The Character of Human Institutions

Robin Fox and the Rise of Biosocial Science
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4128-6554-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Inc

Buch, Englisch, 398 Seiten, Format (B × H): 228 mm x 152 mm, Gewicht: 564 g

This collection of essays by seventeen outstanding scientists and scholars celebrates the life and work of Robin Fox, and the idea of a biosocial science. From early studies of kinship, primates, the brain, evolution, the incest taboo and aggression, to later work on literature, politics, civilization, law, the bible, Shakespeare, and the history of ideas, Fox has inspired many with his evolutionary vision of humanity that goes beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries and embraces the “Universal History of Mankind,” including the possible human future. Fox’s work encompasses sociobiology but is not limited by it. He preceded it and is both influenced by it and helped to foster it. But his work represents an independent “biosocial science” stream of thinking that accepts the Darwinian mandate while avoiding reductionism by recognizing culture as a natural phenomenon. His contribution has recently been recognized by election to the National Academy of Sciences.

This book is not only a tribute to one remarkable thinker but a brilliant, entertaining and diverse summary of the state of play in current biosocial science and the thought of those influenced by it across the whole intellectual spectrum. It is that rare academic book where high thinking and good humor share the field, as they do in the life of its honoree.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Egan, Michael

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

On Reading ‘Participant Observer’ Foreword, I Personal and Confidential Introduction: Mainstream Maverick 1 This Guy, Fox 2 A Tribute and Personal Thanks II Popularity and Drink 3 Writing Popular Anthropology 4 Drink and Duty: Extreme Drinking Rituals in the British Army III Laughter and Happiness 5 Understanding Laughter 6 Joyous, Equal, and Free: Conditions of Felicity in Human Organizations IV Kinship and Incest 7 Kinship Constructed Us: Primate Kinship and Cultural Anthropology 8 Lighting the Red Lamp of Incest 9 Darwin and Cousin Marriage in England V Self and Epic 10 The Image of the Good Imperial Education 11 The Ethnography of the Self: Anthropologists’ Autobiographies 12 The Universal Epic: A Research Challenge VI Nature and Society 13 From Human Nature to Human Society: Why Anthropology Cannot Ignore Biological Constants 14 The Changing Nature of Human Nature 15 Science and Anti-Science in Anthropology: A Look Back VII Finale 16 The Consumerist Cosmos 17 Last Word: The Razor’s Edge

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Egan taught at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Brigham Young University, Hawaii. He was the editor of The Oxfordian and is the author of eleven books.