ANTH 011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Evolutionary Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Human Behavioral Ecology
19 May 2020
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Natural selection occurs at level of individual; allele frequencies in population change because of this process. Lamarckism- traits acquired during lifetime are amassed to offspring. Also a general thinking that species were goal directed in their evolution. Herbert spencer- sociologist who coined the term survival of the fittest. Social darwinism- some societies are intrinsically and morally superior than others. Concluded that upper class british men where genetically superior. Eugenics- study of methods that can improve inherited qualities of a species. Negative eugenics- eliminating deleterious alleles through discouraging some individuals from reproducing. Positive eugenics- encouraging superior individuals to reproduce at greater frequencies. Mistaken belief that natural processes of selection will improve society has been used to justify forms of implicit and explicit discrimination on the basis that if i am better than you, i won and it"s just biology . Fitness is context specific for a niche- there is no ideal ladder of progression.
