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Sociology can no longer avoid engagement with biological ideas, but it can incorporate them where they are useful. Most biologically inspired explanations of sociological processes from outside the discipline are simple and, moreover, too reliant on biological rather than sociological models of social processes. Yet, it is possible to engage these efforts by developing sociological concepts and theories that meet those using evolutionary theory from biology. This paper argues that the heavy reliance on Darwinian natural selection limits sociological explanations, although this approach can help sociologists understand the evolved behavioral propensities of humans as evolved apes. These behavioral propensities cannot, however, explain the evolution and dynamics of the layers of sociocultural phenomena studied by sociologists, and efforts to do so with Darwinian notions of natural selection on individual organisms will always be inadequate. As an alternative, we propose that there are other types of natural selection inherent in the organization of what Herbert Spencer termed superorganisms. We label these Durkheimian, Spencerian, and Marxian selection, and they explain what Darwinian selection cannot: the dynamics and evolution of sociocultural phenomena.

Recent years have seen growing interest in applying the Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (ETI) framework to human sociocultural evolution. Proponents argue that human societies exhibit features – such as multilevel organization, cooperation, and division of labour – sufficiently analogous to biological ETIs to warrant theoretical extension. This paper critically assesses such claims and argues that they rest on a fundamental misapplication of the ETI framework. Drawing on recent work in cultural evolution, I show that sociocultural systems typically lack the core conditions required for an ETI, including autonomous reproduction at the group level and the operation of natural selection in the reproductive mode. Attempts to relax these criteria risk undermining the coherence of the framework itself. I conclude that although the broader framework of Major Evolutionary Transitions may still have value for understanding sociocultural change, the specific explanatory structure of ETI theory does not transfer.

Quantitative approaches to evolutionary biology traditionally consider evolutionary change in isolation from an important pressure in natural selection: the demography of coevolving populations. In Analysis of Evolutionary Processes, Fabio Dercole and Sergio Rinaldi have written the first comprehensive book on Adaptive Dynamics (AD), a quantitative modeling approach that explicitly links evolutionary changes to demographic ones. The book shows how the so-called AD canonical equation can answer questions of paramount interest in biology, engineering, and the social sciences, especially economics. After introducing the basics of evolutionary processes and classifying available modeling approaches, Dercole and Rinaldi give a detailed presentation of the derivation of the AD canonical equation, an ordinary differential equation that focuses on evolutionary processes driven by rare and small innovations. The authors then look at important features of evolutionary dynamics as viewed through the lens of AD. They present their discovery of the first chaotic evolutionary attractor, which calls into question the common view that coevolution produces exquisitely harmonious adaptations between species. And, opening up potential new lines of research by providing the first application of AD to economics, they show how AD can explain the emergence of technological variety.

The relationship of wu (巫) to shamanism is problematic, with virtually all mentions of historical and contemporary Chinese wu ritualists translated into English as shaman. Ethnological research is presented to illustrate cross-cultural patterns of shamans and other ritualists, providing an etic framework for empirical assessments of resemblances of Chinese ritualists to shamans. This etic framework is further validated with assessments of the relationship of the features with biogenetic bases of ritual, altered states of consciousness, innate intelligences and endogenous healing processes. Key characteristics of the various types of wu and other Chinese ritualists are reviewed and compared with ethnological models of the patterns of ritualists found cross-culturally to illustrate their similarities and contrasts. These comparisons illustrate the resemblances of pre-historic and commoner wu to shamans but additionally illustrate the resemblances of most types of wu to other ritualist types, not shamans. Across Chinese history, wu underwent transformative changes into different types of ritualists, including priests, healers, mediums and sorcerers/witches. A review of contemporary reports on alleged shamans in China also illustrates that only some correspond to the characteristics of shamans found in cross-cultural research and foraging societies. The similarities of most types of wu ritualists to other types of ritualists found cross-culturally illustrate the greater accuracy of translating wu as “ritualist” or “religious ritualist.”

Few academic historians take an evolutionary perspective on the past, but this outcome was not inevitable. Leading eighteenth-century intellectuals often took evolutionary perspectives, but particularists largely discredited them in and after the 1780s. By the time Spencer and Darwin revived evolutionism in the 1850s, distinctive historical questions and methods were very well-established. Public intellectuals regularly called for Darwinian history, but almost no academics saw much to gain in it. Most twentieth-century social scientists became generalizers but not evolutionists, while most historians not only refused to engage in generalization of any kind but also criticized divisions of labor in which evolutionists would test theories against data generated by historians. Possibilities remain open for a properly evolutionary history, in which scholars trained as historians but asking evolutionary questions would work alongside those trained as evolutionists but analyzing historical data, but currently, this field's prospects depend too much on individual personalities and even luck.

