Bernd Baldus
- Courses3
- Reviews16
- School: University of Toronto
- Campus: St. George Campus
- Department: Social Science
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Location:
Toronto, ON - Dates at University of Toronto: January 2003 - August 2019
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Biography
University of Toronto St. George Campus - Social Science
Professor emeritus at the University of Toronto
Higher Education
Bernd
Baldus
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
My research focus is sociological theory and social inequality. I use evolutionary ideas to understand the emergence of cultural behavior and structures. My goal is to bridge a major gap between biological and sociological theories of human culture. Biologists developed naturalistic theories of human culture but were unable to explain its richness and its often harmful consequences. Sociologists were familiar with the complexity of culture but saw it as a non-natural, uniquely human product. I focus on the short-term experience of evolution during people’s lifetime in order to understand areas of culture which were neglected by biological and social theories, such as the role of creativity, 'free will' and uncertainty in cultural evolution. Applying these ideas to social inequality, I examine the role of chance, human choice and unforeseen consequences in the evolution, stabilization and change of inequality structures. This includes questions of social justice and of alternative, more egalitarian distributions of income and wealth.
Outside of my research I volunteer for environmental projects such as the restoration of the Garrison Creek ravine, a remnant of one of Toronto's lost rivers. I also participate in the Bruce Trail Conservancy which protects the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara Falls to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula.
Recent and forthcoming publications:
Bernd Baldus (2015). “Contingency, Novelty and Choice. Cultural Evolution as Internal Selection.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 45 (2): 214-237.
Bernd Baldus (2016). Origins of Inequality in Human Societies. New York: Routledge.
Filip Alexandrescu and Bernd Baldus (2016, forthcoming).”Escaping the Iron Cage of Environmental Rationalizations: Micrososiological Decision-Making in Environmental Struggles.” In: Pudephatt, T. And Brewster, B. (Eds.). Microsociological Perspectives in Environmental Sociology.
Experience
University of Toronto
Professor Emeritus
Bernd worked at University of Toronto as a Professor Emeritus
Education
University of Cologne, Germany
Master’s Degree
Economics
Field research in East Africa. Master's thesis: "Origins and Extent of Unemployment in Kenya"University of Kiel, Germany
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Sociology
Field research in Dahomey (now Republic of Benin). PhD thesis: "Ideology and Social Structure. Social Control in a Slave-holding Society in Dahomey". The thesis examines belief systems that contributed to the stability and endurance of an indigenous West-African system of slavery.University of California at Los Angeles
Master’s Degree
African Studies
Publications
Origins of Social Inequality in Human Societies
Routledge
A comprehensive and original theoretical exploration of the origins, maintenance and change of what is arguably the most divisive and conflict-prone social structure in human societies.
Origins of Social Inequality in Human Societies
Routledge
A comprehensive and original theoretical exploration of the origins, maintenance and change of what is arguably the most divisive and conflict-prone social structure in human societies.
“Escaping the Iron Cage of Environmental Rationalizations. Microsocial Decision-making in Environmental Conflicts”. In Brewster and Puddephatt, Microsociological Perspectives for Environmental Sociology.
Routledge (forthcoming)
This article examines a protracted environmental conflict over a proposed gold mine in Romania. It focuses on the complex interactions between the mining company, government and NGOs, and the local population, and their changing perspectives and actions in response to unforeseen obstacles and opportunities.
