Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology, and Human Nature [Paperback]

R. C. Lewontin (Author), Steven Rose (Author), Leon J. Kamin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0394728882 | ISBN-13: 978-0394728889 | Publication Date: February 12, 1985

Three eminent scientists analyze the scientific, social, and political roots of biological determinism.

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From the Inside Flap

Three eminent scientists analyze the scientific, social, and political roots of biological determinism.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pantheon (February 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394728882
• ISBN-13: 978-0394728889
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #732,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful Book Which Moves Against Conformist Thinking, November 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology, and Human Nature (Paperback)

Lewontin, Rose, and Kamin have expressed in clear language the problems of research in psychology and biology. They expose the social function of psychological, biological, and cultural reductionism as well as exploring the limits of their internal logics and validities. Needless to say, those caught up in the mainstream of traditional psychological and biological theory will protest, but in doing so will only betray the strong "interests" which shape and color their so-called dispassionate and objective endeavors -- which is part of what this book will detail. This book allows its readers to move outside the box of their over-learned scientistic practices; and it asks us to think about what we are doing when we do scientific research, its social implications, and its socio-economic determinants. I found this challenge compelling and enjoyable.

1.0 out of 5 stars Scientists without facts are just like emperors without clothes, January 8, 2012

By 

Jackal (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology, and Human Nature (Paperback)

This book might still have some historical value as a warning what can happen when scientists start to write about things they know nothing about. They criticise a bunch of other scientists, not by using data, but by saying that those scientists are right-wing. The guy on the street would be shocked if he found out what nonsense activities learned people can engage in.

I write that the interest in the book would be historical, if there is any interest at all. This is because during the last 25 years, researchers have made leaps of progress in the area of biological evolution on man. The kind of research the authors do not find politically correct.

17 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic, November 29, 1999

By 

David Jones - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology, and Human Nature (Hardcover)

As a lecturer and writer in critical psychology, this book is a key resource in highlighting the way in which psychological enquiry is shaped by the context in which such enquiry takes place. In particular, it shows the weaknesses of the myth of the objectivity of science as applied to psychology. This shouldn't be too surprising, as only someone with their head deeply in the sand, or determined to justify certain practices by recourse to claiming objectivity, could have missed the volume of work on the lack of objectivity in psychological science.