I think Alters and Alters statement “evolution is a unifying theme among many sciences” is true in the sense that many scientific fields study events and subjects across a substantial period of time. And when looking at something long enough one must take into account evolution and its effect on shaping what one is observing today. As a sociology major this is especially true. Sociology is the study of society and culture of everyday life. As it is part of the social sciences it used empirical investigation and critical analysis to obtain knowledge about social relationships. Evolution intersects sociology in that one may study how social systems have evolved over time. This is especially important in understanding the background of social systems and what historically has shaped the systems we see today. There is also a notion of social evolutionism which states that societies will increase in complexity and overcome social disorganization. This theory is debated amount sociologist. Human variability is also especially something sociologist consider when investigating social dynamics. As variability can be something heritable and partly acquired sociologist can take into account a populations variability and how it has come about. The measurement of human variation can also fall under sociology concerns as demography analysis is a statistical analysis often used to measure a population and its variations.

The readings this week made me think about the way in which my professors teach evolution is relation to other sociological concepts. As discussed there is a lot of controversy over the teaching of evolution mostly in K-12 environments. Compared to college which seems to be more solid as an institution that promotes the concept of evolution. Alter seems to claim that you really cannot learn about science without evolution. I think sociology could still be taught without aspects of evolution, however you would not be able to make connections of the past with present social interactions. Thinking about evolution in this way has made me see my field in a different light because I never realized how much we focus on the past and historical context to build on concepts and future predictions. Another thing that made me see my field in a different light is the human genome project. The human genome project has been something that I have heard of a lot being interested in genetics. What really interest me about the project is the way it can be applied to other sciences and help them in relation to the things they are specifically studying. In terms of sociology looking at where peoples culture originates from can help us recognize patterns of social relationships. The HGP has made me realize the scientific applications that can apply to a field that sometimes is seen to focus more on social aspects.