Description
Book SynopsisOver the last decade, there has been increasing debate as to whether feminism and evolutionary psychology can co-exist. Such debates often conclude with a resounding no, often on the grounds that the former is a political movement while the latter is a field of scientific inquiry. In the midst of these debates, there has been growing dissatisfaction within the field of evolutionary psychology about the way the discipline (and others) have repeatedly shown women to be in passive roles when it comes to survival and reproduction. Evolutionary behavioral research has made significant strides in the past few decades, but continues to take for granted many theoretical assumption that are perhaps, in light of the most recent evidence, misguided. As a result, the research community has missed important areas of research, and in some cases, will likely come to inaccurate conclusions based on existing dogma, rather than rigorous, theoretically driven research. Bias in the field of evolutionary p
Trade ReviewWho should read Evolution's Empress? Unquestionably, anyone in the field of evolutionary psychology (or parellel specialties in anthropology and biology) would want to have the book. Indeed, I would go out on a limb and say that it would have to be included in the top tier of contemporary books in the field. Beyond these professionals, the book's readability makes its contents accessible to any person interested in the latest thoughts on the nature of human nature. It really is that good. * Lowell Brubaker, PsychCritiques *
Table of ContentsContributors ; Overdue Dialogues: Foreword to Evolution's Empress ; Sarah Blaffer Hrdy ; Introduction ; Introduction to Evolution's Empress ; Maryanne L. Fisher, Rosemarie Sokol Chang, and Justin R. Garcia ; Part One: Sex Roles, Competition and Cooperation ; 1. Women's Intrasexual Competition for Mates ; Maryanne L. Fisher ; 2. The Tangled Web She Weaves: The Evolution of Female-female Aggression and Status-seeking ; Laurette Liesen ; 3. Getting by with a Little Help From Friends: The Importance of Social Bonds for Female Primates ; Liza R. Moscovice ; 4. A Sex-Neutral Theoretical Framework for Making Strong-Inferences about the Origins of Sex Roles ; Patricia Adair Gowaty ; Part Two: Mothers and Parenting ; 5. Mothers, Traditions, and the Human Strategy to Leave Descendants ; Kathryn Coe and Craig T. Palmer ; 6. Maternal Effect and Offspring Development ; Nicole M. Cameron and Justin R. Garcia ; 7. The Evolution of Flexible Parenting ; Lesley Newson and Peter J. Richerson ; 8. Human Attachment Vocalizations and the Expanding Notion of Nurture ; Rosemarie Sokol Chang ; 9. Fathers vs. Sons: Why Jocasta Matters ; Laura Betzig ; Part Three: Health and Reproduction ; 10. Women's Health at the Crossroads of Evolution and Epidemiology ; Chris Reiber ; 11. Fertility: Life History and Ecological Aspects ; Bobbi S. Low ; 12. Reproductive Strategies in Female Post-generative Life ; Johannes Johow, Eckart Voland, and Kai Willfuhr ; 13. Now or Later: Peripartum Shifts in Female Sociosexuality ; Michelle Escasa-Dorne, Sharon M. Young, and Peter Gray ; Part Four: Mating and Communication ; 14. Sexual Conflict in White-faced Capuchins: It's Not Whether You Win or Lose ; Linda Fedigan and Katharine Jack ; 15. The Importance of Female Choice: Evolutionary Perspectives on Constraints, Expressions, and Variations in Female Mating Strategies ; David Frederick, Tania Reynolds, and Brooke Scelza ; 16. Swept off Their Feet? Females' Strategic Mating Behavior as a Means of Supplying the Broom ; Christopher J. Wilbur and Lorne Campbell ; 17. Sex and Gender Differences in Communication Strategies ; Elisabeth Oberzaucher ; Part Five: New Disciplinary Frontiers ; 18. A New View of Evolutionary Psychology Using Female Priorities and Motivations ; Tami Meredith and Maryanne Fisher ; 19. From Reproductive Resource to Autonomous Individuality: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre ; Nancy Easterlin ; 20. The Empress's Clothes ; Julie Seaman ; 21. Consuming Midlife Motherhood: Cooperative Breeding and the 'Disestablishment' of the Reproductive Clock in the Postindustrial Era ; Michele Pridmore-Brown ; 22. The Quick and the Dead: Gendered Agency in the History of Western Science and Evolutionary Theory ; Leslie L. Heywood
