Sign-In
Cart
The Social Genome: The New Science of Nature and Nurture
Hardcover
Public HealthGeneral SociologyGenetics
Publisher Price: $29.99
ISBN13: 9781324092636
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: Mar 18 2025
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.25
Height: 1.20 Width: 6.30 Depth: 9.10
Language: English
For more than 150 years, the question of nature versus nurture has been one of the most contentious issues in the human sciences. On the one side are blank-slaters, who believe we are mainly shaped by our environment. On the other side are hereditarians, who believe in the primacy of genes. From the start, the fight has been highly politicized and extremely bitter, given that it has implications for how we think about racial disparities, meritocracy, reproduction, and free will itself. In The Social Genome, pioneering scientist Dalton Conley demonstrates that this longstanding debate is fundamentally misguided. The true question is not nature versus nurture, but how nature and nurture interact to make each of us who we become.
The Social Genome is a sweeping account of the sociogenomics revolution, which has, in the last decade, upended many of our notions about human development. Sociogenomics brings together advances in molecular genetics and traditional social and behavioral science. The key tool is the polygenic index, which allows us to analyze DNA to measure a child's genetic potential. Today, we can estimate a child's adult height, how far they will go in school, and their weight as an adult--all from a cheek swab, finger prick, or vial of saliva. Conley and other researchers are using this new science to shed light on the ways in which genes shape our world, influencing how each person both creates and responds to the environment around them. Conley reveals a world where children's DNA influences the nurture they extract from their parents; the genes of our schoolmates affect our likelihood of smoking as much as our own DNA does; and spouses' genes influence each other's moods and behaviors. Looking forward, Conley envisions a future where dating, education, public health, and other institutions have been radically altered by the sociogenomic revolution.
As Conley argues, we should no longer think of nature versus nurture, but about how our genes seek the nurture they need to express themselves and how, in turn, our environments are made partly from the genes of other people. The Social Genome presents a nuanced, powerful perspective on individual potential and social dynamics and raises critical ethical questions about how we will navigate a future where we have access to far more genetic information than ever before.
Also from
Conley, Dalton
Also in
Genetics
The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles
Lipton, Bruce H.
Paperback
Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform Our Lives, Work, and World
Metzl, Jamie
Hardcover
The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA
Watson, James D.
Paperback
Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You and Your Waistline
Gundry, Steven R.
Paperback
A Child Is Born: The Fifth Edition of the Beloved Classic--Completely Revised and Updated
Nilsson, Lennart
Forsell, Linda
Paperback
One in a Billion: The Story of Nic Volker and the Dawn of Genomic Medicine
Johnson, Mark
Gallagher, Kathleen
Paperback
The Dressmaker's Mirror: Sudden Death, Genetics, and a Jewish Family's Secret
Liebman, Susan Weiss
Hardcover
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
Zimmer, Carl
Paperback
A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
Sternberg, Samuel H.
Doudna, Jennifer A.
Paperback
The Genomic Kitchen: Your Guide To Understanding And Using The Food-Gene Connection For A Lifetime Of Health
Archibald, Amanda
Paperback
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
Dawkins, Richard
Paperback
At the Water's Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore But Then Went Back to Sea
Zimmer, Carl
Paperback
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes
Rutherford, Adam
Paperback
The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code
Kean, Sam
Paperback
Beyond DNA: How epigenetics is transforming our understanding of evolution
Oldroyd, Benjamin
Paperback
Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend
Oakley, Barbara
Paperback
Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century
Roberts, Dorothy
Paperback
A Feeling for the Organism, 10th Aniversary Edition: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock
Keller, Evelyn Fox
Paperback
How to Argue with a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say about Human Difference
Rutherford, Adam
Paperback
Ancestral Genomics: African American Health in the Age of Precision Medicine
Hilliard, Constance B.
Hardcover
The Evolution of Imperfection: The Science of Why We Aren't and Can't Be Perfect
Hurst, Laurence D.
Hardcover
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
Reich, David
Paperback
Children of the Flames: Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz
Dekel, Sheila Cohn
Lagnado, Lucette Matalon
Paperback
Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
Weiner, Jonathan
Paperback
Research Like a Pro with DNA: A Genealogist's Guide to Finding and Confirming Ancestors with DNA Evidence
Dyer, Nicole E.
Wirthlin, Robin
Elder, Diana
Paperback
The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology
Webb, Amy
Hessel, Andrew
Paperback
The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Genetic Mystery, a Lethal Cancer, and the Improbable Invention of a Lifesaving Treatment
Wapner, Jessica
Paperback
The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution
Harpending, Henry
Cochran, Gregory
Paperback
Genes, Giants, Monsters, and Men: The Surviving Elites of the Cosmic War and Their Hidden Agenda
Farrell, Joseph P.
