Biological Sociology

Biological sociology, also called biosociology, is an approach that investigates how biological factors, including genetics, evolution, hormones, and neurological processes, interact with social structures and behavior. It has a contentious history in the discipline. Herbert Spencer's organic analogy and later social Darwinism, along with early racial theories, led many sociologists to distrust biological explanations, and Emile Durkheim's insistence on explaining social facts socially reinforced this separation. Interest revived with Edward O. Wilson's sociobiology in the 1970s, which provoked sharp criticism for biological reductionism. Pierre van den Berghe and Gerhard Lenski sought to integrate evolutionary ideas into sociological analysis, and Alice Rossi's 1984 presidential address urged sociologists to take biology seriously in the study of gender and parenting. Contemporary work includes sociogenomics, gene-environment interaction research, and studies of how social conditions affect physiology, as in Nancy Krieger's ecosocial theory and Arline Geronimus's weathering hypothesis. Jason Fletcher, Jason Boardman, and Michael Shanahan have explored how genetic and social factors combine in shaping outcomes. Critics warn against deterministic and politically harmful interpretations. Biological sociology remains important for debates about embodiment, health inequality, behavior, and the relationship between nature and society.