Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved (The University Center for Human Values Series)

"It's the animal in us," we often hear when we've been bad. But why not when we're good? Primates and Philosophers tackles this question by exploring the biological foundations of one of humanity's most valued traits: morality.

In this provocative book, primatologist Frans de Waal argues that modern-day evolutionary biology takes far too dim a view of the natural world, emphasizing our "selfish" genes. Science has thus exacerbated our reciprocal habits of blaming nature when we act badly and labeling the good things we do as "humane." Seeking the origin of human morality not in evolution but in human culture, science insists that we are moral by choice, not by nature.

Citing remarkable evidence based on his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal attacks "Veneer Theory," which posits morality as a thin overlay on an otherwise nasty nature. He explains how we evolved from a long line of animals that care for the weak and build cooperation with reciprocal transactions. Drawing on both Darwin and recent scientific advances, de Waal demonstrates a strong continuity between human and animal behavior. In the process, he also probes issues such as anthropomorphism and human responsibilities toward animals.

Based on the Tanner Lectures de Waal delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 2004, Primates and Philosophers includes responses by the philosophers Peter Singer, Christine M. Korsgaard, and Philip Kitcher and the science writer Robert Wright. They press de Waal to clarify the differences between humans and other animals, yielding a lively debate that will fascinate all those who wonder about the origins and reach of human goodness.

Book Description:
We share about 98 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, our closest biological cousins. And never have the similarities between simians and humans been so amusingly and brilliantly captured as in Monkey Portratis. Jill Greenberg has spent 15 years photographing celebrities--from Clint Eastwood to Drew Barrymore--for leading publications, but has recently focused on actors of a different sort. She has been photographing monkeys and apes, many of whom have appeared on film or in television shows. Her intimate portraits of these animals convey a startling range of emotions and personalities, and evoke an almost eerie sense of recognition. Each of these 76 amazingly anthropomorphic photographs will remind you of someone you know. These monkeys in all their glory will cause you to laugh out loud and to wonder just how different we truly are.

Monkey Business

Dax

Pumpkin

Mala

Dax [Exclusive Outtake]

Dax [Exclusive Outtake]

Book Description

Book Description:We share about 98 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, our closest biological cousins. And never have the similarities between simians and humans been so amusingly and brilliantly captured as in Monkey Portratis. Jill Greenberg has spent 15 years photographing celebrities--from Clint Eastwood to Drew Barrymore--for leading publications, but has recently focused on actors of a different sort. She has been photographing monkeys and apes, many of whom have appeared on film or in television shows. Her intimate portraits of these animals convey a startling range of emotions and personalities, and evoke an almost eerie sense of recognition. Each of these 76 amazingly anthropomorphic photographs will remind you of someone you know. These monkeys in all their glory will cause you to laugh out loud and to wonder just how different we truly are.Monkey Business DaxPumpkin Mala Dax [Exclusive Outtake]Dax [Exclusive Outtake]

Customer Reviews:

Photoshopped?.......2007-10-12

From what I've seen (and I haven't seen the whole book), these portraits are really good. However, some of them look a bit "doctored". Anybody else have this thought?

Only connect........2007-08-31

The response elicited by these stunningly emotional portraits are like nothing I have experienced in years of looking at photographs of animals.
I agree with the reviewer who suggested you ignore the captions. These are prime examples of photographs that transend the 1000 words they may be worth. Priceless.

An array of photographs that are highly original.......2007-08-28

Standout photos of monkeys and great apes that are interesting, funny and in many cases, arresting. The photographer must have had outstanding rapport with her subjects to get such individualistic images.

AWESOME!!!.......2007-07-18

This is a fantastic book of monkey portraits! Every image is a beautiful view into the humanity of ...MONKEYS!!! I love it!

Pride!.......2007-06-18

Ms. Greenberg's extraordinary talent reminds me why I love monkeys and am proud to be related.

