Sociology of morality and evolutionary theory: history and perspectives

Sociology of morality and evolutionary theory:
history and perspectives


Bykov A.V.

Senior Lecturer, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia a.bykov@hse.ru

ID of the Article: 6522


For citation:

Bykov A.V. Sociology of morality and evolutionary theory: history and perspectives. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2017. No 1. P. 127-136




Abstract

In this article, I analyze relationships between sociology of morality and evolutionary theory from both historical and theoretical points of view. First, I compare classical evolutionary conceptions of morality by C. Darwin and H. Spencer, emphasizing that evolutionary perspective in the sociology of morality is not something absolutely new but, rather, it once belonged to the core ideas of the discipline. After that, I review the key new-Darwinian models of explanations of moral behavior which are related to a number of different approaches, such as theories of kin and group selection, reciprocal altruism and cooperation, evolutionary psychology and theory of cultural evolution. I argue that modern evolutionary disciplines reached considerable success in studying moral phenomena, so that sociology of morality needs to incorporate these theoretical models in order to provide a fuller understanding of morality. In this context, I review J. Turner’s conception of “evolutionary sociology” as an attempt of sociological reception of the modern evolutionary synthesis in behavioral sciences. While Turner is given credit for drawing sociologists’ attention to modern evolutionary conceptions of morality, I also criticize his approach for over-emphasizing the historical perspective of the hominid evolution and lack of elaboration of this conceptions to the studies of morality in modern societies; at the same time I argue that classical sociology of morality still has large theoretical resources which can be integrated with modern evolutionary perspective, so that moral phenomena would receive a more rigorous scientific explanation.


Keywords
altruism, morality; moral norms; sociology of morality; evolutionary theory

