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Biosociology

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Biosocial approach to sociology; Biosocial research

Definition

Biosociology is an umbrella term for the contributing research areas (including but not limited to neurosociology, evolutionary sociology, and social science genomics) that studies the role of evolved biological factors (genetic, neural, hormonal, etc.) in different dimensions of social behavior, as well as being concerned with the biosocial mechanisms of social phenomena and processes at both micro and macro levels.

Introduction

Biosociology began to develop during the 1990s, growing out of findings from initiatives such as the Decade of the Brain and the Human Genome Project. Its development was significantly influenced by other disciplines (e.g., social and cultural neurosciences, evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, and other related science subjects), whose findings – intentionally or not – fell within the domain of traditional sociology. Partly as a response to that, social scientists have tried to...

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Acknowledgments

This text is a result of work as part of the research project “Evolutionary Neurosociology: Applying the Theory of Evolution and the Ideas of Neuroscience to Sociological Study of Social Inequality,” funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the government of Ulyanovsk region of the Russian Federation, grant No 18-411-730014р_а.

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Correspondence to Yulia Shkurko .

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Shkurko, Y. (2019). Biosociology. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2901-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2901-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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