Peter Cavanaugh
wildwednesday.com

Combined MRI and Histology Atlas of the Rhesus Monkey Brain: In Stereotaxic Coordinates

Average customer rating:

Outstanding Work

Combined MRI and Histology Atlas of the Rhesus Monkey Brain: In Stereotaxic Coordinates
Kadharbatcha S. Saleem
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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ASIN: 0123725593

Book Description

This atlas maps the detailed architectonic subdivisions of the cortical and subcortical areas in the macaque monkey brain using high-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images and the corresponding histology sections in the same animal. This book presents the detailed mapping of the architectonic areas in the horizontal plane of sections with reference to the MRI that has not been reported previously in macaque monkeys. In the second part of the atlas, the coronal plane is presented using the same technique. A third part shows the quick identification of several important cortical and subcortical areas (around 30 areas) in horizontal, coronal and sagittal MR images. This atlas is unlike anything else available as it includes and compares each section to imaging data. This is a significant progress, as the vast majority of research in the field now routinely work with fMRI images.

· Provides the first combined MRI and Histology maps of the cortical and subcortical areas of any non-human primate species
· Shows the first detailed delineations of the cortical and subcortical areas in both horizontal and coronal planes in the same animal using five different staining methods
· Illustrates the entire dorsoventral extent of the left hemisphere in 47 horizontal MRI and photomicrographs matched with 47 detailed diagrams (Chapter 3)
· Presents the full rostrocaudal extent of the right hemisphere in 76 coronal MRI and photomicrographs, and 76 corresponding drawings (Chapter 4)
· Illustrates the selected cortical and subcortical areas in horizontal, coronal and sagittal MRI planes (Chapter 5)
· Provides the sterotaxic grid derived from the in-vivo MR image
· Likely to become a standard reference for anatomical, physiological, and functional imaging studies in primates (fMRI, PET and MEG)

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding Work.......2007-06-20

This superb and richly illustrated atlas of the Macaque brain is a neuroanatomist's dream. It combines brain slices stained with several different methods with corresponding structural MRI slices, stereotaxic coordinates and detailed drawings demarcating landmarks, cytoarchitectonic and functional regions. It should be considered the Gold Standard for anyone working with the Macaque brain.

-- Dr. Brad Miller, Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes

Average customer rating:

An exciting if not compelling Study
DISTURBING BUT USEFUL
Lots about Chimpazee Erections
Fascinating parallels to human behavior
Greatly informs evolutionary psychology

Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes
Frans de Waal
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801863368

Amazon.com

The great apes, like humans, can recognize themselves in mirrors. They communicate by sound and gesture, form bands along what can only be called political lines, and sometimes engage in what is very clearly organized warfare. (Less frequently, too, they practice cannibalism.) In Chimpanzee Politics Frans de Waal, a longtime student of simian behavior, analyzes the behavior of a captive tribe of chimpanzees, comparing its actions with those of ape societies in the wild. What he finds is often not pleasant: chimps seem capable of astonishing deviousness and savagery, which has obvious implications for the behavior their human cousins sometimes exhibit.

Book Description

The first edition of Frans de Waal's Chimpanzee Politics was acclaimed not only by primatologists for its scientific achievement but also by a much broader audience of politicians, business leaders, and social psychologists for its remarkable insights into very basic human needs and behaviors. In this revised edition -- featuring a new gallery of color photographs along with a new introduction and epilogue -- de Waal expands and updates his story of the Arnhem colony and its continuing political upheavals. We learn the fate of many memorable chimpanzees and meet the colony's current leaders and their allies. The new edition remains a detailed and thoroughly engrossing account -- of sexual rivalries and coalitions, of actions governed by intelligence rather than instinct -- and it reaffirms the complex bond between humans and their closest living relatives. As we watch the chimpanzees of Arnhem behave in ways we recognize from Machiavelli (and from the nightly news), de Waal reminds us again that the roots of politics are older than humanity.

Customer Reviews:

An exciting if not compelling Study.......2007-10-15

Frans De Waal, a Primatologist of some considerable note, in this exciting report on his most recent research, gives us an insider's view of the social "goings on" within a tribe of Chimps. His research model might be described as a Machiavellian-based political model, one he fashions loosely into a framework for understanding and interpreting the meanings implicit in chimp sexual and political behavior, behavior that De Waal observed in a zoo context and recorded for the better part of seven years.

