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Cultural Evolution
Cultural Evolution argues that people's values and behavior are shaped by the degree to which survival is secure; it was precarious for most of history, which encouraged heavy emphasis on group solidarity, rejection of outsiders, and obedience to strong leaders.For under extreme scarcity, xenophobia is realistic: if there is just enough land to support one tribe and another tribe tries to claim it, survival may literally be a choice between Us and Them.Conversely, high levels of existential security encourage openness to change, diversity, and new ideas.The unprecedented prosperity and security of the postwar era brought cultural change, the environmentalist movement, and the spread of democracy.But in recent decades, diminishing job security and rising inequality have led to an authoritarian reaction.Evidence from more than 100 countries demonstrates that people's motivations and behavior reflect the extent to which they take survival for granted - and that modernization changes them in roughly predictable ways.This book explains the rise of environmentalist parties, gender equality, and same-sex marriage through a new, empirically-tested version of modernization theory.
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Continuities in Cultural Evolution
Margaret Mead once said, "I have spent most of my life studying the lives of other peoples--faraway peoples--so that Americans might better understand themselves." Continuities in Cultural Evolution is evidence of this devotion.All of Mead's efforts were intended to help others learn about themselves and work toward a more humane and socially responsible society.Scientist, writer, explorer, and teacher, Mead brought the serious work of anthropology into the public consciousness.This volume began as the Terry Lectures, given at Yale in 1957 and was not published until 1964, after extensive reworking.The time she spent on revision is evidence of the importance Mead attached to the subject: the need to develop a truly evolutionary vision of human culture and society.This was desirable in her eyes both in order to reinforce the historical dimension in our ideas about human culture, and to preserve the relevance of historical and cultural diversity to social, economic, and political action.Given the present state of academic and public discourse alike, this volume speaks to us in a language we badly need to recover.
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Cultural Evolution : The Empirical and Theoretical Landscape
Since the dawn of social science, theorists have debated how and why societies appear to change, develop and evolve.Today, this question is pursued by scholars across many different disciplines and our understanding of these dynamics has grown markedly.Yet, there remain important areas of disagreement and debate: what is the difference between societal change, development and evolution?What specific aspects of cultures change, develop or evolve and why?Do societies change, develop or evolve in particular ways, perhaps according to cycles, or stages or in response to survival necessities?How do different disciplines—from sociology to anthropology to psychology and economics—approach these questions?This book provides complex and nuanced answers to these, and many other, questions.First, the book invites readers to consider the broad landscape of societal dynamics across human history, beginning with humanity’s origins in small nomadic bands of hunter gatherers through to the emergence of post-industrial democracies.Then, the book provides a tour of several prominent existing theories of cultural change, development and evolution.Approaches to explaining cultural dynamics will be discussed across disciplines and schools of thought, from "meme" theories to established cumulative cultural evolutionary theories to newly emerging theories on cultural tightness-looseness.The book concludes with a call for theoretical integration and a frank discussion of some of the most unexamined structures that drive cultural dynamics across schools of thought.
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Cognitive Gadgets : The Cultural Evolution of Thinking
“This is an important book and likely the most thoughtful of the year in the social sciences… Highly recommended, it is likely to prove one of the most thought-provoking books of the year.”—Tyler Cowen, Marginal RevolutionHow did human minds become so different from those of other animals?What accounts for our capacity to understand the way the physical world works, to think ourselves into the minds of others, to gossip, read, tell stories about the past, and imagine the future?These questions are not new: they have been debated by philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, evolutionists, and neurobiologists over the course of centuries.One explanation widely accepted today is that humans have special cognitive instincts.Unlike other living animal species, we are born with complicated mechanisms for reasoning about causation, reading the minds of others, copying behaviors, and using language. Cecilia Heyes agrees that adult humans have impressive pieces of cognitive equipment.In her framing, however, these cognitive gadgets are not instincts programmed in the genes but are constructed in the course of childhood through social interaction.Cognitive gadgets are products of cultural evolution, rather than genetic evolution.At birth, the minds of human babies are only subtly different from the minds of newborn chimpanzees.We are friendlier, our attention is drawn to different things, and we have a capacity to learn and remember that outstrips the abilities of newborn chimpanzees.Yet when these subtle differences are exposed to culture-soaked human environments, they have enormous effects.They enable us to upload distinctively human ways of thinking from the social world around us. As Cognitive Gadgets makes clear, from birth our malleable human minds can learn through culture not only what to think but how to think it.
