The Genial Gene

by Roughgarden, Joan

• ISBN13: 9780520265936
• ISBN10: 0520265939
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-15
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Are selfishness and individuality--rather than kindness and cooperation--basic to biological nature? Does a "selfish gene" create universal sexual conflict? InThe Genial Gene,Joan Roughgarden forcefully rejects these and other ideas that have come to dominate the study of animal evolution. Building on her brilliant and innovative bookEvolution's Rainbow,in which she challenged accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation, Roughgarden upends the notion of the selfish gene and the theory of sexual selection and develops a compelling and controversial alternative theory called social selection. This scientifically rigorous, model-based challenge to an important tenet of neo-Darwinian theory emphasizes cooperation, elucidates the factors that contribute to evolutionary success in a gene pool or animal social system, and vigorously demonstrates that to identify Darwinism with selfishness and individuality misrepresents the facts of life as we now know them.

Author Biography

Joan Roughgarden is Professor of Biology at Stanford University. She is the author of Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People, Evolution and Christian Faith, and Primer of Ecological Theory.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Is Nature Selfish?	p. 1
Cooperation and Teamwork
Sexual Selection Defined	p. 17
The Case against Sexual Selection	p. 23
Social Selection Defined	p. 61
The Genetic System for Sex
The Gene: Recombination	p. 73
The Cell: Sperm and Egg	p. 89
The Body: Male, Female, and Hermaphrodite	p. 105
The Social System for Sex
The Behavioral Tier	p. 129
The Evolutionary Tier	p. 163
Family Harmony and Discord	p. 187
Sharing Offspring with Neighbors	p. 209
Conclusion: Social versus Sexual Selection	p. 235
Index	p. 249
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