{"title":"Alexandra Maryanski","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"social-cage-book-alexandra-maryanski-9780804720038","title":"The Social Cage","description":"A wide-ranging and provocative new interpretation of the biological foundations of sociocultural evolution, this book is a challenge both to the extremes of sociobiology and to traditional sociological assumptions about human nature and modern societies. The authors' central argument revolves around a re-analysis of human nature as it evolved over millions of years of primate history and a reassessment of societal evolution in light of the primate legacy of humans. They convincingly demonstrate that sociobiology overemphasizes selection at the genic level and underemphasizes the emergent dynamics of social structure and culture, that sociological thought assumes humans are more social than is warranted by the empirical evidence on primates, and that critiques of modern social forms are largely incorrect and misguided. The authors assert that traditional sociological theories of human nature and society do not pay sufficient attention to the evolution of 'big-brained hominoids,' resulting in assumptions about humans' propensity for 'groupness' that go against the record of primate evolution.  When this record is analyzed in detail, and is supplemented by a review of the social structures of contemporary apes and the basic typrs of human societies (hunter-gathering, horticultural, agrarian, and industrial), commonplace criticisms about the de-humanizing effects of industrial society appear overdrawn, if not downright incorrect. The book concludes that the mistakes in contemporary social theory - as well as much of general social commentary - stem from a failure to analyze humans as 'big-brained' apes with certain phylogenetic tendencies. This failure is usually coupled with a willingness to romanticize societies of the past, notably horticultural and agrarian systems. If the evolutionary record and data on contemporary primates are taken seriously, the modern industrial system is seen as far more compatible with humans' primate legacy than either horticultural or agrarian systems. This legacy clearly indicates that humans are far more individualistic than most social theory assumes and that humans definitely prefer situations allowing autonomy, freedom, and choice.\u0026lt;","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50361859834129,"sku":"CIN0804720037G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0804720037.jpg?v=1751394876"},{"product_id":"handbook-on-evolution-and-society-book-alexandra-maryanski-9781612058955","title":"Handbook on Evolution and Society","description":"\"Handbook on Evolution and Society\" brings together original chapters by prominent scholars who have been instrumental in the revival of evolutionary theorizing and research in the social sciences over the last twenty-five years. Previously unpublished essays provide up-to-date, critical surveys of recent research and key debates. The contributors discuss early challenges posed by sociobiology, the rise of evolutionary psychology, the more conflicted response of evolutionary sociology to sociobiology, and evolutionary psychology. Chapters address the application and limitations of Darwinian ideas in the social sciences. Prominent authors come from a variety of disciplines in ecology, biology, primatology, psychology, sociology, and the humanities. The most comprehensive resource available, this vital collection demonstrates to scholars and students the new ways in which evolutionary approaches, ultimately derived from biology, are influencing the diverse social sciences and humanities.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50698505060625,"sku":"NGR9781612058955","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51166253220113,"sku":"NIN9781612058955","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52620325191953,"sku":"NLS9781612058955","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1612058957.jpg?v=1751277139"},{"product_id":"emile-durkheim-and-the-birth-of-the-gods-book-alexandra-maryanski-9781138587366","title":"Emile Durkheim and the Birth of the Gods","description":"The Birth of the Gods is dedicated to Durkheim's effort to understand the basis of social integration. Unlike most social scientists, then and now, Durkheim concluded that humans are naturally more individualistic than collectivistic, that the primal social unit for humans is the macro-level unit ('the horde'), rather than the family, and that social cohesion is easily disrupted by human self-interest. Hence, for Durkheim, one of the \"gravest\" problems facing sociology is how to mold these human proclivities to serve the collective good. The analysis of elementary religions, Durkheim believed, would allow social scientists to see the fundamental basis of solidarity in human societies, built around collective representations, totems marking sacred forces, and emotion-arousing rituals directed at these totems.   The first half of the book traces the key influences and events that led Durkheim to embrace such novel generalizations. The second part makes a significant contribution to sociological theory with an analysis that essentially \"tests\" Durkheim's core assumptions using cladistic analysis, social network tools and theory, and data on humans closest living relatives—the great apes. Maryanski marshals hard data from primatology, paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and neuroscience that enlightens and, surprisingly, confirms many of Durkheim’s speculations. These data show that integration among both humans and great apes is not so much group or kin oriented, per se, but orientation to a community standing outside each individual that includes a sense of self, but also encompassing a cognitive awareness of a \"sense of community\" or a connectedness that transcends sensory reality and concrete social relations. This \"community complex,\" as Maryanski terms it, is what Durkheim was beginning to see, although he did not have the data to buttress his arguments as Maryanski is able to do.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52483400958225,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52483402268945,"sku":"NLS9781138587366","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781138587366.jpg?v=1759854666"},{"product_id":"handbook-on-evolution-and-society-book-alexandra-maryanski-9781612058146","title":"Handbook on Evolution and Society","description":"Handbook on Evolution and Society brings together original chapters by prominent scholars who have been instrumental in the revival of evolutionary theorizing and research in the social sciences over the last twenty-five years. Previously unpublished essays provide up-to-date, critical surveys of recent research and key debates. The contributors discuss early challenges posed by sociobiology, the rise of evolutionary psychology, the more conflicted response of evolutionary sociology to sociobiology, and evolutionary psychology. Chapters address the application and limitations of Darwinian ideas in the social sciences. Prominent authors come from a variety of disciplines in ecology, biology, primatology, psychology, sociology, and the humanities. The most comprehensive resource available, this vital collection demonstrates to scholars and students the new ways in which evolutionary approaches, ultimately derived from biology, are influencing the diverse social sciences and humanities.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52619185815825,"sku":"NLS9781612058146","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53014999925009,"sku":"NIN9781612058146","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781612058146.jpg?v=1761535208"},{"product_id":"emile-durkheim-and-the-birth-of-the-gods-book-alexandra-maryanski-9781138580930","title":"Emile Durkheim and the Birth of the Gods","description":"The Birth of the Gods is dedicated to Durkheim's effort to understand the basis of social integration. Unlike most social scientists, then and now, Durkheim concluded that humans are naturally more individualistic than collectivistic, that the primal social unit for humans is the macro-level unit ('the horde'), rather than the family, and that social cohesion is easily disrupted by human self-interest. Hence, for Durkheim, one of the \"gravest\" problems facing sociology is how to mold these human proclivities to serve the collective good. The analysis of elementary religions, Durkheim believed, would allow social scientists to see the fundamental basis of solidarity in human societies, built around collective representations, totems marking sacred forces, and emotion-arousing rituals directed at these totems.   The first half of the book traces the key influences and events that led Durkheim to embrace such novel generalizations. The second part makes a significant contribution to sociological theory with an analysis that essentially \"tests\" Durkheim's core assumptions using cladistic analysis, social network tools and theory, and data on humans closest living relatives—the great apes. Maryanski marshals hard data from primatology, paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and neuroscience that enlightens and, surprisingly, confirms many of Durkheim’s speculations. These data show that integration among both humans and great apes is not so much group or kin oriented, per se, but orientation to a community standing outside each individual that includes a sense of self, but also encompassing a cognitive awareness of a \"sense of community\" or a connectedness that transcends sensory reality and concrete social relations. 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