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“Love of Shopping” Is Not a Gene:…
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“Love of Shopping” Is Not a Gene: Problems With Darwinian Psychology (edition 2005)

by Anne Innis Dagg

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233997,402 (3.5)2
Based on Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection, "Evolutionary Psychology" claims that "its all in our genes." At the beginning of the 21st century, genes are used to explain almost every aspect of human life, from social inequalities to health, sexuality, and criminality. This book is a critique of Darwinian psychology--alias evolutionary psychology, alias sociobiology--the study of the social behavior of animals and people based on evolution. In this provocative work, Innis Dagg, an eminent and outspoken critic of this ideology, first presents an overview of the theory and its popularity both among professionals and lay people, then she examines concepts of social behavior--based on 'genes vs culture'--including: aggression in the form of rape, infanticide, homicide, gang violence and war, and general criminality; homosexuality in both the human and the animal world; and race, IQ, and environment. Focusing on the problems present in much Darwinian psychological research--flawed data, faulty analysis, and political motives--this controversial book offers the first comprehensible critique of the most popular scientific theory of the late 20th century: Evolutionary Psychology. In the end, Innis Dagg presents a new perspective which acknowledges the complexity of life by placing at its center the living organism, in its environment, rather than the gene.… (more)
Member:lemontwist
Title:“Love of Shopping” Is Not a Gene: Problems With Darwinian Psychology
Authors:Anne Innis Dagg
Info:Montreal ; New York : Black Rose Books, c2005.
Collections:Read but unowned, Read in 2024
Rating:**1/2
Tags:BF, 2000s

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"Love of Shopping" is Not a Gene: Problems With Darwinian Psychology by Anne Innis Dagg

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Showing 3 of 3
I hate evo-psych, so I was really into this book. The author comes in pretty hot at first just ripping Darwinian psychology to pieces.

Unfortunately, I didn't love the book. I'm a big fan of sarcasm and deadpan, but it does not come across well in written form, particularly academic nonfiction. It was hard to really connect with what the author was saying when she would frequently switch between sarcasm and sincerity. Maybe some editing would have made this more readable. ( )
  lemontwist | May 12, 2024 |
A scientist takes a look at EvoPscyh and evaluates the various claims for behavior dictated by our genes. The author does not deny that at least some of our behavior has a genetic basis, and that we evolved certain instincts and universals; she merely questions the extreme stretches and twists and bends that evolutionary psychology uses to develop their hypotheses, and documents the various ways in which these studies are designed from confirmation bias. She looks not only at the data cited in the various studies, but also at that which has been left out. Highly recommended. ( )
1 vote Devil_llama | Jun 25, 2017 |
Fine book, and one to keep around because the tired ideas Dagg rebuts keep coming back again and again. Writing could be better, especially at the beginning, but the substance more than makes up for it. ( )
1 vote TomSlee | Nov 20, 2009 |
Showing 3 of 3
As a debunking of pseudo-science, this is very masterful; but it is even better as a piece of social criticism, a look at exactly why Darwinian Psychology has found such a receptive audience among ideologues, particularly from the right.
added by lampbane | editBoing Boing, Cory Doctorow (Nov 4, 2009)
 
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Based on Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection, "Evolutionary Psychology" claims that "its all in our genes." At the beginning of the 21st century, genes are used to explain almost every aspect of human life, from social inequalities to health, sexuality, and criminality. This book is a critique of Darwinian psychology--alias evolutionary psychology, alias sociobiology--the study of the social behavior of animals and people based on evolution. In this provocative work, Innis Dagg, an eminent and outspoken critic of this ideology, first presents an overview of the theory and its popularity both among professionals and lay people, then she examines concepts of social behavior--based on 'genes vs culture'--including: aggression in the form of rape, infanticide, homicide, gang violence and war, and general criminality; homosexuality in both the human and the animal world; and race, IQ, and environment. Focusing on the problems present in much Darwinian psychological research--flawed data, faulty analysis, and political motives--this controversial book offers the first comprehensible critique of the most popular scientific theory of the late 20th century: Evolutionary Psychology. In the end, Innis Dagg presents a new perspective which acknowledges the complexity of life by placing at its center the living organism, in its environment, rather than the gene.

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