Refitting the Lower Decks of the Coleman Boat: A Biosocial and Evolutionary Expansion of the Standard Model of Sociological Explanation

Abstract In this article, we argue that the standard model of sociological explanation can be substantially improved by systematically integrating insights from biosocial and evolutionary research. Building on Coleman’s macro–micro–macro model, we propose an extension of this framework that adds a “covert” inner-individual micro level beneath the traditional “overt” micro level. This “lower deck” of the “Coleman boat” comprises genetic variation and epigenetic, hormonal, neural, and other physiological processes that affect individual behavior, mediate and moderate the impact of social contexts on behavior, and, in aggregation, shape macro-level outcomes. Using examples from biosociology, neurosociology, and sociogenomics, we illustrate how ignoring these processes can bias estimates of social effects, leave central sociological mechanisms underspecified, and thus ultimately yield incomplete explanations. We further draw on evolutionary sociology and the evolutionary behavioral sciences, including cultural evolution approaches and evolutionary psychology, to show how evolved psychological mechanisms and evolved dispositions for prosocial, selfish, and antagonistic behavior, as well as evolutionary mismatches, shape contemporary social behavior and macro-level dynamics. On this basis, we argue for an interdisciplinary action theory that incorporates both automatic and reflexive processes and is informed by biological and evolutionary findings while retaining the analytical primacy of sociological explanation. We provide the extended Coleman scheme as a heuristic for scholars to locate when and how inner-individual mechanisms matter in sociological analyses and for guiding empirical research on patterned interactions between nature and nurture.