Survival concepts and applications

Survival Theory

Richard Dawkins' the Selfish Gene and Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools

Sociobiology uses the Darwinian theory of evolution to understand human social behavior. To do so, sociobiologists make several key assumptions. First, sociobiologists assume that "traits less adapted to particular conditions of life will not persist in a population, because organisms with those traits will tend to have lower rates of survival and reproduction." (Holcomb & Byron, 2005). However, sociobiologists have expanded upon traditional evolutionary theory, by assuming that "humans, like other organisms, have behavioral control systems with particular functions whose evolutionary history can be individually traced." (Holcomb & Byron, 2005). As a result, people pass on genes, but they also pass on gene-related behaviors, and the transmission of that behavior is based upon the cultural status and relative success of certain groups.

Some sociobiologists have gone so far as to suggest the existence of a "selfish gene." In his groundbreaking book, the Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins takes the complex science of genetics and uses it to explain sociological phenomenon. Moreover, he does so in a manner described by various critics as brilliant, excellent, and easy-to-understand. (Catalano, 1996).

However, what he does not do is advocate the idea that evolution is equatable with morality. On the contrary, Dawkins divorces evolution for morality to present his theory of how evolution shapes sociology, describing activities as selfish because they further a particular gene's likelihood of survival, not because they harm others in society or even help the person with that gene. Instead, Dawkins urges an awareness of mankind's innate selfishness, so that people can be less selfish. He pleads, "Let us understand what our selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to do." (Dawkins, 1989).

Dawkins explains that, in order for genese to survive, they have to be successful in competition. Furthermore, he points out that the most competition is from same-sex members of the same species, because, not only are same-sex same-species animals competing for food and other natural resources, but also for potential mates. (Dawkins, 1989). However, the killing of rivals is rare, even in the animal kingdom. Instead, "animals fight with gloved fists and blunted foils. Threat and bluff take the place of deadly earnest. Gestures of surrender are recognized by victors, who then refrain from dealing the killing blow or bite that our naive theory might predict." (Dawkins, 1989). This could be considered altuism and seems to conflict with the concept of genes as selfish; how, then, does a sociobiologist explain this apparent conflict between genetics and sociology? However, what such unrefrained killing does not take into account in the cost-benefit analysis of such killings; not only would that pose a physical danger to the victorious animal, but the death of the rival might actually be more advantageous to other rivals than to the victor. (Dawkins, 1989). Therefore, acts that are viewed, sociologically, as altruistic, are actually based in self-preservation.

Dawkins then goes on to expand upon his idea that genetics and sociology are intertwined. Dawkins posits that memes, or ideas, are the intellectual equivalent of replicating genes. Of course, Dawkins was not the first to posit "the idea that it might be possible to analyze the process of cultural evolution in terms of systems of meaningful units conveyed by symbols;" that person was "the nineteenth century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer who first pointed out that ideas are necessarily symbolic 'representation' of experienced reality -- not 'essential' aspects of the reality itself." (Hutcheon, 2004). Several philosophers after Schopenhauer posited similar theories. However, Dawkins' terminology (memes) and conception of these symobolic units is the most modern representation and fits the best with the current understanding of evolution. Evolutionarily speaking, memes replicate ideas "by being imitated in different minds." (Sullivan, 2006). As long as a new intellectual instance occurs, then one can say that a meme has spread.

However, the similiarities between genetic evolution and idea evolution and spreading may be mostly superficial:

DNA reproduction is a rather complex process: genes create bodies which eventually create new bodies, with new genes inside them. In the process those bodies may do many things: fly, hunt and eat the bodies manifested by different genes, court members of the opposite sex, or think. and, given cellular machinery designed to reproduce DNA, viruses have arisen which slip in and parasitize the system for their own propagation. Whereas it seems to me that the memetic level, while messy, is not nearly as complex. Memes are reproduced through straightforward communication and imitation, a process analogous to both RNA replication in the primeval soup and to genetic viruses - the memes exploit complex machinery designed to run things like themselves. (Sullivan, 2006).

While the spread of memes is not particularly complex, that does not mean that such spread is unopposed. On the contrary, "as a major neo-Darwinian realization was that other genes in a species themselves are part of the environment for determining the success of any gene, so other ideas in a mind or a culture will often play a key part in determining the success of a meme. And mental defense systems can be seen as analogous to biological immune systems, and these defenses may themselves be determined by transmissable memes." (Sullivan, 2006). Therefore, when a society already has well-established ideas and norms, new ideas may not be transmitted easily. This scenario may be most notable in the instances where a society has an established religious order.