The author discerns definite hierarchical patterns to Chimp behavior, along lines common across the animal kingdom -- especially as regards to how alpha males dominate and sustain their power at the top of their respective social hierarchies. De Waal shows that unlike larger primates, because of their smallness of size, ruling chimp culture requires (almost as a political imperative) that alpha males build coalitions from among the ranks of secondary males and females if they hope to sustain their dominance at the top of the hierarchy for any length of time.

The author vividly walks us thorough several power struggles in which alpha males are replaced. Each of these replacements or "coups" took place either because the dominant male became too greedy, too relaxed in his caolition-building or leadership, or because another male built sounder more enduring and robust coalitions and used them to move against the incumbent.

Making the necessary Freudian extrapolations, one is likely to see in the deeper outlines of these power struggles a remarkable resemblance to similar dramas witnessed everyday in the human political arena. For instance, it take little imagination to guess that Chimp political and sexual behavior is not only Machiavellian in its basic character, but perhaps also Darwinian in its form -- that is to say it is Darwinian in the Sociobiologist's sense of being instinctively driven well beneath cognition. However, it is probably sounder and safer to speculate that such behavior is being driven at the level of "proto-Chimp culture" and socialization rather than at the level of genes.

In any case, even though it is wise not to read too much into these similarities, I nevertheless believe that in the final analysis it is brain architecture that drives these similarities home. Man does not always want to account for, nor take full responsibility for, the behavioral remnants of his reptilian brain. As a result we live within a self-made delusional bubble made up of layers of self-righteous beliefs and denials, noble ideals and values, all couched in an ideology of self-preservation. This unconscious super-structure is piled atop our reptilian brain masquerading at the conscious level as a much more evolved and complex form of civilized animal than it really is.

I thus share the view of other reviewers that another way to see this is just as another layer super-imposed on top of the more honest chimp model. To the extent this interpretation is valid, it does raise interesting if not frighteningly close similarities about what normally goes disguised as ordinary human sexual and political behavior.

Drawing conclusions about human behavior based on an already human inspired model being applied to chimp political processes, runs dangerously close to introducing a closed theoretical system, in effect a theoretical tautology. It seems clear that the behavior described in this study -- even if viewed only across the rest of the ape family -- shows remarkable variations. To close this circle completely and begin drawing additional conclusions about human based on a single de Waal's study, would be unwarranted, theoretically questionable and slightly more than just a bit irresponsible.

Nevertheless, I put this work in the same class as Wright's "Moral Animal." There are certainly cross-cutting and reinforcing conclusions to be drawn as a result of this research. Five stars

DISTURBING BUT USEFUL.......2006-05-24

Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes was a very disturbing book to read. Perhaps this is because of the way Franz de Waal chose to end the book. The story about how Luit finished his reign as "alpha male" was extremely upsetting.

One of the key themes in the book is that so called political behavior is rooted at a level of development that is below cognitive and is as much instinctive as it is learned. Learning about the male chimpanzee's quest for dominance, it makes one wonder how much our behavior is motivated by inherent drives that are not only irrelevant in modern cultures, but are unknowable by those who experience the motivation.

This book has changed the way I look at and understand the word around me.

I strongly recommend this book, but it is not for the faint-hearted.

Lots about Chimpazee Erections.......2006-04-07

De Waal investigates chimpanzee behavior in a zoo, which is at odds with chimpanzee behavior in the wild. The main difference is that the female chimps live together instead of foraging alone, which leads them to participate more in politics than usual. The book is about coalitions, how they're formed, and between whom. The longest part details how leadership changed from chimp to chimp to chimp. There is quite a bit about chimpanzee sex, especially how male chimps thrusts their hips forward and bounce their penises up and down to attract women. There is a nude shot of a chimpanzee penis, but you have to be told what it is. There is a lesbian monkey, and an ape rape, and they go together. A big arrow would have been helpful. The very best part is the postscript which depicts something that is treated fully in another book (de Waal is a salesman as well as a biologist); one of the chimps is murdered when the other chimps bite off his balls. It has some good pictures, it's kind of fun, but I wouldn't buy it.

