The Evolution Of Cultural Diversity

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The Evolution of Cultural Diversity

Ruth Mace,Clare J Holden,Stephen Shennan
The Evolution of Cultural Diversity Book PDF

Author : Ruth Mace,Clare J Holden,Stephen Shennan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 334 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2016-09-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781315418599

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The Evolution of Cultural Diversity by Ruth Mace,Clare J Holden,Stephen Shennan Pdf

Virtually all aspects of human behavior show enormous variation both within and between cultural groups, including material culture, social organization and language. Thousands of distinct cultural groups exist: about 6,000 languages are spoken today, and it is thought that a far greater number of languages existed in the past but became extinct. Using a Darwinian approach, this book seeks to explain this rich cultural variation. There are a number of theoretical reasons to believe that cultural diversification might be tree-like, that is phylogenetic: material and non-material culture is clearly inherited by descendants, there is descent with modification, and languages appear to be hierarchically related. There are also a number of theoretical reasons to believe that cultural evolution is not tree-like: cultural inheritance is not Mendelian and can indeed be vertical, horizontal or oblique, evidence of borrowing abounds, cultures are not necessarily biological populations and can be transient and complex. Here, for the first time, this title tackles these questions of cultural evolution empirically and quantitatively, using a range of case studies from Africa, the Pacific, Europe, Asia and America. A range of powerful theoretical tools developed in evolutionary biology is used to test detailed hypotheses about historical patterns and adaptive functions in cultural evolution. Evidence is amassed from archaeological, linguist and cultural datasets, from both recent and historical or pre-historical time periods. A unifying theme is that the phylogenetic approach is a useful and powerful framework, both for describing the evolutionary history of these traits, and also for testing adaptive hypotheses about their evolution and co-evolution. Contributors include archaeologists, anthropologists, evolutionary biologists and linguists, and this book will be of great interest to all those involved in these areas.

The Evolution of Cultural Diversity

Ruth Mace,Clare J Holden,Stephen Shennan
The Evolution of Cultural Diversity Book PDF

Author : Ruth Mace,Clare J Holden,Stephen Shennan
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2016-09-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781315418605

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The Evolution of Cultural Diversity by Ruth Mace,Clare J Holden,Stephen Shennan Pdf

Virtually all aspects of human behavior show enormous variation both within and between cultural groups, including material culture, social organization and language. Thousands of distinct cultural groups exist: about 6,000 languages are spoken today, and it is thought that a far greater number of languages existed in the past but became extinct. Using a Darwinian approach, this book seeks to explain this rich cultural variation. There are a number of theoretical reasons to believe that cultural diversification might be tree-like, that is phylogenetic: material and non-material culture is clearly inherited by descendants, there is descent with modification, and languages appear to be hierarchically related. There are also a number of theoretical reasons to believe that cultural evolution is not tree-like: cultural inheritance is not Mendelian and can indeed be vertical, horizontal or oblique, evidence of borrowing abounds, cultures are not necessarily biological populations and can be transient and complex. Here, for the first time, this title tackles these questions of cultural evolution empirically and quantitatively, using a range of case studies from Africa, the Pacific, Europe, Asia and America. A range of powerful theoretical tools developed in evolutionary biology is used to test detailed hypotheses about historical patterns and adaptive functions in cultural evolution. Evidence is amassed from archaeological, linguist and cultural datasets, from both recent and historical or pre-historical time periods. A unifying theme is that the phylogenetic approach is a useful and powerful framework, both for describing the evolutionary history of these traits, and also for testing adaptive hypotheses about their evolution and co-evolution. Contributors include archaeologists, anthropologists, evolutionary biologists and linguists, and this book will be of great interest to all those involved in these areas.

Cultural Evolution

Alex Mesoudi
Cultural Evolution Book PDF

Author : Alex Mesoudi
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2011-07-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780226520452

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Cultural Evolution by Alex Mesoudi Pdf

Charles Darwin changed the course of scientific thinking by showing how evolution accounts for the stunning diversity and biological complexity of life on earth. Recently, there has also been increased interest in the social sciences in how Darwinian theory can explain human culture. Covering a wide range of topics, including fads, public policy, the spread of religion, and herd behavior in markets, Alex Mesoudi shows that human culture is itself an evolutionary process that exhibits the key Darwinian mechanisms of variation, competition, and inheritance. This cross-disciplinary volume focuses on the ways cultural phenomena can be studied scientifically—from theoretical modeling to lab experiments, archaeological fieldwork to ethnographic studies—and shows how apparently disparate methods can complement one another to the mutual benefit of the various social science disciplines. Along the way, the book reveals how new insights arise from looking at culture from an evolutionary angle. Cultural Evolution provides a thought-provoking argument that Darwinian evolutionary theory can both unify different branches of inquiry and enhance understanding of human behavior.

