ABSTRACT
A resolution condemning sociobiology as racist, sexist and elitist was proposed—though defeated—at the 1976 American Anthropological Association meeting in Washington, D.C., and, at the 1977 Eastern Sociological Association meeting in New York, similar hostility was evident. The importance of studying a species in different settings across its naturally occurring range can hardly be exaggerated. Many animals inhabit a variety of environments and behavior may differ markedly from one setting to another. Identification has two aspects, i.e., individual and taxonomic. Individual identification is critical for observation if one is interested in social behavior. The methodological problems met in studying the behavior of any organism or any society of organisms are compounded by another layer of difficulties when Homo sapiens becomes the object of inquiry. The difficulties encountered in seeking to study individual and social behavior mount as we turn to organisms capable of wider and wider diversity of response to environmental challenges.