Fascinating parallels to human behavior.......2006-02-25

The parallels de Waal draws between human and chimp politics are interesting, ironic, and often amusing. They seem so valid--if one can look objectively and without prejudice--that I found myself both fascinated and amused throughout the whole book at the similarities between both chimp and human customs and politics. The difference between us and the chimps is that a thin surface veneer of ideology and beliefs hides the true nature of politics for us, and the sex and the money which are really at the root of it.

There lies the real difference between us and chimps. Beneath the slightly polished surface veneer, and a very thin veneer it is--are the same motivations that drive the chimps. Humans like to pretend to high ideals and noble beliefs and values, but the sad fact is that all too often, despite our more evolved brains, we live down to our lower natures rather than up to our higher consciousness (assuming that even exists, which I'm not convinced it does) and values.

There is a reason for that, which is that our brains still contain those more primitive structures and areas of the brain, such as the limbic system, which still control and drive and motivate and control our behavior on a day to day level, and so we retain that core of "chimp" or paleomammalian behavior despite our supposedly more evolved cerebral cortices.

I've had the opportunity to observe mating rituals by a troop of mandrills (which are related to baboons) and also rhesus macaques, and I noticed many resemblances to de Waal's chimps, except that the mandrills and macaques probably aren't as intelligent or quite as varied in their behavior. But the basic elements of power and sex, which de Waal discusses in regard to the chimps, were still there. One difference was I noticed that many times a female would present to a male mandrill or macaque, and the male would refuse, although the female was obviously receptive. Such refusals seem less common among chimps.

As you may know, chimps are more promiscuous than humans, humans being somewhat more monogamous--but probably not as monogamous as we're all brought up to believe. So perhaps male mandrills and macaques are more choosy than chimps, which is something one associates more with female sexual behavior. Since all mandrill and macaque females pretty much look alike (well, at least to us :-)), I presume this had something to do with the female's place in the social hierarchy.

But getting back to de Waal's book, his research dovetails very well with the neurobiology (which was my field) and there is no better or more interesting writer on the subject. Overall this is a fascinating and well written book on the subject.

Greatly informs evolutionary psychology.......2005-01-22

Chimpanzee Politics tells the story of a colony of chimps in captivity. Frans De Waal observed them for years and soon saw that each chimp had a personality and that there was a definite pattern to their behavior. He shows that they have innate desires and goals and that they act politically to attain them. The astounding thing is that the chimps were seemingly very human in their actions.

This book is very accessible and engaging. From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, De Waal shows an unquestionable chimp nature at work. It is then not much of a leap to suggest that there is a human nature and that, like the chimps, we act predictably and politically in pursuit of our goals.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in human behavior or evolutionary psychology. It is a great piece of popular science writing that is nevertheless very serious.

The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates

Average customer rating:

Great In the Field or in the Armchair
It's what my native guide used in Botswana
For the very keen wildlife watcher
For the very keen wildlife watcher
Cant Beat Estes Book

The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates
Richard Despard Estes
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520080858

Book Description

The Behavior Guide to African Mammals is as different from a conventional field guide as motion pictures are from a snapshot. Whether we are able to look at them face to face, on television, or in the hundreds of illustrations provided here by Daniel Otte, this guide allows us to understand what animals do and what their behavior means.
Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork and on the research of many other scientists, Richard Estes describes and explains the behavior of four major groups of mammals. Estes's remarkably informative guide is as up-to-date for the zoologist as it is accessible for the interested onlooker.

Customer Reviews:

Great In the Field or in the Armchair.......2007-01-12

If you enjoy learning specific information about mammals, this book is for you. It is a bit technical which makes it more interesting. I used this book when on Safari and it added tremendously to my enjoyment.

It's what my native guide used in Botswana.......2007-01-03

I just returned from a three-week trip to Botswana and plan to write a book that takes place there. I ordered this book because (a) I saw how good it was while I was there, and (b) mainly because it's what my native guide used in Botswana. I can't imagine a much better endorsement than that.

For the very keen wildlife watcher.......2002-05-17

I suspect the book is a little over my head, but it's very thorough & well-reasearched. For a layman like myself, I think I'd like photos - or colour pictures of the animals too - but as the author says, the book goes beyond the normal "field guides" which aim to help with animal identification.

