to explain human societies.
There are three main topics in Sociobiological Anthropology: evolutionary psychology, human behavioral ecology, and the study of human universals. The evolutionary psychologists attempt to describe the function of the human brain by studying our hunter-gatherer ancestors. They believe our brain function has been designed by the natural selection that our ancestors went through to solve adaptive problems. Next, human behavioral ecology is the study of the connection between social behavior and environment. Sociobiological Anthropologists in this group focus on specific populations and test if culturally patterned traits really enhance adaptation to surrounding environments. Finally, those who study human universals attempt to discover characteristics found in all human societies. This approach presumes that such universal traits are based on evolutionary biology and adaptation to environments.
As the above description shows, Sociobiologcal Anthropology explains universal human behavior by discovering a few unifying biological principles. Although this approach is useful for understanding some human behavior, it is also challenged for the following reasons. First, Sociobiological Anthropology does not consider effects of culture and learning, which most anthropologists see as powerful influences on human society. Second, since most Sociobiological Anthropologists research animals and insects rather than humans, other anthropologists are skeptical about applying their research findings to general human behavior. Third, Sociobiological Anthropology emphasizes genes as the explanation of human social life. This view runs contrary to cultural anthropologists’ emphasis on culture. Because of these criticisms, Sociobiological Anthropology remains controversial in anthropology.
Source:
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McGee, R. Jon and Richard L. Warms. 2004 Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. New York: McGraw Hill.