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The Threat of Genes: A Comment on Evan Charney's “Genes and Ideologies”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2008

Rebecca J. Hannagan  and
Peter K. Hatemi
Rebecca J. Hannagan
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Northern Illinois University. E-mail: [email protected]
Peter K. Hatemi
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In his essay, “Genes and Ideologies,” Evan Charney wrangles with the question of the role of genes in the formation of political attitudes via a critique of Alford, Funk, and Hibbing's 2005 American Political Science Review article. Although critical evaluations are necessary, his essay falls short of what is required of a scientific critique on both empirical and theoretical grounds. We offer a comment on his essay and further contend that it is naïve to proceed on the assumption that a barrier exists between the biological and social sciences, such that the biological sciences have nothing to offer the social sciences. If we look beyond our discipline's current theoretical models we may find a more thorough, and not just competing, explanation of political behavior.

Type
Exchange
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 329 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2008

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