What is it about?

An argument for the use of evolutionary ideas in sociological theory.

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Why is it important?

This article, a chapter in a book edited by Jerome Barkow, shows that Darwin's theory can help sociology to explain three important featurtes of social life which have been neglected by conventional social research: contingency, intentionality and agency, and the irregular and historical nature of social event pathways.

Perspectives

Like my other work on the use of evolutionary theory in sociology this article argues for a Darwinian theoretical framework which avoids the shortcomings of both positivist sociology and neo-Darwinist theories of cultural evolution.

Professor Bernd Baldus
University of Toronto

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This page is a summary of: Evolution, Agency, and Sociology, January 2006, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195130027.003.0009.
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