IntroductionFamily planning (FP) is a reliable and efficient method that provides good reproductive health and general well-being, thereby preventing infant and maternal deaths. A major contention to FP utilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is that knowledge and availability are not commensurate with the usage. Hence, understanding the FP Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Gap (FP KAP-Gap) is key to improving utilisation and reducing maternal and infant mortality.MethodThe study used cross-sectional data collected in year 2022 among 2646 married women of reproductive age through interviews. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression models were used in modelling FP KAP-Gap among the women.ResultsThe study revealed that more than half (50.3%) of the women identified radio as their source of FP information. Pill (67.6%) and condom (66.0%) were the most popular methods among them. However, the most used methods were condoms and implants. The KAP-Gap increased as the women grew older. Also, increased education, years of marriage, number of male children, number of living children (AOR = 1.957; CI 1.376–2.784), and spousal approval (AOR = 2.709; CI 2.050–3.581) cause KAP-Gap to increase among married women.ConclusionThe knowledge of FP is not commensurate with its utilisation as expected because this present study revealed that different sociocultural cum demographic factors created the KAP-Gap. Therefore, to effectively reduce the KAP-Gap among women, policies and interventions must move from mere increased awareness to community-driven programmes that promote gender-equitable decision making, expand universal access to reproductive health services, and strengthen education and economic empowerment.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to rethink the issue of publicity from a cross-cultural and evolutionary perspective.Design/methodology/approachAssuming that there is a dominant paradigm in the studies of the public sphere centered on Habermas’ ideas, media theory (and especially Luhmann who is considered as a media theorist) is selected as a new context that provides different concepts, ideas, language games and metaphors that allow the re-foundation of the study of publicity.FindingsPublicity as a social structure emerges – and acquires different forms during history – out of the complex dynamics resulting from the interaction between success media, such as power, and different kinds of dissemination media.Originality/valueA research into the forms of publicity not only promotes awareness of the ubiquity of the phenomenon across cultural evolution, but also offers tools to make new discoveries and systematize what is already known about the subject and its ramifications.

The author traces 19th-century origins of sociology in post-Revolutionary Europe, and contrasts European and American approaches to sociological data. Using the concepts of mass behavior and mass society as case studies, he suggests the continuing influence of social and political philosophies in sociology to the present day. Originally published in 1961. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Many archaeologists have used world-systems analysis in precapitalist settings. Some have criticized it; others have dismissed it out of hand. Critiques include that it was developed for the \"modern\" world, that it is overly economistic, that it neglects individual actors, and that it inappropriately uses modern analyses in ancient settings. Although there is some validity to these charges when applied to Wallerstein's original formulation, most are misdirected. The critiques are rooted in inattention to the last three decades of work on world-systems, especially modifications made with the explicit intention to make world-systems analysis useful in precapitalist settings. Newer comparative versions of world-systems analysis were initially developed to better understand the evolution of world-systems that gave rise to the modern world-system. These new advances are useful for the study of interregional interactions and long-term development. Archaeologists are well placed to contribute to the further development of world-systems analysis; they can shed light on ancient world-systemic processes and the origins of the modern world-system, provide empirical backing for hypotheses, and raise new theoretical and empirical questions.

This article discusses the issue of the environment under the conditions of extreme destruction of the planet as a result of sociocultural evolution, and the crisis of knowledge that derives from man’s non-adaptation to nature. Consequently, it poses some theoretical reflections in order to achieve an integral transformation that is both social and individual, on the path to a civilizational transition that requires overcoming the fundamental concepts of current socio-environmental reality. It therefore proposes some strategies for the construction of an environmental epistemology in that direction, which entails restructuring educational processes from a perspective based on diversity and, through the production of new social knowledge, surpassing a solitary view of reality in order to achieve one that is shared. Se discuten la problemática ambiental bajo las condiciones de extrema destrucción planetaria, como resultado de la evolución sociocultural, y la crisis de conocimiento que deriva de la no adaptación del hombre a la naturaleza. En consecuencia, se plantean algunas reflexiones teóricas a fin de lograr una transformación integral tanto social como individual, en el camino de una transición civilizatoria que requiere superar los fundamentos de la presente realidad socioambiental. Por todo ello se proponen aquí algunas estrategias en la construcción de una epistemología ambiental en aquella dirección. Lo que implica reestructurar los procesos educativos desde una perspectiva fincada en la diversidad, rebasando en la producción de nuevos conocimientos sociales una visión única de la realidad, para alcanzar una compartida. Discute-se a problemática ambiental segundo as condições de extrema destruição planetária, como resultado da evolução sociocultural e da crise de conhecimento que deriva da não adaptação do homem à natureza. Em seguida, apresentam-se algumas reflexões teóricas a fim de conseguir uma transformação integral tanto social quanto individual, no caminho de uma transição civilizatória que requer superar os fundamentos da presente realidade socioambiental. Por tudo isso, propõem-se aqui algumas estratégias na construção de uma epistemologia ambiental naquela direção. O que implica reestruturar os processos educativos a partir de uma perspectiva fincada na diversidade, ultrapassando na produção de novos conhecimentos sociais uma visão única da realidade, para alcançar um compartilhamento.