Culture, Biology, and Anthropological Demography
Two distinctive approaches to the study of human demography exist within anthropology today--anthropological demography and human evolutionary ecology. Eric Roth reconciles these approaches through recognition of common research topics and the construction of a broad theoretical framework incorporating both cultural and biological motivation.
- Suitable for upper-level undergraduate and/or graduate classes in anthropology and demography
- Concise overview of both anthropological demography and human evolutionary ecology
- Case studies dealing with diverse topics of interest to both anthropologists and demographers, e.g. , contemporary Chinese family adoption, sexual behavior and HIV/AIDS, cross-cultural patterns of mating and parental investment
Reviews & endorsements
'… Roth's undertaking is to be applauded … Roth draws on an exceptionally wide collection of materials to support his arguments … His first-hand account of how he developed this research focus will be particularly useful for those researchers engaged in or considering such cross-disciplinary work.' Population Studies
Product details
August 2004Hardback
9780521809054
232 pages
236 × 156 × 17 mm
0.423kg
19 b/w illus. 26 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. Anthropological Demography and Human Ecological Behavioural Ecology:
- 1. Two solitudes
- 2. Why bother?
- 3. Anthropological demography: culture, not biology
- 4. Human evolutionary ecology: biology, not culture
- 5. Discussion: cultural and biological reductionism
- Part II. Reconciling Anthropological Demography and Human Evolutionary Ecology:
- 6. Common ground
- 7. Demographic strategies
- 8. Reproductive interests: social interactions, life effort and demographic strategies: a Rendille example
- 9. Sepaade as male mating effort
- 10. Rendille primogeniture as a parenting strategy
- 11. Summary: demographic strategies as links between culture and biology
- Part III. Mating Effort and Demographic Strategies:
- 12. Mating effort as demographic strategies
- 13. Cross-cultural mating strategies: polygyny and bridewealth, monogamy and dowry
- 14. Bridewealth and the matter of choice
- 15. Demographic and cultural change: values and morals
- 16. The end of the sepaade tradition: behavioral tracking and moral change
- Part IV. Demographic Strategies as Parenting Effort:
- 17. Parenting effort and the theory of allocation
- 18. The Trivers-Willard model and parenting strategies
- 19. Parity-specific parental strategies: the case of primogeniture
- 20. Local resource competition model
- 21. Infanticide and child abandonment: accentuating the negative
- 22. Adoption in modern China: stressing the positive
- 23. Summary: culture and biology in parental effort
- Part V. Future Research Directions:
- 24. The central place of sex in anthropology and evolution
- 25. Male sexuality, education and high risk behavior
- 26. Final ground: demographic transitions
- Part VI. References Cited.