Sociology Has Mounted A Powerful Attack On Biological Determinism (1765 words)

“Sociology has mounted a powerful attack on biological determinism.” Discuss. (1500 words)
We want to encourage students to develop their ability to reflect critically on their own work - both outcome and process. To this effect you will have an opportunity to complete a short reflective commentary – 200 words in total. The following questions should form the basis of your discussion:-
• What do you consider to be a fair mark for your assignment?
• What are the strengths of the essay?
• What are the weaknesses of the essay?
If you were given the opportunity to start the essay from the beginning – what would you do differently?

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Biological determinism has advanced significantly over the years in exploring the human behaviour. Biological determinism has advanced from analyzing gender roles and mental disorders to probe the probable influences of human behaviour. Biological determinism is the general term that describes the theories that suggest that the human social behaviour is determined by the biology of the individual thus determining the basic aspects of social life (Allen, 1984). The proponents of biological determinism argue that the biological factors influence an individual’s behaviour and how he or she develops or changes over time. The biological factors thought to influence human behaviour include an individual’s genetics and genes (Allen, 1984). However, biological determinism has come under criticism from sociologists who study the human behaviour. They claim that biological determinism is not accurate in analyzing human behaviour since it fails to acknowledge the environmental factors which are essential in determining and analyzing human behaviour (Miller and Costello, 2001).
Biologists widely concur that a set of fixed biological characteristics influence different roles in the people and behaviours. Shakespeare and Erickson (2000) suggest that individuals act and think differently because they develop cognitively differently. Proponents of biological determinism claim that individuals develop differently because the hormones and chromosomes in an individual’s body control his or her brain function thus acting and behaving differently (Rose, 1982). For instance, the male species of human beings has X and Y chromosomes while the female species has the X chromosome only. Consequently, the male brain cells develop differently from the female brain cells as a result of the different genetic material present in both sexes...