Number 6: Epigenetics

This is part of a series of Top 7 Things Sociology Offers the World.

Sociology helps hard sciences understand human beings and our ecological settings more fully.

One word to look up to make this case: epigenetics.


If we know now that the expression of our genetics are, in part, determined by our ancestors' social histories, we need Sociology to help us understand not only our own world, but the social worlds of times past if we are to utilize the vast knowledge we have obtained about the human genome. Otherwise, we will only half a partial picture (see #1).

Sociology offers context to almost any human endeavor. (Published March 31, 2013, 6:00am PDT)