The Social Animal - Softcover

Runciman, W. G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006863825 ISBN 13: 9780006863823

Publisher: Fontana Press, 1999

Synopsis

The Social Animal is a classic investigation of human beings as social animals.

The Social Animal is the acclaimed book that sets out the present extent of our knowledge about how human societies and institutions really work, and what motivates the people who live within them.

W. G. Runciman’s short, wide-ranging, witty and accessible book is a welcome corrective to the view that there are no societies, only collections of individuals and their families: he shows that wherever they may live in the world, human beings are quintessentially social animals.

Using the latest insights from the fields of biology, anthropology, psychology, economic history and sociology, Runciman proposes a new social science, based not upon outmoded marxist ideas, but on the insights of Charles Darwin.

It is, in short, an instant classic.

About this title

Review:

‘W. G. Runciman is something of a phenomenon... [The Social Animal] is always good and at times brilliant. On every page there is something to stimulate, engross or madden the reader, and for once, the reviewer’s cliche
“continuously absorbing”, expresses the truth.’
Frank McLynn, Literary Review

From the Back Cover:

W.G. Runciman's masterly book sets out the present extent of our knowledge about how human groups, communities, institutions and societies work, and the social forces that act upon the people who live within them. With admirable succinctness, he surveys an extraordinarily wide range of intellectual disciplines while also proposing an approach to sociology based not on the outdated dogmas of Marxism or Social Darwinism but on current neo-evolutionary theory.

"Garry Runciman... is one of the most distinguished sociologists writing today... To write a general defence of sociology was always going to be an uphill struggle. It's a tribute to the clarity of his thinking, and the urbanity of his style, that this particular uphill struggle has all the ease and elegance of a gentle afternoon stroll...demonstrating that sociology can tell us things about human existence which are probably true, certainly interesting, and sometimes not obvious at all... this stimulating book is well worth reading."
NOEL MALCOM, 'Sunday Telegraph'

"Erudite and entertaining; the author has lost none of has ability to provoke and stimulate."

JULIAN LE GRAND, 'New Statesman'

"He roams with enviable ease through anthropology and history and is not afraid to put his classical education to good use... concise and well written"
SAMUEL BRITTAN, 'Financial Times'

About this edition

• Publisher: Fontana Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0006863825
• ISBN 13: 9780006863823
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256