Joseph Lopreato (July 13, 1928 in

Stefanaconi Stefanaconi () ( grc, Στεφανικόνιον, translit=Stephanikónion) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about east of Vibo Valentia. As o ...

, Italy – March 25, 2015 in

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census. It is 30 miles (48 km) north of Austin. Founded in 1875 from four existing colleges, the oldest of ...

, United States) was a

sociobiologist Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to examine and explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within t ...

, a

social theorist Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories rela ...

, and a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. After receiving his Ph.D. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

(1960) he taught and lectured at various universities in the US and abroad, and published a dozen books and monographs plus numerous papers in several languages. He died in Georgetown, Texas, on March 25, 2015, and is buried in Austin, Texas.

Career

His work spanned various fields of theory and research, including migration and underdevelopment, social inequality and change, political sociology, the sociological classics, the philosophy of science, and evolutionary demography, among others. Joseph Lopreato was one of the first sociologists to take up the challenge from behavioral evolutionary biology ("sociobiology") to work toward a synthesis of the biological and sociocultural disciplines. He is accordingly best known for his work as a human sociobiologist. His work in

sociobiology Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to examine and explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within t ...

, preeminently ''Human Nature and Biocultural Evolution'' (1984) and ''Crisis in Sociology: The Need for Darwin'' (with his former student, Timothy Crippen, 1999), provides a theory of

human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

embedded in a taxonomy of "

behavioral predispositions Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well ...

"; a demonstration of bio-cultural interdependence in such areas as

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

sex roles A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

, and

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

; an argument that the "crisis" in

arises primarily from the failure to discover even a single general law or principle ("no general law, no science"); and, inter alia, a well-reasoned appeal for a scientific sociology through the exploitation of the

" fitness principle," to which he has attached a number of important culture-relevant conditions. In ''Peasants No More'' (1967), he studied the effects of emigration in Southern Italy.

Selected bibliography

*Lopreato, J. (1967)
''Peasants No More: Social Class and Social Change in an Underdeveloped Society''
Chandler Publishing. *Lopreato, J. & L. Hazelrigg (1972)
''Class, Conflict, and Mobility: Theories and Studies of Class Structure''
Chandler Publishing. . *Lopreato, J. (1984)
''Human Nature and Biocultural Evolution''
Allen & Unwin. . *Lopreato, J. & T. Crippen (1999)
''Crisis in Sociology: The Need for Darwin''
Transaction Publishers. .

References

1928 births 2015 deaths Sociobiologists Yale University alumni {{US-sociologist-stub