If you want to know things like how the lives of a dikdik & a duiker differ (but you could tell them apart), this is the book for you!

For the very keen wildlife watcher.......2002-05-17

If you want to know things like how the lives of a dikdik & a duiker differ (but you could tell them apart), this is the book for you!

Cant Beat Estes Book.......2001-05-18

While on a college course in northern Tanzania, I had the great honour of having Dr. Estes as my professor. The book speaks of over 2 decades of knowledge, it is a must have for the travler or researcher. Not only good as a field type guide but wonderfuly done and useful for all topics on african wildlife. I urge all intrested go buy Estes' books.

Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog

Average customer rating:

A very indepth technical book on dog develpment .

Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog
John Paul Scott , and John L. Fuller
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226743381

Book Description

The classic study of dog behavior gathered into one volume. Based on twenty years of research at the Jackson Laboratory, this is the single most important and comprehensive reference work on the behavior of dogs ever complied.

"Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog is one of the most important texts on canine behavior published to date. Anyone interested in breeding, training, or canine behavior must own this book."—Wayne Hunthausen, D.V.M., Director of Animal Behavior Consultations

"This pioneering research on dog behavioral genetics is a timeless classic for all serious students of ethology and canine behavior."—Dr. Michael Fox, Senior Advisor to the President, The Humane Society of the United States

"A major authoritative work. . . . Immensely rewarding reading for anyone concerned with dog-breeding."—Times Literary Supplement

"The last comprehensive study [of dog behavior] was concluded more than thirty years ago, when John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller published their seminal work Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog."—Mark Derr, The Atlantic Monthly

"Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog is essential reading for anyone involved in the breeding of dogs. No breeder can afford to ignore the principles of proper socialization first discovered and articulated in this landmark study."-The Monks of New Skete, authors of How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend and the video series Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete.

Customer Reviews:

A very indepth technical book on dog develpment ........1998-12-01

This is a very in-depth and technical book on the early social development of dogs and the effects of socialization and training. It is a very good book for anyone who is serious about breeding dogs.

The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal

Average customer rating:

Classic commentary of evolutional proportions
A Mandatory Cultural Priority for Human Beings
Degrees of separation.
Very Good
Naked As In Stripped Of Our Illusions Of Self

The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal
Desmond Morris
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0385334303
Release Date: 1999-04-13

Customer Reviews:

Classic commentary of evolutional proportions.......2007-06-18

The concept of looking at ourselves as an animal in the zoo is a fascinating one. While Desmond Morris takes a look at humans through a zoologist's goggles, coming to terms with this idea is half the fun while reading this book. The title and introduction of the book help create the detachment so the reader can play along. This 1960's classic reads more like a commentary of an intellectual with a fertile mind than the thesis of a scientist who has dedicated his life to studying the human species. Read it with that expectation and you will not go dissatisfied. However, if you are expecting another The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, The Naked Ape will not cut it.

The book characterizes the naked ape's tedency to procreate, raise children, explore, fight, feed, live and communicate in evolutionary terms. My favorite part is where the act of sexual intercourse is put under the microscope and studied from a zoological perspective. It is like taking notes while watching a porn movie.

As with any stimulating commentary, it has opinions that may force your mind to demand substantiation. For example, throughout the book Morris' is morbidly fixated upon the problem of population explosion and that it would become the single-most important cause of destruction of our species as well as the planet. It plays such an important role in his mind, that his last words in the book are a warning sign against this phenomenon. His fear and his suggested solutions are radical. In general, he calls for sophistication of "birth control" at least to the same extent as "death control".

At the time of writing the book, the population was 3 billion growing at the rate of 150,000 per day (1.82%). If this growth continues, which Morris resigns is "highly unlikely", the book projects 400 billion naked apes in 260 years. Let's review this projection at the time of reviewing this book 40 years later. We are 6.6 billion growing at the rate of 211,000 per day (1.17%). At this rate, in another 220 years, we would be 80 billion which too, may I add, is "highly unlikely" and highly undesirable.

A commentary of evoluational proportions spans millions of years, and the selection of information to be presented is a task of astronomical proportions. Being mindful of the complexity of this problem, Desmond Morris seems to have done a fine job of selection and generally speaking, the theories are very agreeable. This is certainly one for the shelves.

