ANTH6127 Genes, memes and Cultural Difference

Offered By	School of Archaeology and Anthropology
Academic Career	Graduate Coursework
Course Subject	Anthropology
Offered in	ANTH6127 will not be offered in 2012
Unit Value	6 units
Course Description	The course will consider the issues and controversies surrounding attempts to introduce into the social sciences concepts and theoretical perspectives developed in evolutionary biology. Its aim is to make recent perspectives and the arguments for and against available to students of the social and the biological sciences, as well as to those with more general methodological interests. Although a naturalistic strand has always been present in the social sciences, it is fair to say that most of the more influential social theorists have seen a basic discontinuity between the biological and the social sciences. Recent ethological and sociobiological research has posed questions of the view that there are fundamental differences between human social behaviour and that of animals. This approach, however, has been augmented by the extension of certain evolutionary concepts to human cultural life itself, and it is predominantly with these that this course is concerned. Here, the suggestion is that evolutionary processes operate in cultural life not only through 'descent with modification' as it applies to genes, but through a comparable process that operates on cultural elements. The 'second form of evolution' that Dawkins' notions of memes (cultural representations that are subject to selection pressure) is thought to entail has led some to proclaim the social sciences to be a sub-category of the life sciences. Other scholars, who take their lead from a cognitive psychology grounded in evolutionary perspectives, dispute the memetic viewpoint, but nevertheless argue that there are no longer any grounds for separating the biological and the social sciences.
Learning Outcomes	This course is aimed at enabling students to: Give an account, using examples, of the different ways in which Darwinian selectionist ideas have been used in the analysis or conceptualisation of social life. Identify and categorise views concerning the relations between social scientific and biological conceptions of human social life. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of accounts that embody selectionist perspectives on the form and processes of social life. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of social scientific counter-arguments to accounts that embody selectionist perspectives on the form and processes of social life. Appreciate the intimacy between conceptual and empirical issues in fundamental social scientific debates.
Indicative Assessment	By negotiation: 6,000 words
Workload	Two hours of lectures and one hour of tutorial per week
Course Classification(s)	TransitionalTransitional courses are designed for students from a broad range of backgrounds and learning achievements, which provide for the acquisition of generic skills; or an informed understanding of contemporary issues; or fundamental knowledge for transition to Advanced or Specialist courses.
Areas of Interest	Anthropology
Preliminary Reading	Dawkins, R. The Selfish Gene, (second edn.), Penguin Books, 1989. Dawkins, R. The Blind Watchmaker, Penguin Books, 1991. Runciman, W.G. The Social Animal*, Harper Collins, 1998.
Programs	Graduate Certificate in Anthropology, Graduate Certificate in Biological Anthropology, Master of Anthropology, and Master of Biological Anthropology
Academic Contact	Dr Don Gardner

The information published on the Study at ANU 2012 website applies to the 2012 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2011 website.