Tag Archives: Evolution

Sociocultural Evolution: Institutions as Survivor Machines

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

Like the concept culture, institution has so many definitions that it is may be a useless term in the long-run (for a much more in-depth take, see Abrutyn 2014). Nonetheless, sociology, according to Durkheim (1895), is the science of institutions. Institutions were, for … Continue reading →

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The Nuts and Bolts of Evolution, IV: General Evolution

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

Having laid out some key aspects of evolution in previous posts (here, here, and here), I want to turn to the two strategies sociologists may follow that biological evolution takes: general and specific evolution. Specific evolution is phylogenetic, or the comparative study … Continue reading →

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Sociocultural Evolution: Universal Human Concerns

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

When I first began writing about institutional evolution (Abrutyn 2009), I was continually confronted with the same problem functionalists had – e.g., why does every society have a “polity” or a “kinship” system? That is, there is something seemingly biological … Continue reading →

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The Nuts and Bolts of Evolution, III: Sociology’s Greatest Sin, the Stage Model

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

If you asked a biologist, “are there stages of hominid evolution?”, they’d look at you like you were crazy. Of course, biological evolution is, from a teleological standpoint, directionless. So, why has sociology been so preoccupied with classificatory stage models? Indeed, … Continue reading →

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The Nuts and Bolts of Evolution, II: The Limits of Darwinian Explanations

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

Having discussed some of the basic aspects of Darwinian (biological) evolution, I want to talk about why Darwinian processes do not work in explaining sociocultural evolution; at least not the vast majority of evolution today. Undoubtedly, human societies and numerous propensities like a tendency towards … Continue reading →

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The Nuts and Bolts of Evolution, I: Darwinian Processes

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

Some initial caveats: I am by no means an expert in biological evolution, nor would I claim to be (for an easy-to-approach expert work on the ABCs, see Mayr 2002). It is imperative that sociologists become familiar with the principles, … Continue reading →

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Multi-Level Neo-Darwinism: The Good and Bad

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

I realized as I wrote this entry that a follow up that should have preceded this is in order. The follow up, or probably two-part entry, would need to provide for the uninitiated, first, the basics of biological evolution and … Continue reading →

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Toward a Prolegomena of Evolutionary Sociology

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Seth Abrutyn

Since my second year in grad school, I have been enamored with evolution as an explanatory framework for some types of historical, social, and cultural change. I realize there is deserved and undeserved skepticism surrounding evolutionary theory and evolutionary sociology, … Continue reading →

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