In fact, some people, like Naomi Sherer, have taken Dawkins' work as a challenge to the religious-base for much of modern philosophy and society. Sherer wants "to bring Dawkins' views to a wider readership," because, "Dawkins' explanations ought to point thinking folks toward reality -- that no supernatural man or ghost is going to dissolve our difficulties in this life or sluff off grievances by promising a sweeter life after death." (Sherer, 1997). Instead of taking a religious approach to giving and altruism, which has not proven entirely effective, Sherer urges people to use Dawkins' work as a stepping stone to learning true altruism.

Other people are not so supportive of Dawkins' work. Mary Midgley worries that the Selfish Gene does not avoid the excesses of psychological egoism and is "far too one-sided a book to be picked out and used in isolation for the re-education of moral philosophy in the biological facts of life." (Midgley, 1983). Midgley's view is that humans play a really small and transient role in the cosmos, and that an understanding of scientific evolution is important. (Midgley, 1983). However, she worries about the impact that Social Darwinism has had on society's willingness to accept the idea of evolution in the human context, and points out that sociobiological thinking reinforces that impact. (Midgley, 1983). The central doctrine of Social Darwinism "is that conflict is universal and is in fact the only kind of interaction which is possible for us." (Midgley, 1983). Midgley disagrees with that premise. Furthermore, Midgley disagrees with Dawkins' use of morally-weighted words, such as the term "selfish" to describe behavior that is not psychologically-motivated. In short, Midgley appears to have a problem with anyone equating the concept of evolution with the idea that those with more resources are somehow entitled to that largesse.

One reading Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities instantly becomes aware that Midgley's concerns about the moral and political implications of Social Darwinism are well-founded. While American's worry about third-world countries, the reality is that many places in the United States exhibit conditions that rival those in the third world. The inhabitants of these locales are generally non-white, and they control a negligible fraction of the vast wealth and resources that exist in the United States. Instead, people live in neighborhoods with no fire protection, no working sewer systems, and in danger of floods and chemical spills. (Kozol, 1992). Many of these people are black, and live in a system of de facto segregation, long after it was outlawed.

However, Dawkins' theories actually help explain, though they do not justify, the educational and resource disparity that plagues the United States. In fact, the deplorable conditions faced by nonwhite students in much of the United States can trace it roots to the meme of racial inequality. It is impossible to determine when mankind first became conscious of race, or even when different races develop. However, written history is replete with stories of one group punishing another "different" group for their difference. These stories share a common them; the "different" group is inferior, in appearance, in intelligence, and usually in honesty. In more recent times, this meme has become attached to people with brown skin. As colonialism spread, so did the belief that the browner one's skin, the less capable the person. The system of slavery depended upon a belief in the inherent inferiority of African-Americans; these ideas passed down among generations and became embedded in the belief systems of many people, white and non-white. As this meme passed down through generations, it became more pervasive and it also became more complete. When slavery in the New World began, both blacks and whites were enslaved, black slaves could gain freedom, and slavery was not a condition of birth. However, as that changed, the memes surrounding African-Americans also changed. Not only were blacks seen as not equal to whites, but they were seen as incapable of becoming equal to whites. Therefore, when Jim Crow segregation was first challenged under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court determined that separate facilities were not inherently unequal, despite overwhelming evidence that the facilities provided for African-Americans were factually inferior to those provided for whites. While this meme has been challenged by newer ideas and has, generally, not stood up to scientific, moral, and religious challenges, vestiges of it remain in almost every American person. As a result, many Americans, of all races, simply do not challenge the assumption that at least some African-Americans are inherently inferior to other people, and thus do not deserve to experience the same living conditions and other opportunities as other Americans.

The interesting thing is that the students experiencing the disparity are aware of it, and aware of the impact that race and the memes surrounding race have on equality and inequality in America. When Kozol asked students in East St. Louis, whether, all other things being equal, they would be content to stay in a segregated school, all of them answered that they would not. (Kozol, 1992). In fact, even though these students had little knowledge of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, they could certainly appreciate the irony of the fact that a local high school named for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had sewage running through its hallways and an almost totally black student population. (Kozol, 1992).

