Theories of biosociology combine sociology and biology to explain human behavior. Theoretical concepts and empirical findings from numerous fields of behavioral biology, including as evolutionary biology (particularly sociobiology and behavioral ecology), ecology, ethology, neuroscience, endocrinology, primatology, and population genetics, are included in order to do this. Many modern evolutionary sociologists base and direct their research on biosociological notions. The majority of biosociological theories fall into one of three broad categories: those that emphasize (1) the biological underpinnings of evolved human nature, (2) the connection between human nature and the evolutionary history of human societies, and (3) the experiences and coping mechanisms of an evolved "small-group ape" at the scale of industrial and post-industrial societal formations.
Biosociological thinkers have recently expressed growing unhappiness with the tabula rasa (or "blank slate") theory of human nature. Biosociological theorists have started to adopt a new perspective that the human brain is densely populated by a rich array of cognitive algorithms, or innate mental mechanisms, that aid in the generation of complex patterns of social behavior, similar to how an increasing number of evolutionary psychologists. These thought processes are viewed as evolutionary adaptations to the selective forces that existed in the prehistoric habitats where humans first appeared.
The phylogeny (evolutionary history) of human societies has been reconstructed by biosociological theorists like Jonathan Turner and Alexandra Maryanski (2008) to explain how early hominids (primate ancestors of humans) transitioned from living in fluid, transient groups with weak social ties to much more stable, durable groups with strong social ties. According to their findings, early hominids were forced out of their safe arboreal settings and into the considerably more dangerous savannah conditions as a result of ecological changes. Ancestral hominids were subjected to new, open-plains conditions that exacerbated selection pressures, ultimately leading to far more highly organized and cohesive societies. Early humans were able to overcome an ape legacy that consisted of flimsy social bonds and transitory social relationships.
Bibliography:
Massey, D. S. (2005) Strangers in a Strange Land:
Humans in an Urbanizing World. W. W. Norton,
New York.
Turner, J. H. & Maryanski, A. (2008) On the Origin of
Societies by Natural Selection. Paradigm Publishers,
Boulder, CO.