A Mandatory Cultural Priority for Human Beings.......2007-05-05

Rather than denigrate religion, it helps to define mankind's potential given his human condition, and should be mandatory in high school and college classrooms to form the basis for the human condition in his collective world.

Profound as the title might seem, the philosophy is sound in that once all structures are removed from earth, what is left is essentially man, woman, and child to construct the best possible world for survival - what could be simpler to understand the nature of society that is as surely rooted in biology, as in philosophy and organization? Without a basic understanding of biology, human society cannot survive or make progress.

Well worth the read.

Degrees of separation........2006-02-26

Desmond Morris has created an extremely provocative and challenging book that forces one to question "humanity's" everyday and all-time reactions and motivations. It challenges one to analyse and understand whether we are as intelligent as we think. This book is as valid today as it was when it was written 40 years ago. Our arrogance in seeing ourselves as being intelligent beings is exposed or at least called into question. The Naked Ape, used well, forces one to continually re-assess and measure society's and one's own behaviour.

Very Good.......2006-01-25

Based on the cover illustration and the subtitle, you'd think that The Naked Ape is another book about human evolution. This is far from the truth. The Naked Ape is about man's current condition. It views people as just another animal.

Desmond Morris is trying to strip us of our superiority complex. His first tactic is to give us a new name: Naked Apes.

In a book that lacks loads of hard facts, it's easy to stray off and stretch the little data available. For example, Morris says that humans will inevitably be surpassed by another species. But he also gives evidence that goes against that. He claims that humans kill anything that competes with them. Morris stretches data very far when he talks about how the neighborhoods where houses are the same, are inhuman. He says that because we are territorial animals, we need to feel our territory is unique. He says that this leads to people in these neighborhoods doing things liking adding a room or planting a colorful flower in their front yard, to make up for the lack of uniqueness. The only thing is that if you ask someone who is adding a room to their house, they're going to say it's because they need space. We may be territorial but turning that into why we add things to our houses is quite a stretch.

To be fair, most of Morris's arguments are legitimate. In the first chapter when he talks about human origin, the theorems presented are legitimate. This is due to the fact that none of the theorems presents are Morris's. He is just reprinting other people's theories. (And crediting them) The theorem about aquatic apes makes a lot of sense.

This book is humbling. People seem to feel superior to everything, but Morris shows that humans answer to the basic laws of animal behavior. Even though city life is against our nature, we find a way to make it human. Being around hundreds of thousands of people is unusual, we still manage to talk to and be around the same twenty people.

I feel people should read this book because it shows not just how we're similar to chimps and gorillas, but each other. Though we may make different decisions, deep down we're genetically all the same.

Naked As In Stripped Of Our Illusions Of Self.......2005-09-09

If human beings ever make contact with an intelligent species from beyond planet earth, then the observations those "people" might make about us would probably read quite a bit like the ones evolutionary zoologist Morris makes in this humorous but deadly serious study of the human animal. The very things we have come to see as mundane about ourselves are the very traits Morrison zeroes in on here. Very little escapes this careful study, although in some cases humanity might collectively wish it had. In this book the human species is anatomically, psychologically, sociologically and biologically cataloged and classified. We read a dispassionate critique of our mating habits, the ways in which we raise our young, our preferences for foods, for where we live, for how we interact with one another, and what bodily features are universally desired over others. In the end I was left both amazed and embarrassed to be among the membership in this great and crazed life form.

Sex and Gender Hierarchies (Publications of the Society for Psychological Anthropology)

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Sex and Gender Hierarchies (Publications of the Society for Psychological Anthropology)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521423686

Book Description

A generation of feminist research has explored the extent to which the roles--and expectations--of women and men vary across cultures. In this volume, leading anthropologists reflect on the evidence and theories, broadening the conventional field of comparison to include female/male relationships among nonhuman primates and introducing fresh case studies that range from lemurs to hominids, from Japanese peasants to male strippers in Florida, from skeletal remains of a Korean queen to mother/child conversations in Samoa. They document the rich and often surprising diversity in sex and gender hierarchies among both human and nonhuman primates.

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