Biology in Sociology: Three Ways of Linking

Abstract

The article presents a typology of linking biology and sociology. I argue that there are three possibilities as to what can be transferred from biology to sociology: theoretical structures, data, or both. The first type of linking, biologism without biology, consists in applying biological theoretical structures, via formal laws, to a different type of empirical or theoretical entities (biological organism — society as an organism; gene — meme; biological evolution — societal evolution). The second type, proper biologism, involves both biological theoretical structures and data (instinctivism, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology). It is usually associated with ontological reductionism and explanations meant to compete with those from cultural sociology. The third type, biology without biologism, consists in enriching existing sociological theories by indicating their biological correlates (neurosociology, genetics sociology). This approach allows us to treat biology as informative, but not competitive or reductive.