• Preface -- Pp. xiii-xv
• Chapter 1 -- Evolutionary Theory: An Introduction-- Pp. 3-12
• Chapter 2 -- Problem and Method -- Pp. 13-32
• Chapter 3 -- The Biological Foundations of Human Societies -- Pp. 33-51
• Chapter 4 -- Determinants of the Characteristics of Individual Societies: The Independent Variables -- Pp. 33-80
• Chapter 5 -- Characteristics of Sets of Societies -- Pp. 81-109
• Chapter 6 -- Characteristics of the Global System of Societies -- Pp. 111-124

Topics for discussion:

1. What are the meaning and potential usefulness of Lenski's statement that "Technology is, in effect, a cultural extension and functional equivalent of that part of our genetic heritage on which human survival and physical well-being depend" (p. 64).
2. In relation to the model represented in Figure 3.3 p.42, what is the role of the common genetic heritage of humans in explaining the features of human societies?  How does one respond to the argument that since human nature is the same in all human societies, the biological heritage of the human species is useless in explaining differences among societies?  
3. Lenski uses the term "The Great Paradox" to refer to the pattern by which most societies in the course of human history have tended to remain the same, while the global world-system of societies has changed enormously, especially during the last 10,000 years.  How does the solution of this apparent paradox relate to the distinction between intra-societal and inter-societal selection, and patterns of societal extinction during socio-cultural evolution?
4. A related issue: how do mechanisms of intra- and inter-societal selections relate to mechanisms of biological evolution by natural selection?  In particular, what are the roles of human values and purposes, as contrasted with blind and purposeless selection, in both mechanisms of social selection?  How does the role it attributes to values affects the ideological position of ecological-evolutionary theory within the contemporary social sciences?  (pp. 116-117 are relevant to this issue).
5. A critical reviewer of an early edition of Lenski's Human Societies argued (I am paraphrasing because I don't have that review at hand) that "No Australian Aboriginal society of hunter-gatherers is going to evolve into a horticultural society!".  Is that a cogent criticism of ecological-evolutionary theory?  
6. Even though we did not read this passage for today, we can already discuss Lenski's statement on p. 145 Lenski writes: "Finally, for those who desire additional tests of ecological-evolutionary theory, I strongly recommend Jared Diamond's excellent volume, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.  Although Diamond does not label his analysis as ecological and evolutionary, and though there are some differences in his perspective, these differences are not major.  Thus, most of the chapters in Guns, GErms, and Steel provide valuable further tests of the principles on which ecological-evolutionary theory is based."  How similar are the approaches of Lenski, Diamond and (to be complete) Cavalli-Sforza to explaining the evolution of human societies; specifically, can one speak of a theoretical convergence concerning the roles of technology and inter-societal selection in socio-cultural evolution?  (Note: Cavalli-Sforza's, Diamond's, and Lenski's works seem largely independent; Lenski had already formulated the outline of his theory of socio-cultural evolution in 1966 and 1970, and neither C-S not Diamond seems aware of Lenski's earlier work.)

Documents:

• Figure 3.3 p. 42 -- Modified paradigm and model appropriate to human populations 
• Figure 4.2 p. 76 -- First-stage ecological-evolutionary model of teh dterminants of teh characteristics of individual societies
• Figure 5.1 p. 84 -- An ecological-evolutionary taxonomy of societies 
• Figure 6.2 p. 116 -- Model of the effects of technological advance on the process of intersocietal selection in the last 10,000 years 

Last modified 15 Nov 2005