Sociobiology and Creationism: Two Ethnosociologies of American Culture

One of the most important motifs in mythology is the animal-human distinction. The relationship between humans and nonhuman animals is also a major concern of both human sociobiology and "scientific" creationism. In this paper, we suggest that sociobiology and creationism function as ethno...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American anthropologist 1982-09, Vol.84 (3), p.580-594
Main Authors: Gray, J. Patrick, Wolfe, Linda D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American culture
Creationism
Creative/Creation/Created
Cultural anthropology
Culture/Cultures/Cultural/ Culturally
Ethno
Evolution
Human nature
Humans
ideology
Love
Nature
Reason
Sociobiology
Sociology
United States/US
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Summary:One of the most important motifs in mythology is the animal-human distinction. The relationship between humans and nonhuman animals is also a major concern of both human sociobiology and "scientific" creationism. In this paper, we suggest that sociobiology and creationism function as ethnosociologies of American society and that neither can be completely understood until they are related to each other and to the key symbols of American culture. We argue that sociobiology and creationism are comments on the secular world view of American culture and exist as transformations of one another.
ISSN:0002-7294
1548-1433
DOI:10.1525/aa.1982.84.3.02a00040