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What is cosmic evolution, chemical evolution, biological evolution, and cultural evolution?
Cosmic evolution refers to the development and changes in the universe over time, including the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets. Chemical evolution is the process by which elements and compounds have changed and evolved over time, leading to the formation of complex molecules and the conditions necessary for life. Biological evolution is the process by which living organisms have changed and diversified over time through genetic variation, natural selection, and other mechanisms. Cultural evolution refers to the development and changes in human societies, including the growth of technology, language, art, and social structures.
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What is meant by cultural evolution and how can cultural and biological evolution be compared?
Cultural evolution refers to the process by which human societies and cultures change and develop over time. This can include changes in beliefs, customs, technologies, and social structures. Cultural evolution is driven by the transmission of ideas and behaviors from one generation to the next, as well as by interactions with other cultures. Cultural and biological evolution can be compared in that they both involve the transmission of traits from one generation to the next, and the accumulation of changes over time. However, cultural evolution operates on a much faster timescale than biological evolution, and is driven by different mechanisms such as learning, imitation, and communication. Additionally, cultural evolution is more flexible and can be influenced by conscious decision-making, while biological evolution is driven by natural selection and genetic variation.
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What are the negative consequences of cultural evolution?
One negative consequence of cultural evolution is the potential loss of traditional practices and knowledge. As societies evolve and modernize, traditional customs, languages, and skills can be forgotten or abandoned, leading to a loss of cultural diversity and heritage. Additionally, cultural evolution can lead to social inequality and marginalization as certain groups may be left behind or excluded from the benefits of progress. Finally, rapid cultural evolution can also lead to a sense of disconnection and alienation as individuals struggle to adapt to the rapid changes in their cultural environment.
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What is meant by memes in biological cultural evolution?
Memes in biological cultural evolution refer to ideas, behaviors, or styles that are passed from one individual to another within a culture. Similar to genes in biological evolution, memes can be replicated and spread through imitation and communication. Memes can influence cultural norms, beliefs, and practices, shaping the evolution of societies over time. Studying memes can provide insights into how cultural traits are transmitted and evolve within human populations.
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Beyond the Meme : Development and Structure in Cultural Evolution
Interdisciplinary perspectives on cultural evolution that reject meme theory in favor of a complex understanding of dynamic change over time How do cultures change?In recent decades, the concept of the meme, posited as a basic unit of culture analogous to the gene, has been central to debates about cultural transformation.Despite the appeal of meme theory, its simplification of complex interactions and other inadequacies as an explanatory framework raise more questions about cultural evolution than it answers.In Beyond the Meme, William C. Wimsatt and Alan C. Love assemble interdisciplinary perspectives on cultural evolution, providing a nuanced understanding of it as a process in which dynamic structures interact on different scales of size and time.By focusing on the full range of evolutionary processes across distinct contexts, from rice farming to scientific reasoning, this volume demonstrates how a thick understanding of change in culture emerges from multiple disciplinary vantage points, each of which is required to understand cultural evolution in all its complexity.The editors provide an extensive introductory essay to contextualize the volume, and Wimsatt contributes a separate chapter that systematically organizes the conceptual geography of cultural processes and phenomena. Any adequate account of the transmission, elaboration, and evolution of culture must, this volume argues, recognize the central roles that cognitive and social development play in cultural change and the complex interplay of technological, organizational, and institutional structures needed to enable and coordinate these processes. Contributors: Marshall Abrams, U of Alabama at Birmingham; Claes Andersson, Chalmers U of Technology; Mark A.Bedau, Reed College; James A. Evans, U of Chicago; Jacob G. Foster, U of California, Los Angeles; Michel Janssen, U of Minnesota; Sabina Leonelli, U of Exeter; Massimo Maiocchi, U of Chicago; Joseph D.Martin, U of Cambridge; Salikoko S. Mufwene, U of Chicago; Nancy J. Nersessian, Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvard U; Paul E.Smaldino, U of California, Merced; Anton Törnberg, U of Gothenburg; Petter Törnberg, U of Amsterdam; Gilbert B.Tostevin, U of Minnesota.
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The Origins of Unfairness : Social Categories and Cultural Evolution
In almost every human society some people get more and others get less.Why is inequity the rule in these societies? In The Origins of Unfairness, philosopher Cailin O'Connor firstly considers how groups are divided into social categories, like gender, race, and religion, to address this question.She uses the formal frameworks of game theory and evolutionary game theory to explore the cultural evolution of the conventions which piggyback on these seemingly irrelevant social categories.These frameworks elucidate a variety of topics from the innateness of gender differences, to collaboration in academia, to household bargaining, to minority disadvantage, to homophily.They help to show how inequity can emerge from simple processes of cultural change in groups with gender and racial categories, and under a wide array of situations.The process of learning conventions of coordination and resource division is such that some groups will tend to get more and others less.O'Connor offers solutions to such problems of coordination and resource division and also shows why we need to think of inequity as part of an ever evolving process.Surprisingly minimal conditions are needed to robustly produce phenomena related to inequity and, once inequity emerges in these models, it takes very little for it to persist indefinitely.Thus, those concerned with social justice must remain vigilant against the dynamic forces that push towards inequity.
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The Origins of Unfairness : Social Categories and Cultural Evolution
In almost every human society some people get more and others get less.Why is inequity the rule in these societies? In The Origins of Unfairness, philosopher Cailin O'Connor firstly considers how groups are divided into social categories, like gender, race, and religion, to address this question.She uses the formal frameworks of game theory and evolutionary game theory to explore the cultural evolution of the conventions which piggyback on these seemingly irrelevant social categories.These frameworks elucidate a variety of topics from the innateness of gender differences, to collaboration in academia, to household bargaining, to minority disadvantage, to homophily.They help to show how inequity can emerge from simple processes of cultural change in groups with gender and racial categories, and under a wide array of situations.The process of learning conventions of coordination and resource division is such that some groups will tend to get more and others less.O'Connor offers solutions to such problems of coordination and resource division and also shows why we need to think of inequity as part of an ever evolving process.Surprisingly minimal conditions are needed to robustly produce phenomena related to inequity and, once inequity emerges in these models, it takes very little for it to persist indefinitely.Thus, those concerned with social justice must remain vigilant against the dynamic forces that push towards inequity.
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Cosmos and Culture : Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context
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What are the differences between cultural and biological evolution?
Cultural evolution refers to the changes in human societies and their behaviors over time, including the development of language, technology, and social norms. Biological evolution, on the other hand, refers to the changes in the inherited traits of living organisms over generations, driven by natural selection and genetic variation. While cultural evolution is driven by the transmission of ideas, beliefs, and practices within a society, biological evolution is driven by genetic mutations and the process of natural selection. Additionally, cultural evolution can occur much more rapidly than biological evolution, as it is influenced by factors such as communication, education, and innovation.
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What is the difference between cultural and biological evolution?
Cultural evolution refers to the changes in human societies and cultures over time, including the development of language, technology, and social norms. It is driven by the transmission of knowledge, beliefs, and practices from one generation to the next. Biological evolution, on the other hand, refers to the process of change in the inherited traits of a population over successive generations, driven by natural selection, genetic drift, and mutation. While cultural evolution is based on the transmission of learned behaviors and ideas, biological evolution is based on genetic variation and inheritance.
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What is a cultural heritage?
Cultural heritage refers to the traditions, customs, beliefs, and artifacts that are passed down from generation to generation within a society. It encompasses the tangible and intangible aspects of a culture, including historical sites, monuments, art, music, language, and rituals. Cultural heritage plays a crucial role in shaping a community's identity and preserving its unique heritage for future generations. It is an important part of a society's history and contributes to its sense of belonging and continuity.
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What triggers evolution?
Evolution is triggered by a combination of factors, including genetic mutations, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow. Genetic mutations create new variations in a population, which can then be acted upon by natural selection, where individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. Genetic drift and gene flow also play a role in shaping the genetic makeup of a population over time. These factors collectively drive the process of evolution by leading to changes in the frequency of genetic traits within a population.
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