Human Nature and the Evolution of Society

Clocking in at over 450 pages, this book by sociologist Sanderson (Social Evolutionism) delivers a superficial account of many topics addressed by evolutionary psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists. According to Sanderson, his audience is both “students and the general reader” and his book is distinguished by the fact that “it is less technical and lighter on theory” than comparable textbooks. Each chapter begins with provocative questions (“Did the arts evolve as adaptations?” “Does racism exist in non-Western societies?” “Why does marriage exist?”) and ends with bulleted summary points and topics for discussion. Sanderson provides glosses on some of the pertinent literature, more often from a sociological and anthropological perspective than a biological one, with his strong opinions interspersed without much supporting evidence. In discussing the origin and causes of art, for example, he asserts “[n]atural selection can be dismissed,” but he doesn’t fully dismantle the case made by those who think otherwise. Similarly, he makes the ahistorical assertion that “capitalism was the more or less inevitable outcome of the natural human tendency to truck, barter, and exchange.” In this context, it is disconcerting that he omits any discussion dealing with money’s conceptual origins. Overall, Sanderson’s text never fulfills the promise of the title or his stated intentions. (Feb.)