It is the adults who do not seem to grasp the terrible irony of the situation, or to understand that, even if the deplorable conditions in cities like East St. Louis could be attributed to malfeasance and incompetence by the city's public officials, students would still be suffering:

Critics in the press routinely note that education spending in the district is a trifle more than in surrounding districts. They also note that public schools in East St. Louis represent the largest source of paid employment in the city, and this point is often used to argue that the schools are overstaffed. The implication of both statements is that East St. Louis spends excessively on education. One could as easily conclude, however, that the conditions of existence here call for even larger school expenditures to draw and to retain more gifted staff and to offer all those extra services so desperately needed in a poor community. What such critics also fail to note, as Solomon and principal Sam Morgan have observed, is that the crumbling infrastructure uses up a great deal more of the per-pupil budget than would be the case in districts with updated buildings that cost less to operate. Critics also willfully ignore the health conditions and the psychological disarray of children growing up in burnt-out housing, playing on contaminated land, and walking past acres of smoldering garbage on their way to school. They also ignore the vast expense entailed in trying to make up for the debilitated skills of many parents who were prior victims of these segregated schools or those of Mississippi, in which many of the older residents of East St. Louis led their early lives. In view of the extraordinary miseries of life for children in the district, East St. Louis should be spending far more than is spent in wealthy suburbs. As things stand, the city spends approximately half as much each year on every pupil as the state's top-spending districts. (Kozol, 1992).

Of course, these deplorable conditions were not limited to East St. Louis, but could be found throughout the United States, despite the fact that and, though they may be able to point out irony in their educational system, many of them also come to believe that they are somehow inferior:

Children, of course, don't understand at first that they are being cheated. They come to school with a degree of faith and optimism, and they often seem to thrive during the first few years. It is sometimes not until the third grade that their teachers start to see the warning signs of failure. By the fourth grade many children see it too...By fifth or sixth grade, many children demonstrate their loss of faith by staying out of school. The director of a social service agency in Chicago's Humboldt Park estimates that 10% of the 12- and 13-year-old children that he sees are out of school for all but one or two days every two weeks. The route from truancy to full-fledged dropout status is direct and swift. (Kozol, 1992).

This behavior reinforces existing memes about education and the disadvantaged, especially African-Americans; if people are not taking advantage of the education that is being provided, why provide greater educational opportunities?

Although Kozol's book does a wonderful job of describing the problem, the fact is that the problem is so large it almost defies description. Therefore, it should come as little surprise that the solutions are equally huge and, perhaps, even daunting. Javier Corrales believes that the fact that true education reform requires concentrated costs, but offers diffuse benefits, which means that opponents of the measures are more likely to be vocal than proponents. (Corrales, 1999). Therefore, to encourage educational reform, Corrales suggests that potential beneficiaries need to be educated and organized, so that they can be as vocal as opponents. (Corrales, 1999). In addition, would-be opponents need to be educated about the benefits of proposed actions, instead of simply concentrating on costs. (Corrales, 1999).

Furthermore, some well-intentioned educational reform simply does not appear to assist at-risk students. For example, at one-time, early childhood education was seen as a privilege of the wealthy, who could afford to send their children to expensive preschools. Therefore, one of the major educational reform efforts was to launch the Head Start program, which gave preschool-type education to underprivileged students. However, research reveals that pre-school education does not assist students, and can actually hamper student performance. (Home School Legal Defense Association, 2007). Early education, especially for students who are not prepared for a formal educational environment, can have a lasting and negative impact on motivation, intellectual growth, and self-esteem, which can result in a negative impact on school performance. (Home School Legal Defense Association, 2007). Moreover, while children do show initial benefits from preschool education, those benefits are no longer visible by the end of elementary school. (Home School Legal Defense Association, 2007).

Of course, educational reform concerns a substantial amount of economic reform, as well. Most school districts are largely funded by local property taxes. However, a string of judicial decisions has declared that such funding is unconstitutional, because it requires wealthier people to pay a lower tax rate and still receive greater educational benefits than people in poorer communities. (Fischel, 1998). The problem is that these reforms, which has been strictly fiscal, have not resulted in an improvement in education in poorer communities. On the contrary, "despite all the representations of its advocates that school-finance reform -- finance reform is a step forward for public education, it has, in fact, failed to improve the quality of education in any state where it has been imposed. Still worse, it appears to have dumbed down education in states with especially stringent reforms." (Fischel, 1998). When faced with the prospect that their property tax money will go to fund education in underprivileged areas, the wealthy have managed to push through tax cuts and other reforms, which shift the burden of education to the state and result in an overall decline in the educational system. (Fischel, 1998).