#815 Rebecca Sear: Demography, Family Structures, National IQs, and the Evolutionary Social Sciences
Dr. Rebecca Sear is a demographer and anthropologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), teaching demography and researching human reproductive behavior from an evolutionary perspective. She is particularly interested in taking a comparative perspective to understanding human reproductive behavior, and exploring why such behavior varies between, as well as within, populations.
This is our second interview. You can watch the first one here: https://youtu.be/L7R-EKiYWNQ
In this episode, we start by talking about the study of human demography, and what we can learn from it. We discuss the myth of the nuclear family as the traditional family structure, child rearing in traditional societies, if children really need a parent from each sex at home, if father absence leads to poverty, and the negative effects of this myth on children and parents. We talk about how gendered division of labor develops in human societies. We discuss life history theory, and issues in how it has been applied to humans. We talk about the strengths of the evolutionary social sciences, and criticisms of the evolutionary social sciences, with a focus on evolutionary psychology. We discuss the ties between the study of human demography and the eugenics movement, and the recent academic resurgence of eugenics. Finally, we discuss issues with the national IQ datasets created by Richard Lynn, and ideas surrounding sex differences and representativeness in academia.
Time Links:
Intro
Studying human demography, and what we can learn from it
The myth of the nuclear family
Child rearing in traditional societies
Do children need a parent of each sex at home?
Does father absence lead to poverty?
Can the myth of the nuclear family have negative effects on children and parents?
How gendered division of labor develops in human societies
Life history theory, and how it has been applied to humans
The strengths of the evolutionary social sciences
Criticisms of the evolutionary social sciences
Human demography and the eugenics movements
The recent academic resurgence of eugenics
Issues with national IQ datasets
Sex differences and representativeness in academia
Follow Dr. Sear’s work!
Follow Dr. Sear’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/41bCFxK
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/429jHtf
Twitter handle: @RebeccaSear