Paperback
Eugenics and Other Evils: An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State
Chesterton, G. K.
Paperback
Activating Our 12-Stranded DNA: Secrets of Dodecahedral DNA for Completing Our Human Evolution
Remennikova, Ruslana
Paperback
Living with Our Genes: The Groundbreaking Book About the Science of Personality, Behavior, and Genetic Destiny
Hamer, Dean H.
Copeland, Peter
Paperback
Evolving Tomorrow: Genetic Engineering and the Evolutionary Future of the Anthropocene
Cutter, Asher D.
Hardcover
Genetics of the Fowl: The Classic Guide to Poultry Breeding and Chicken Genetics
Hutt, Frederick B.
Paperback
Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture
Thompson, Robert Bruce
Thompson, Barbara Fritchman
Paperback
In Search of Giants: The Quest to Find the Genetic Giants of Northern Ireland
Snyder, Colleen
Holland, Brendan
Paperback
Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves
Regis, Edward
Church, George M.
Paperback
The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People
Barash, David P.
Lipton, Judith Eve
Paperback
Decoding Darkness: The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease
Parson, Ann B.
Tanzi, Rudolph
Paperback
Weighing the Future: Race, Science, and Pregnancy Trials in the Postgenomic Era Volume 9
Valdez, Natali
Paperback
Prehistoric Investigations: From Denisovans to Neanderthals; DNA to stable isotopes; hunter-gathers to farmers; stone knapping to metallurgy; cave
Seddon, Christopher P.
Paperback
The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them
Ashley, Euan Angus
Paperback
In Search of Giants: The Quest to Find the Genetic Giants of Northern Ireland
Snyder, Colleen
Holland, Brendan
Hardcover
Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist's Search for Modern Apemen
Sykes, Bryan
Paperback
Conservation and the Genomics of Populations
Allendorf, Fred W.
Funk, W. Chris
Aitken, Sally N.
Paperback
Genetics 101: From Chromosomes and the Double Helix to Cloning and DNA Tests, Everything You Need to Know about Genes
Skwarecki, Beth
Hardcover
The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World
Shreeve, James
Paperback
Mader, Biology, AP Edition, 2022, 14e, Student Edition
Mader, Sylvia S.
Windelspecht, Michael
Hardcover
The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics
Henig, Robin Marantz
Paperback
Linguistic and Genetic (Mtdna) Connections Between Native Peoples of Alaska and California: Ancient Mariners of the Middle Holocene
Turner, Nancy J.
Brown, Cecil H.
Lightfoot, Kent G.
Hardcover
The Expert Guide On The MTHFR Gene: Genetics & Health Implications
Mohammed, Saleem
Surendranath, Amrita
Rub, Abdur
Paperback
Blood Matters: From Brca1 to Designer Babies, How the World and I Found Ourselves in the Future of the Gene
Gessen, Masha
Paperback
Epigenetics: The Death of the Genetic Theory of Disease Transmission
Wallach D. V. M., Joel D.
Lan M. D., Ma
Schrauzer Ph. D., Gerhard N.
Paperback
Genetic Reconstruction of the Past: DNA Analysis in Forensics and Human Evolution
Erlich, Henry A.
Hardcover
At Our Wits' End: Why We're Becoming Less Intelligent and What It Means for the Future
Dutton, Edward
Woodley of Menie, Michael A.
Paperback
As the Future Catches You: How Genomics & Other Forces Are Changing Your Life, Work, Health & Wealth
Enriquez, Juan
Paperback
The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: The Story of Stalin's Persecution of One of the Gr
Pringle, Peter
Paperback
How to Argue with a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say about Human Difference
Rutherford, Adam
Hardcover
Life: The Leading Edge of Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Anthropology, and Environmental Science
Brockman, John
Paperback
Mader, Biology, 2019, 13e (AP Edition), Student Edition
Windelspecht, Michael
Mader, Sylvia S.
Hardcover
Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New Era in Science, and the Patients and Families Who Changed Medicine Forever
Trivedi, Bijal P.
Hardcover
Human Peoples: On the Genetic Traces of Human Evolution, Migration and Adaptation
Quintana-Murci, Lluís
Hardcover
Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are
Sullivan, Bill
Hardcover
The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us
Rutherford, Adam
Paperback
Extended Heredity: A New Understanding of Inheritance and Evolution
Bonduriansky, Russell
Day, Troy
Paperback
Deep Learning for the Life Sciences: Applying Deep Learning to Genomics, Microscopy, Drug Discovery, and More
Ramsundar, Bharath
Walters, Pat
Eastman, Peter
Paperback
Gene Machine: How Genetic Technologies Are Changing the Way We Have Kids--and the Kids We Have
Rochman, Bonnie
Paperback