SOCI 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Epigenetics, Sociobiology, Biological Determinism

• School: UBC
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCI 102
• Professor: Catherine Corrigall- Brown

Document Summary

Socialization: our beliefs, values, attitudes, and even our emotions are sculpted throughout our lives by our contact with parents, siblings, peers, schools, religion, media and a wide variety of major societal institutions. Many arguments for human nature still: biological gender differences, biological racial differences. Support both prejudice ad active discrimination against others: sociobiologists argue that humans" social behaviour can and should be explained in terms of our evolutionary heritage and resultant biological makeup. Epigenetics: third factor that may function as a bridge between the environment ad genes or may operate on its own to shape who we are. Twin research reveals the complexities of nature vs nurture. As a result of diverse scientific advances, contemporary discussion of the nature vs nurture debate articulates a subtler vision of human behaviour: humans are both free willed ad driven by biology and culture.