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On Genetic Interests: Family, Ethnicity and Humanity in an Age of Mass Migration 1st Edition
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From an evolutionary perspective, individuals have a vi- tal interest in the reproduction of their genes. Yet this interest is overlooked by social and political theory at a time when we need to steer an adaptive course through the unnatural modern world of uneven population growth and decline, global mobility, and loss of family and communal ties. In modern Darwinian theory, bearing children is only one way to reproduce. Since we share genes with our families, ethnic groups, and the species as a whole, ethnocentrism and humanism can be adaptive. They can also be hazardous when taken to extremes. On Genetic Interests canvasses strategies and ethics for conserving our genetic interests in an environmentally sustainable manner sensitive to the interests of others.
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ISBN-101412805961
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ISBN-13978-1412805964
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Edition1st
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Publication dateNovember 30, 2006
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LanguageEnglish
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Dimensions6.14 x 0.88 x 9.21 inches
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Print length388 pages
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Editorial Reviews
Review
-[This] is a fresh and deep contribution to the sociobiology of humans, combining genetics with social science in original ways.---Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
-The book greatly expands Hamiltonian AEkin selection by making ethnies in control of territory the central arena of AEselfish genery in a modern world of mass migration.---Pierre van den Berghe, University of Washington, Seattle
-Salter argues that all humans have a vital interest in genetic continuity that is threatened by mass migration. Salter advocates non-aggressive AEuniversal nationalism as part of a balanced AEfitness portfolio that includes investments in three levels of genetic interests--family, ethny, and the species as a whole. The synthesis is persuasive; the policy formulations provocative.---IrenOus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Max Planck Society
-Five stars for Salter--he has provided us with a deep and compelling explanation of what most people know and what guides much of their behavior, but fear to acknowledge publicly.---Michael T. McGuire, UCLA
-We are indeed all part of each other, as John Donne insisted even before the help of evolutionary genetics. But we are more part of some than others, and the nature of these boundaries of ethnic kinship has been ignored, avoided or denied. After Salters virtuoso synthesis we can no longer duck these issues which become more important daily.---Robin Fox, Rutgers University
"[This] is a fresh and deep contribution to the sociobiology of humans, combining genetics with social science in original ways."--Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
"The book greatly expands Hamiltonian AEkin selection by making ethnies in control of territory the central arena of AEselfish genery in a modern world of mass migration."--Pierre van den Berghe, University of Washington, Seattle
"Salter argues that all humans have a vital interest in genetic continuity that is threatened by mass migration. Salter advocates non-aggressive AEuniversal nationalism as part of a balanced AEfitness portfolio that includes investments in three levels of genetic interests--family, ethny, and the species as a whole. The synthesis is persuasive; the policy formulations provocative."--IrenOus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Max Planck Society
"Five stars for Salter--he has provided us with a deep and compelling explanation of what most people know and what guides much of their behavior, but fear to acknowledge publicly."--Michael T. McGuire, UCLA
"We are indeed all part of each other, as John Donne insisted even before the help of evolutionary genetics. But we are more part of some than others, and the nature of these boundaries of ethnic kinship has been ignored, avoided or denied. After Salters virtuoso synthesis we can no longer duck these issues which become more important daily."--Robin Fox, Rutgers University
"[This] is a fresh and deep contribution to the sociobiology of humans, combining genetics with social science in original ways."--Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
"The book greatly expands Hamiltonian AEkin selection by making ethnies in control of territory the central arena of AEselfish genery in a modern world of mass migration."--Pierre van den Berghe, University of Washington, Seattle
"Salter argues that all humans have a vital interest in genetic continuity that is threatened by mass migration. Salter advocates non-aggressive AEuniversal nationalism as part of a balanced AEfitness portfolio that includes investments in three levels of genetic interests--family, ethny, and the species as a whole. The synthesis is persuasive; the policy formulations provocative."--IrenOus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Max Planck Society
"Five stars for Salter--he has provided us with a deep and compelling explanation of what most people know and what guides much of their behavior, but fear to acknowledge publicly."--Michael T. McGuire, UCLA
"We are indeed all part of each other, as John Donne insisted even before the help of evolutionary genetics. But we are more part of some than others, and the nature of these boundaries of ethnic kinship has been ignored, avoided or denied. After Salters virtuoso synthesis we can no longer duck these issues which become more important daily."--Robin Fox, Rutgers University
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Routledge; 1st edition (November 30, 2006)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 388 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1412805961
- ISBN-13 : 978-1412805964
- Item Weight : 2.82 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.14 x 0.88 x 9.21 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,128,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,564 in Biology of Mammals
- #3,275 in General Anthropology
- #3,990 in Ecology (Books)
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While there is some math in the book, it can be understood by the average person who thinks carefully about the definitions of the terms. The reader should consult the glossary in the back of the book and be sure he understands the difference between "individual fitness," "absolute fitness," "relative fitness," and "inclusive fitness." Chapter 2 is the most important and difficult chapter and should be read several times.
Salter draws out the implications, however politically incorrect, for immigration policies, citizenship law, affirmative action, multiculturalism, and other ways of allocating resources within and between states. There are constraints on how much diversity can be appreciated.
On Genetic Interests extends evolutionary theorizing, including my own Genetic Similarity Theory, to the new ground of interpersonal and ethnic relations such as within-group cohesion and between-group conflict. It discusses studies on likeness in social partners such as spouses and best friends. Most importantly, it applies genetic calculations and finds that the average coefficient of kinship within most ethnic groups is about as high as between half-siblings, aunt and nephew, or grandparent and grandchild. Thus, ethnic nepotism is no mere poor relation of family nepotism-it is virtually a proxy for it. Because we have many more co-ethnics than relatives, the aggregate mass of genes shared with the former dwarfs that shared with the latter.
Frank Salter, a political scientists and ethologist at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, argues persuasively in this book that shared genes are the glue of sociality.On Genetic Interests goes so far as to refer to the mind as having an "innate descent-group module" (p. 102). It uses this concept to explain the universality of ethnic nepotism. This is heartening because many social scientists and sociobiologists alike have been reluctant to even consider applying gene-based similarity to ethnic and national preferences. Following World War II, few political scientists and historians have considered inter-group conflict from a Darwinian viewpoint. Partly in an effort to insure that they are perceived as in no way condoning racism, many evolutionists have minimized the theoretical possibility of a biological underpinning to ethnic, national, and racial favoritism. As the late, great, evolutionary biologist William Hamilton himself remarked in 1987, while noting why kin discrimination even among animals is not more readily expected, "in civilized cultures, nepotism has become an embarrassment."
Social scientists and historians have been quick to condemn the extent to which political leaders or would-be leaders have been able to manipulate ethnic identity. But the questions they never ask, let alone attempt to answer is, "Why is it always so easy?" and "Why can a relatively uneducated political outsider set off a race riot simply by uttering a few well delivered ethnic epithets?" On Genetic Interests provides an illuminating answer.