Toward a Neo-Darwinian Sociology: Its Nomological Principles and Some Illustrative Applications

In a thought-provoking appraisal of the state of macrosociological theory, Gerhard Lenski argues that its shortcomings can be rectified, in part, by reference to nomological reasoning. Moreover, developments in behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, and population genetics offer interesting insights into analyses of social behavior across time and space and, in the process, reveal some useful hints about the manner in which sociocultural theorists might proceed in developing more elegant theoretical statements. With these considerations in mind, the argument elaborated in this essay suggests: (1) that contemporary sociocultural science has much to contribute to the development of a general theory of social behavior, (2) that theory refinement in the sociocultural sciences can be enhanced significantly by reference to general principles (specifically, an amended version of the “maximization principle”) developed in recent years in the evolutionary behavioral sciences; and (3) that reliance on such general analytical principles is enormously helpful in clarifying some seemingly troublesome theoretical problems in, for example, studies of social demography and human ecology and of social stratification and mobility.