References

Alland A. (1974) Why Not Spencer? Journal of Anthropological Research. 30 (4): 271–280.
Alexander R.D. (1985) A Biological Interpretation of Moral Systems. Zygon. 20: 3–20.
Axelrod R. (1984) The Evolution of Cooperation. New York.
Batygin G.S. (2000) Kak nevozmozhna sotsiologiya morali [How impossible sociology of morality is]. In: Bakshtanovskiy V.I.,
Sogomonov A.Yu. (eds) Opravdanie morali: Sb. nauchnykh statey: K 70-letiyu professora Yu.V. Sogomonova [Moral Justification].
P. 108–119. (In Russ.)
Boyd R., Richerson P.J., Henrich J. (2011) Rapid Cultural Adaptation Can Facilitate the Evolution of Large-scale Cooperation.
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. No. 65: 431–444.
Boyd R., Richerson P. (2009) Culture and the Evolution of Human Cooperation. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. No. 364: 3281–3288.
Brewer M.B. (1979) In-Group Bias in the Minimal Intergroup Situation: A Cognitive-Motivational Analysis. Psychological Bulletin.
No. 86 (2): 307–324.
Collins R. (1994) Sotsiologiya: nauka ili antinauka? [Sociology: Proscience or Antiscience?]. THESIS. No. 4: 71–96. (In Russ.)
Darwin C. (1953) Proiskhozhdenie cheloveka i polovoy otbor [The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex]. In:
Darvin Charl’z. Sochineniya. Tom 5. M.: Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik.
(In Russ.)
Deviatko I.F. (2011) V storonu spravedlivosti: eksperimental’noe issledovanie vzaimosvyazi mezhdu deskriptivnym obydennym
znaniem i vospriyatiem distributivnoy spravedlivosti [Towards justice. An experimental investigation of the relation between
descriptive folk knowledge and perception of distributive justice]. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsial’noy antropologii
[The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology]. No. 2 (55): 139–164. (In Russ.)
Deviatko I.F. (2008) Stadii evolyutsii i problema klassifikatsii istoricheskikh tipov obshchestva [Stages of evolution and the problem
of classification of historical types of society]. In: Gorshkov M.K. (ed.) Rossiya reformiruyushchayasya. Ezhegodnik.
Vyp.7. M.: Institut sotsiologii RAN. P. 23–39.
Durkheim E. O razdelenii obshchestvennogo truda [The Division of Labor in Society]/ Per. s fr. A.B. Gofmana. M.: Kanon. 1996.
(In Russ.)
Franks D. (2010) Neurosociology. The Nexus Between Neuroscience and Social Psychology. New York: Springer.
Freeman D. (1974) The Evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. Current Anthropology. No. 15 (3): 211–237.
Graham J., Haidt J., Nosek B. (2009) Liberals and conservatives use different sets of moral foundations. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology. No. 96: 1029–1046.
Greene J. (2013) Moral Tribes. Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them. New York: The Penguin Press.
Haidt J. (2008) Morality. Perspectives on Psychological Science. No. 3: 65–72.
Haines V.A. (1991) Spencer, Darwin, and the question of reciprocal Influence. Journal of the History of Biology. No. 24 (3):
409–431.
Hamilton W. D. (1963) The Evolution of altruistic behavior. The American Naturalist. No. 97 (896): 354–356.
Hamilton W. D. (1964) The Genetical evolution of social behavior. Journal of Theoretical Biology. No. 7 (1): 1–16.
Hitlin S., Vaisey S. (2013) The new sociology of morality. Annual Review of Sociology. No. 3: 51–68.
Hitlin S., Vaisey S. (2010) Back to the future. Reviving the Sociology of Morality. In: Hitlin S., Vaisey S. (eds) Handbook of the
Sociology of Morality. New York: Springer. P. 3–14.
Hopcroft R.L. (2009a) The Evolved actor in sociology. Sociological Theory. No. 27 (4): 390–406.
Hopcroft R.L. (2009b) Gender inequality in interaction – an evolutionary account. Social Forces. No. 87 (4): 1845–1871.
Huxley J. (1942) Evolution: The Modern Synthesis. London: Allen & Unwin.
Krebs D.L. (2008) Morality: an evolutionary account. Perspectives on Psychological Science. No. 3: 149–172.
Kurzban R., DeScioli P., Fein D. (2012) Hamilton vs Kant: pitting adaptations for altruism against adaptations for moral judgment.
Evolution and Human Behavior. No. 33: 323–333.
Laland K.N., Uller T., Feldman M.W., Sterenly K., Müller G.B., Moczek A., Jablonka E., Odling-Smee J. (2015) The Extended
Evolutionary Synthesis: Its Structure, Assumptions, And Predictions. Proc. R. Soc. B. No. 282 (1813). URL: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.
org/content/282/1813/20151019 (accessed 01.03.2016)
Maryanski A., Turner J.H. (1993) The Social Cage: Human Nature and the Evolution of Society. Stanford: Stanford University
Press.
Maynard Smith J. (1976) Group selection. Quarterly Review of Biology. No. 51 (2): 277–283.
Noble D. (2015) Evolution beyond Neo-Darwinism: a new conceptual framework. Journal of Experimental Biology. No. 218: 7–13.Offer J. (2010) Herbert Spencer and Social Theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Parsons T. (1991) The Social System. London: Routledge.
Parsons T. (1966) The Structure of Social Action. London.
Romanovsky N.V. (2015) About “growing points” in modern theoretical sociology. Sociology: methodology, methods, mathematical
modeling. No. 40: 89–110. (In Russ.)
Romanovsky N.V. (2014) Eshche raz o roli teoreticheskoy sotsiologii [One more time about the role of theoretical sociology].
Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No 7: 93–101. (In Russ.)
Sear R., Lawson D.W., Dickins T.E. (2007) Synthesis in the human evolutionary behavioural sciences. Journal of Evolutionary
Psychology. No. 5: 3–28.
Sokolov V.M. (2004) Sotsiologiya morali – real’naya ili gipoteticheskaya? [Is sociology of morality real or hypothetic?]. Sotsiologicheskie
issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 8: 78–88. (In Russ.)
Spencer H. (2008). Nauchnye osnovaniya nravstvennosti: Dannye nauki o nravstvennosti. [The principles of ethics. The data of
ethics] M.: Izdatel’stvo LKI. (In Russ.)
Trivers R.L. (1971) The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology. No. 46: 35–57.
Turner J.H., Machalek R., Maryanski A. (eds) (2015). Handbook on Evolution and Society. Toward an Evolutionary Social Science.
London: Paradigm Publishers.
Turner J.H. (2014) The Evolution of Affect, Sociality, Altruism and Conscience in Humans. In: Jeffries V. (ed.) The Palgrave Handbook
of Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity. Formulating a Field of Study. New York: 275–301.
Turner J.H. (2010) Natural Selection and The Evolution of Morality in Human Societies. In: Hitlin S., Vaisey S. (eds) Handbook
of The Sociology of Morality. New York: Springer. P. 125–146.
Turner J.H. (1981) The Forgotten Theoretical Giant: Herbert Spencer’s Models and Principles. Revue Europeenne Des Sciences
Sociales. No. 19: 79–98.
Turner S. (2007) Social theory as a cognitive neuroscience. European Journal of Social Theory. No. 10 (3): 357–374.
Rai T.S., Fiske A.P. (2011) Moral psychology is relationship regulation: moral motives for unity, hierarchy, equality,
and proportionality. Psychological Review. No. 118 (1): 57–75.
Wilson E.O. (2015) O prirode cheloveka [On Human Nature]. M.: Kuchkovo pole. (In Russ.)

Content No 1, 2017