ABSTRACT
Sociologists and other social scientists can pursue balanced biosocial research and theory in a variety of ways that avoid both the extreme evolutionary perspective and extreme environmentalism. A key feature of sociobiology is its explanation of altruistic and cooperative behavior in terms of inclusive fitness. An altruistic animal may benefit in increased inclusive fitness if it expends effort or runs risks to help kin who share genes in common with the altruist, though the more distant the kinship, the less the effort or risk is cost effective. This genetic interpretation of altruism has led sociobiologists to think that they have the ultimate explanation of altruism in general; and they have begun “explaining” human altruism in purely genetic terms The rising interest of sociologists in biosocial research and theories should be directed toward a balanced biosocial synthesis of multiple-causal factors from both phylogeny and ontogeny.
