Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:25:15.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alford, John, Funk, Carolyn, and Hibbing, John R.. 2005. Are political orientations genetically transmitted? American Political Science Review 99 (2): 153–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouchard, Thomas J., Segal, Nancy L., Tellegen, Auke, McGue, Matt, Keyes, Margaret, and Krueger, Robert. 2003. Evidence for the construct validity and heritability of the Wilson-Patterson conservatism scale: a reared-apart twins study of social attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences 34: 959–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, Avshalom, McClay, Joseph, Moffitt, Terrie, Mill, Jonathan, Martin, Judie, Craig, Ian, Taylor, Allen, and Poulton, Richie. 2002. Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science 297: 851–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caspi, Avshalom, Sugden, Karen, Moffitt, Terrie, Taylor, Alan, Craig, Ian, McClay, Honalee Harrington Joseph, Mill, Jonathan, Martin, Judie, Braithwaite, Antony, and Poulton, Richie. 2003. Influence of life stress on depression. Science 301: 386–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darwin, Charles. 1998 [1872]. The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals, ed. Eckman, Paul. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, A.H., and Chaiken, S.. 1993. The Psychology of Attitudes. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Eaves, L.J., and Eysenck, H.J.. 1974. Genetics and the development of social attitudes. Nature 249: 288–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eaves, L.J., Eysenck, H.J., and Martin, N.G.. 1989. Genes, Culture and Personality: An Empirical Approach. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Eaves, Lindon, Heath, Andrew, Martin, Nicholas, Maes, Hermine, Neale, Michael, Kendler, Kenneth, Kirk, Katherine, and Corey, Linda. 1999. Comparing the biological and cultural inheritance of personality and social attitudes in the Virginia 30,000 study of twins and their relatives. Twin Research 2: 62–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, James. 2006. “The Genetic Basis of Political Cooperation.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA. August 30–September 2.Google Scholar
Fowler, James. 2007. “The Genetic Basis of Voter Turnout.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL. April 12–15.Google Scholar
Fowler, James, Baker, Laura, and Dawes, Christopher. 2006. “The Genetic Basis of Politicl Cooperation.” Presented at the Hendricks Conference on Biology and Politics, Lincoln, NE, October 13–14.Google Scholar
Fowler, James, and Dawes, Chris. 2007. “The Genetic Basis of Political Participation.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, August 30–September 2.Google Scholar
Freese, Jeremy, and Powell, Brian. 2003. Tilting at twindmills: Rethinking sociological responses to behavioral genetics. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 44 (2): 130–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hatemi, Peter K. 2007. “The Genetics of Political Attitudes.” PhD diss., University of Nebraska-Lincoln.Google Scholar
Hatemi, Peter, Alford, John, Hibbing, John, Keller, Matthew, Martin, Nicholas, Medland, Sarah, and Eaves, Lindon. 2007. “Not by Twins Alone: Using the Extended Twin Family Design to Investigate the Genetic Basis of Political Beliefs.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, August 30–September 2.Google Scholar
Hatemi, Peter K., Medland, Sarah E., Morley, Katherine I., Heath, Andrew C., and Martin, Nicholas G.. 2007. The genetics of voting: An Australian twin study. Behavior Genetics 37 (3): 435–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heath, A.C., Jardine, R., and Martin, N.G.. 1989. Interactive effects of genotype and social environment on alcohol consumption in female twins. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 60: 38–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hettema, J.M., Neale, M.C., and Kendler, K.S.. 1995. Physical similarity and the equal-environments assumption in twin studies of psychiatric disorders. Behavior Genetics 25: 327–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horwitz, Allan, Videon, Tami, Schmitz, Mark, and Davis, Diane. 2003. Rethinking twins and environments: Possible social structures for assumed genetic influences in twin research. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 44 (2): 111–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, K.S. 1983. Overview: Current perspective on twin studies of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 140: 1413–25.Google ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K.S., Heath, A.C., Martin, N.G., and Eaves, L.J.. 1987. Symptoms of anxiety and symptoms of depression. Same genes, different environments? Archives of General Psychiatry 44: 451–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K.S., Neale, M.C., Kessler, R.C., Heath, A.C., and Eaves, L.J.. 1993. A test of the equal-environment assumption in twin studies of psychiatric illness. Behavior Genetics 23: 21–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loehlin, J.C., and Nichols, R.C.. 1976. Heredity, Environment, and Personality: A Study of 850 Sets of Twins. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Lytton, H. 1977. Do parents create, or respond to, differences in twins? Developmental Psychology 13: 456–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, N.G., Eaves, L.J., Heath, A.C., Jardine, R., Feingold, L.M., and Eysenck, H.J.. 1986. Transmission of social attitudes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 83: 4364–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matheny, A.P., Wilson, R.S., and Dolan, A.B.. 1976. Relations between twins' similarity of appearance and behavioral similarity: Testing an assumption. Behavior Genetics 6: 343–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neale, M.C. 1997. Mx: Statistical Modeling (Box 980126) 3d ed.Richmond, VA: MCV.Google Scholar
Neale, M.C. 2000. QTL mapping with sib-pairs: The flexibility of Mx. In Advances in Twin and Sib-Pair Analysis, ed. Spector, T.D., Snieder, H., and MacGregor, A.J.. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Neale, M.C., and Cardon, L.R.. 1992. Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, Stephen D. 1974. Nature/nurture revisited I: A review of the biological bases of conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution 18 (2): 285–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, James M., Vernon, Philip A., Harris, Julie Aitken, and Jang, Kerry L.. 2001. The heritability of attitudes: A study of twins. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80 (6): 845–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plomin, R., Willerman, L., and Loehlin, J.C.. 1976. Resemblance in appearance and the equal environments assumption in twin studies of personality traits. Behavior Genetics 6: 43–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rijsdijk, Frühling V., and Sham, Pak C.. 2002. Analytic approaches to twin data using structural equation models. Briefings in Bioinformatics 3 (2): 119–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scarr, S., and Carter-Saltzman, L.. 1979. Twin method: Defense of a critical assumption. Behavior Genetics 9: 527–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Truett, K.R., Eaves, L.J., Meyer, J.M., Heath, A.C., and Martin, N.G.. 1992. Religion and education as mediators of attitudes: A multivariate analysis. Behavior Genetics 22: 43–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xian, Hong, Scherrer, Jeffrey F., Eisen, Seth A., True, William R., Heath, Andrew C., Goldberg, Jack, Lyon, Michael J., and Tsuang, Ming T.. 2000. Self-reported zygosity and the equal-environments assumption for psychiatric disorders in the Vietnam era twin registry. Behavior Genetics 30: 303–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed