Darwinian Selection, Symbolic Variation, and the Evolution of Culture [and Comments and Reply]

Rindos, David; Carneiro, Robert L.; Cooper, Eugene; Drechsel, Paul; Dunnell, Robert C.; Ellen, Roy; Gullick, C. J. M. R.; Hackenberg, Robert A.; Hartung, John; Kunkel, John H.; Nickerson, Gifford S.; Richerson, Peter J.; Boyd, Robert

doi:10.1086/203227

Cited by 86 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…The basic problem for archaeology is that Darwin did not write a theory that can be applied directly to the study of the archaeological record (O'Brien & Holland 1990). But we cannot, as Rindos (1989) put it, blame Darwin for not doing our work for us. Rather, we should heed the advice of one of the foremost archaeologists of the early twentieth century, who explained to his colleagues that: the sooner we roll up our sleeves and begin comparative studies of axes and arrowheads and bone tools, make classifications, prepare accurate descriptions, draw distribution maps and, in general, persuade ourselves to do a vast deal of painstaking, unspectacular work, the sooner shall we be in position to approach the problems of cultural evolution, the solving of which is, I take it, our ultimate goal.…”

Section: Archaeology and Cultural Macroevolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The notion that human action is often intentional, goaldirected, conscious, teleological, mindful, intelligent, directed, purposeful, guided, or designed is a common argument against adopting an evolutionary approach to culture (see commentaries on Rindos 1985). However, Dennett & McKay and Pagel both make the valuable point that there is a continuum of "intentionality," from blind, unconscious, undirected selection to goal-directed, conscious, directed selection, and the full range of this continuum is likely present in both biological and cultural evolution.…”

Section: R36 the Role Of "Intentionality"mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

2006

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We suggest that human culture exhibits key Darwinian evolutionary properties, and argue that the structure of a science of cultural evolution should share fundamental features with the structure of the science of biological evolution. This latter claim is tested by outlining the methods and approaches employed by the principal subdisciplines of evolutionary biology and assessing whether there is an existing or potential corresponding approach to the study of cultural evolution. Existing approaches within anthropology and archaeology demonstrate a good match with the macroevolutionary methods of systematics, paleobiology, and biogeography, whereas mathematical models derived from population genetics have been successfully developed to study cultural microevolution. Much potential exists for experimental simulations and field studies of cultural microevolution, where there are opportunities to borrow further methods and hypotheses from biology. Potential also exists for the cultural equivalent of molecular genetics in "social cognitive neuroscience," although many fundamental issues have yet to be resolved. It is argued that studying culture within a unifying evolutionary framework has the potential to integrate a number of separate disciplines within the social sciences.

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Section: Archaeology and Cultural Macroevolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: R36 the Role Of "Intentionality"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

2006

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“…However, in reality, individuals often have different beliefs about the causal relationships between behaviors and outcomes, which cause them to respond to the same information in different ways (Rindos, Carneiro et al, 1985;Durham, 1991). Figure 6.4 shows one potential hierarchy of beliefs about causality.…”

Section: Culturally Specific Interpretation Of Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A General Agent-Based Model of Social Learning

Nowak¹,

Matthews²,

Parker³

2017

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“…Hodgson, 1993), anthropology (e.g. Rindos 1985, Durham 1991, Sperber 1996, and epistemology (e.g. Sober 1984, Plotkin 1982, evolutionary thought is again knocking at the door of sociology in the guise of W.G.…”

Section: 1mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of theories of a broadly similar nature have been developed to this end (e.g. Dawkins 1982,Rindos 1985,Dennett 1991,Barkow et al 1992, Plotkin 1994. For culture to emerge non-miraculously from a genetically determined world it must be shown that a) the capacity for culture is adaptive for genes, and b) that culture itself does not violate fundamental laws of the natural world.…”

Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Selectionist Paradigm: More Implications for Sociology

Marsden¹

1998

Sociological Research Online

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This paper argues that despite 50 years of empirical research, the phenomenon of social contagion is still poorly understood. Social contagion research has produced an eclectic, largely confused and jumbled body of evidence that lacks any comprehensive organising principle or conceptual framework. Whilst the great majority of this empirical research has identified and confirmed existence of the social contagion phenomenon, results have been undermined because the phenomenon itself has been variously and ambiguously defined and operationalised. This has meant that the potential radical implications of social contagion research findings for an orthodox understanding of the human individual as a rational Cartesian agent, have been largely ignored. It is suggested that the emerging evolutionary paradigm of memetics may provide a novel conceptual framework for understanding and explaining the empirical phenomenon of social contagion, by understanding it as the observable action of selfish memes replicating through a population. The article concludes by proposing a memetic theory of social contagion, and ends with a call for the synthesis of the two bodies to create a comprehensive body of theoretically informed research.

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Darwinian Selection, Symbolic Variation, and the Evolution of Culture [and Comments and Reply]

Cited by 86 publications

References 0 publications

Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

A General Agent-Based Model of Social Learning

The Selectionist Paradigm: More Implications for Sociology

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