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Farewell to Adaptationism: Unnatural Selection and the Politics of Biology
Author(s) -
Singer Merrill
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
medical anthropology quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.855
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1548-1387
pISSN - 0745-5194
DOI - 10.1525/maq.1996.10.4.02a00050
Subject(s) - ethology , adaptation (eye) , politics , context (archaeology) , selection (genetic algorithm) , biological anthropology , sociology , niche construction , environmental ethics , epistemology , ecology , biology , political science , anthropology , computer science , philosophy , paleontology , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , law
This article argues that human adaptation has lost its utility as a conceptual tool for either biological or medical anthropology, despite the recent efforts of practitioners in these subdisciplines to rescue it by considering the influences of power, history, and global social processes. It draws on cases from diverse fields, including evolutionary studies, ethology, genetics, and epidemiology, to suggest new ways of conceptualizing the relationship between humans and their physical and biotic environments; environments that they, and to a lesser degree other species, are not so much “adapting to” as transforming, while being transformed themselves in the process. Central to this reconceptualization is an understanding of human behavior and environmental relationships in political‐economic context.