That Complex Whole: Culture and the Evolution of Human Behavior 1st Edition

by Lee Cronk (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0813337050

ISBN-10: 0813337054

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When evolutionary biology stretched out a tentacle called sociobiology and began to probe human behavior back in the 1970s, there was no room for neutrality. Advocates of the new science hailed the dawn of a new era in our understanding of human behavior, while opponents wrung their hands with concern over the new field's potential to transform and even destroy anthropology and other social and behavioral sciences. Twenty years later, little has changed. Anthropology and its sister disciplines are still intact and thriving, though they seldom make use of insights from evolutionary biology. Cultural anthropology in particular has recoiled from the biological threat by moving away from the sciences and toward the humanities. During that same time, a new generation of scholars in biological anthropology, psychology, and other fields has made great progress by using evolutionary theory to understand human behavior, applying it to everything from mating and parenting to the study of mental illness. The success of this research program is threatened, however, by its lack of a serious role for the concept of culture.That Complex Whole: Culture and the Evolution of Human Behavior is an effort to develop a scientific study of human behavior that is at once evolutionary and cultural. In a lively, readable style, it deals with such serious, scholarly issues as how to best define culture, the question of whether culture is present in other species, human universals and human diversity, the relationship between culture and behavior, and cultural and moral relativism. It covers existing models of the relationship between cultural and biological evolution, including the concept of the meme and the new science of memetics, as well as the author's own work on the role of culture in human communications that draws upon the study of animal signals.

About the Author

Lee Cronk teaches anthropology at Texas A&M University. He is coeditor of the forthcoming book, Adaptation and Human Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (August 13, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 180 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0813337054
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0813337050
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1510L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.41 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,752,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,369 in Anthropology (Books)
- #7,023 in General Anthropology
- #8,318 in Sociology (Books)

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Lee Cronk

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Lee Cronk is a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1989. His first book, That Complex Whole: Culture and the Evolution of Human Behavior, explored the possibility of developing an approach to the study of human behavior that incorporates both evolutionary theory and the concept of culture. Long-term fieldwork in Kenya led to his second book, From Mukogodo to Maasai: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya. It explores the past, present, and future of ethnic identity among the Mukogodo, a small group of Maasai-speaking pastoralists. Cronk's latest book, co-authored with political scientist Beth L. Leech, is titled Meeting at Grand Central: Understanding the Social and Evolutionary Roots of Cooperation, and was published by Princeton University Press. He has also co-edited two volumes. Adaptation and Human Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective, co-edited with William Irons and Napoleon Chagnon, is a collection of theoretical and empirical chapters by leading figures in the field of human behavioral ecology. Through the Looking Glass: Readings in Anthropology, co-edited with Vaughn M. Bryant, Jr., is designed for use in introductory anthropology classes. He has also published articles in American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology, Evolution and Human Behavior, Human Nature, Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, Ethnology, Human Ecology, PLOS One, and other journals. In addition, Cronk is currently co-director, with Athena Aktipis, of The Human Generosity Project (humangenerosity.org) and The Cooperation Science Network (cooperationscience.org).

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Fred Schreiber

Cultural anthropology needs evolution

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2001

This is an intelligent, well thought out defense of integrating evolutionary biology into cultural antropology. Without any apparent ideological ax to grind, Lee Cronk presents a balanced, witty, and ultimately compelling case for a careful combining of these two frequently competing disciplines. The book is short (only 130 pages) so its argumants are condensed into brief, clear paragraphs followed by a wonderful array of delightful examples. Here are few of the examples used by Cronk.
Mukogodo tribes people of Kenya, studied by Cronk and his wife, profess equal affection and value for their sons and daughters but give far better care to their daughters because they are worth cattle and sheep as brideswealth.
Male scorpionflies use dead insects as gift-food for female scorpionflies to gain mating but will use saliva on a leaf or physical force if no dead insect is available.
Cronk and his wife speak Swahili. So when a Nike commercial had a Samburu warrior statement translated as, "Just do it," they understood that he really said, "I don't want these. Give me big shoes." Cronk's correct translation got into the media and he spent a fun week of interviews. Nike gave Cronk a free pair of hiking boots for all the free publicity.
Tanka women of Hong Kong only nurse their infants with the right breast. In their old age, cancer is rare in the right breast but equal to high western rates in the left breast.
I hope I have tempted you to try this book. It has a very serious purpose and makes a strong case for one side of an academic argument that has gone on for 20 years. But it is very well written, accessible to the general reader, and has lots of wonderful stories to boot.

18 people found this helpful

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Peter Gray

culture meets evolution of human behavior

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2000

This short (130 page) book convincingly argues that culture must be taken into account when studying human behavior from an evolutionary perspective. Cronk supports his thesis with well-chosen examples, including references to the Mukogodo, former hunter-gatherers of Kenya with whom he conducts research. His views on the integration of the study of human behavior with the sciences generally, and the role of biology in underlying a universal ethics ("it is not clear that it is a sound basis on which to develop a system of ethics or that it truly offers us any way around the problem of cultural relativism"), should interest many. One issue I wish had been addressed more, however, is the difficulty of comparing human behavior with that of other species (chimpanzees, etc.) if culture is taken into consideration.

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That Complex Whole: Culture and the Evolution of Human Behavior 1st Edition

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That Complex Whole: Culture and the Evolution of Human Behavior 1st Edition

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

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About the author

Lee Cronk

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Top reviews from the United States

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