Explain, with examples, what is meant by the genes debate

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Explain, with examples, what is meant by the genes debate.

Genes are units of hereditary information that tells the organism to produce a particular chemical, or to display a particular characteristic, e.g. blue eyes or brown hair. In this genes debate, genes are said to not only display these physical characteristics, but also determine our social behaviour (contrary from being a result of who we are from the way we are socialised).

In the past, biological determinism has been used to justify racism, sexism and class inequalities. However, recent claims of biological determinism seem to be more outstanding and more scientific. The most well-known version of genetic determinism is sociobiology, advocated by E. O. Wilson. The theory is: “social behaviour is determined biologically through our genes, which are in turn the products of million years of evolution.” Tiger, Fox and Wilson all argue that it is natural for males to be more aggressive and dominant than females. Although Wilson admits that men and women can choose to behave differently from those which he says are natural, but he says that if they do, they will cause society problems because they’re going against what they’re supposed to naturally do. Therefore, this implies that it’s useless to fight for women’s equality because men and women are born different and unequal.

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Subsequently, consider this: If white people are on average more intelligent than black people (because of supposedly genetically inherited intelligence differences), it’s impossible to achieve equality between ethnic groups. If crime were mainly the result of individuals with “crime genes”, it’s useless to try to reduce the level of crime through a programme of social changes. If all human beings were naturally selfish and competitive, it would be impossible to have a cooperative, equal or sharing society.

Generally, sociologists reject genetic determinism. However, some of its assumptions are accepted. For example, functionalists like Parsons agree that because of ...

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