A comparative biosocial analysis
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
A comparative biosocial analysis
(Social stratification and socioeconomic inequality / edited by Lee Ellis ; foreword by Lionel Tiger, v. 1)
Praeger, 1993
Available at 20 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. [175]-216
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This is the first book devoted exclusively to the study of social stratification from a biosocial perspective. The biosocial perspective explicitly assumes that both biological and social environmental factors are important for explaining behavior, including behavior surrounding the formation of hierarchies and unequal distribution of resources. In a variety of ways the contributors to this volume address the issue of how biological factors may interact with social experiences to affect social stratification.
Chapters 1 and 2 present a detailed review of the issues surrounding how social stratification is defined and subdivided. Chapter 3 takes the reader back to the first six civilizations that evolved on earth and provides a historical picture of social stratification, which served the reproductive interests of a small proportion of males who wielded great political and economic power. In Chapter 4, the nature of social stratification in traditional Arab cultures is explored, and the author hypothesizes why different types of stratification systems may have evolved throughout the world. In Chapter 5, the authors provide evidence that genetics are among the factors that contribute to variations in income and wealth. Chapter 6 provides suggestions about how group differences in social stratification may have evolved. The authors contend that sexual selection may be at the heart of the evolution of social stratification, and present a theory as to how it may have happened. Chapter 7 also focuses upon sex as a central variable in social stratification, specifically, how sex hormones alter brain functioning and how these alterations underlie many of the tendencies that men and women have to gravitate toward different types of occupations. In Chapter 8, a general theory of social stratification is presented. It is offered as a specific alternative to the two strictly environmental theories that dominate: functionalist and conflict theories.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Lionel Tiger Preface Conceptually Defining Social Stratification in Human and Nonhuman Animals by Lee Ellis Operationally Defining Social Stratification in Human and Nonhuman Animals by Lee Ellis Sex, Succession, and Stratification in the First Six Civilizations: How Powerful Men Reproduced, Passed Power on to Their Sons, and Used Power to Defend Their Wealth, Women, and Children by Laura Betzig Social Status and Values in Traditional Arab Culture by Glenn E. Weisfeld Intergenerational Links in Earnings, Income, and Wealth in the United States: Evidence for the Contribution of Genetic Factors by Jere R. Behrman and Paul Taubman Sexual Selection and the Sexual and Ethnic Basis of Social Hierarchies by Felicia Pratto, Jim Sidanius, and Lisa M. Stallworth Sex Differences in Human Stratification: A Biosocial Perspective by Katharine Blick Hoyenga A Biosocial Theory of Social Stratification: An Alternative to Functional Theory and Conflict Theory by Lee Ellis References Index
by "Nielsen BookData"