Debugging the Link Between Social Theory and Social Insects

"During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, natural and social scientists began comparing certain insects to human social organization. In Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects, Diane M. Rodgers explains how these co-constructed theories reinforced one another, thereby naturalizing Western conceptions of race, class, and gender as they gained prominence in popular culture and the scientific world." "Using a critical science studies perspective not previously applied to research on social insect symbolism, Rodgers attempts to "debug" this theoretical co-construction. Placing these theories in a historical and cross-cultural context, Rodgers explains why hierarchical ideas gained prominence, despite the existence of opposing theories in the literature, and how they resulted in an inhibiting vocabulary that relies more heavily on metaphors than on description. This original interdisciplinary book makes an important contribution to the history - and future - of science and sociology."--BOOK JACKET.

Diane M. Rodgers is an assistant professor of sociology at Northern Illinois University.