The Demonic Ape A critique of the BBC 2 documentary

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Here is the structured analytical summary of the article.

Core Argument¶

The central thesis is that the BBC Horizon documentary The Demonic Ape presents a fundamentally flawed, reactionary account of human nature by falsely conflating the behaviour of chimpanzees with that of humans. The article argues that the documentary, and the “demonic male hypothesis” advanced by Richard Wrangham, attempts to naturalise male violence as a genetically inherited trait from a common ancestor. Alan Woods counters that this is a pseudo-scientific justification for the brutality of capitalism. The real cause of both the observed aggression in the Gombe chimpanzees and the violence in human society is not genetics but environmental and social conditions: for the chimpanzees, habitat destruction and human encroachment; for humans, the class struggle and the inhuman conditions imposed by capitalism.

Theoretical Grounding¶

The analysis is rooted in the Marxist method of dialectical materialism, specifically the concept of the leap from quantity to quality. Woods argues that the 98% genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees is a quantitative fact, but the decisive 1% difference represents a qualitative chasm. This chasm is created by labour—the systematic, collective production of tools—which Engels identified in The Role of Labour in the Transition of Ape to Man as the defining activity that separated humans from other primates. Labour created the necessity for complex language, culture, and social relations, which are qualitatively different from the rudimentary, undeveloped potentials seen in chimpanzees.

The article also applies the fundamental Marxist axiom that social being determines consciousness. Just as the material conditions of capitalism (scarcity, competition, class exploitation) warp human behaviour, so the destruction of the chimpanzees’ habitat by human activity creates the stressful conditions that trigger abnormal aggression. The critique is therefore a direct assault on Social Darwinism and biological determinism, which the article identifies as a perennial ideological tool used to present the brutality of capitalism as natural and inevitable.

Conjunctural Relevance¶

The article, published in 2005, is situated in a period where the ideological offensive of neoliberalism was being reinforced by popular science narratives that sought to reduce complex social phenomena to genetic or evolutionary imperatives. The documentary itself is a product of this conjuncture, attempting to use the authority of science (genetics, primatology) to depoliticise male violence and present it as an unchangeable biological inheritance.

Woods explicitly connects this to the political climate of the time, noting the strength of the Creationist movement in the USA and its sympathisers in the Bush administration. The article’s relevance lies in its critique of how even “pro-science” bourgeois media can draw reactionary conclusions from scientific data. The specific data points—the Gombe chimpanzees’ habitat destruction, the cessation of banana feeding in 2002, the stress of human encroachment—are used to show that the violence observed is a product of a specific, degraded environment, not a universal genetic inheritance. The argument is that capitalism’s destruction of nature is creating the very “demonic” behaviour it then claims is innate.

Where the Argument Continues¶

This article is a specific application of a much broader theoretical project. The argument continues in:

Alan Woods’ book Reason in Revolt (co-authored with Ted Grant): This is the foundational text for the Marxist analysis of science presented here. The article explicitly references it for the discussion of tool use and the “Selfish Gene” chapter. The book provides the full philosophical framework of dialectical materialism applied to biology, physics, and cosmology.
Other IDOM articles on science and technology: The article’s “See also” section points directly to related texts, including “What the human genome means for socialists” and “The Selfish Gene?”. These articles collectively build a Marxist critique of genetic determinism and the ideological use of evolutionary biology.
Engels’ The Role of Labour in the Transition of Ape to Man: This is the canonical Marxist text that the article relies upon. The argument about the qualitative leap created by tool-making and collective labour is a direct application of Engels’ thesis.

The article leaves underdeveloped the specific mechanisms by which the “missing 1%” of genetic difference translates into the qualitative leap of human consciousness and society. It asserts the dialectical leap but does not elaborate on the neurobiological or evolutionary pathways. This is not a weakness but a reflection of the article’s polemical purpose: to establish the principle against the reductionist claims of the documentary.

Connections¶

Frederick Engels, The Role of Labour in the Transition of Ape to Man: The theoretical bedrock of the article’s argument on human origins.
Alan Woods & Ted Grant, Reason in Revolt: Marxist Philosophy and Modern Science: The comprehensive text from which this article’s analysis is drawn.
Richard Wrangham & Dale Peterson, Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence: The primary target of the critique. Reading this book provides the full context of the hypothesis Woods is attacking.
Stephen Jay Gould: The article cites Gould’s approval of Engels’ prediction. Gould’s work on punctuated equilibrium and his critique of biological determinism (e.g., The Mismeasure of Man) is a parallel scientific tradition that aligns with the Marxist method.
The work of Robert Sussman: Quoted extensively in the article, his critique of the “demonic male” hypothesis provides a scientific (non-Marxist) corroboration of Woods’ political argument.

Key Quotes¶

“The source of the mistake is in each case the same: the inability to think dialectically. The fact that we share almost 99 percent of our genes with chimpanzees is very striking. But it is precisely the missing one percent that is decisive: it represents the leap from quantity to quality.”
“Human language and culture therefore arises from a way of life and a system of production that is quite unlike that of any other species.”
“Marx explained long ago that social being determines consciousness: that is to say, the material conditions in which men and women live and work will eventually determine the way they think and act. In short, if you treat people like animals they will behave like animals.”
“Just as in the world of humans social being determines consciousness, so in the world of our nearest primate relatives, changes in the environment have a decisive effect on behaviour.”
“These are not the unalterable product of our genes but only the symptoms of a society in a dead end.”
“If you place men and women in intolerable living conditions… if you encourage a morality based on greed and competition in which the strongest trample on the weakest… then it is hardly surprising if the result is an explosive mixture of violence, crime and vandalism.”