Continuities in Cultural Evolution

Margaret Mead
Continuities in Cultural Evolution Book PDF

Author : Margaret Mead
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 526 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2017-07-12
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781351526081

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Continuities in Cultural Evolution by Margaret Mead Pdf

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.

Understanding Cultural Traits

Fabrizio Panebianco,Emanuele Serrelli
Understanding Cultural Traits Book PDF

Author : Fabrizio Panebianco,Emanuele Serrelli
Publisher : Springer
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2016-02-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783319243498

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Understanding Cultural Traits by Fabrizio Panebianco,Emanuele Serrelli Pdf

This volume constitutes a first step towards an ever-deferred interdisciplinary dialogue on cultural traits. It offers a way to enter a representative sample of the intellectual diversity that surrounds this topic, and a means to stimulate innovative avenues of research. It stimulates critical thinking and awareness in the disciplines that need to conceptualize and study culture, cultural traits, and cultural diversity. Culture is often defined and studied with an emphasis on cultural features. For UNESCO, “culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group”. But the very possibility of assuming the existence of cultural traits is not granted, and any serious evaluation of the notion of “cultural trait” requires the interrogation of several disciplines from cultural anthropology to linguistics, from psychology to sociology to musicology, and all areas of knowledge on culture. This book presents a strong multidisciplinary perspective that can help clarify the problems about cultural traits.

Explaining Human Diversity

Carles Salazar
Explaining Human Diversity Book PDF

Author : Carles Salazar
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2018-07-04
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781351127967

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Explaining Human Diversity by Carles Salazar Pdf

Why are humans so different from each other and what makes the human species so different from all other living organisms? This introductory book provides a concise and accessible account of human diversity, of its causes and the ways in which anthropologists go about trying to make sense of it. Carles Salazar offers students a thoroughly integrated view by bringing together biological and sociocultural anthropology and including perspectives from evolutionary biology and psychology.

Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution

Stephen Shennan
Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution Book PDF

Author : Stephen Shennan
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0520255992

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Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution by Stephen Shennan Pdf

This volume offers an integrative approach to the application of evolutionary theory in studies of cultural transmission and social evolution and reveals the enormous range of ways in which Darwinian ideas can lead to productive empirical research, the touchstone of any worthwhile theoretical perspective. While many recent works on cultural evolution adopt a specific theoretical framework, such as dual inheritance theory or human behavioral ecology, Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution emphasizes empirical analysis and includes authors who employ a range of backgrounds and methods to address aspects of culture from an evolutionary perspective. Editor Stephen Shennan has assembled archaeologists, evolutionary theorists, and ethnographers, whose essays cover a broad range of time periods, localities, cultural groups, and artifacts.

On Cultural Diversity

Christian Reus-Smit
On Cultural Diversity Book PDF

Author : Christian Reus-Smit
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 279 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2018-08-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781108473859

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On Cultural Diversity by Christian Reus-Smit Pdf

Critically evaluates how international relations theories have conceived culture, and advances a new account of cultural diversity and international order.

Culture and the Evolutionary Process

Robert Boyd,Peter J. Richerson
Culture and the Evolutionary Process Book PDF

Author : Robert Boyd,Peter J. Richerson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 339 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 1988-06-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226069333

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Culture and the Evolutionary Process by Robert Boyd,Peter J. Richerson Pdf

How do biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural factors combine to change societies over the long run? Boyd and Richerson explore how genetic and cultural factors interact, under the influence of evolutionary forces, to produce the diversity we see in human cultures. Using methods developed by population biologists, they propose a theory of cultural evolution that is an original and fair-minded alternative to the sociobiology debate.

The Evolution of Culture

Stefan Linquist
The Evolution of Culture Book PDF

Author : Stefan Linquist
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 659 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2017-03-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781351890144

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The Evolution of Culture by Stefan Linquist Pdf

Recent years have seen a transformation in thinking about the nature of culture. Rather than viewing culture in opposition to biology, a growing number of researchers now regard culture as subject to evolutionary processes. Recent developments in this field have shifted some of the traditional academic fault lines. Alliances are forming between researchers trained in anthropology, evolutionary biology, psychology and philosophy. Meanwhile, several distinct schools of thought have appeared which differ in their vision of what an evolutionary approach to culture should look like. This volume contains some of the most influential publications on these subjects from the past few decades. A theoretical background chapter and critical introduction identify the core issues at stake in the new study of cultural evolution. These chapters are followed by sections on each of the four dominant approaches: the phylogenetic approach, memetics, dual inheritance theory and niche construction. Following these are two chapters on closely related topics: the psychological mechanisms of culture and the existence of culture in non-human animals. Overall, this volume provides an up to date overview of some of the most exciting trends in contemporary evolutionary thought.

The Evolution of Culture in Animals

John Tyler Bonner
The Evolution of Culture in Animals Book PDF

Author : John Tyler Bonner
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 215 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2018-06-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780691186986

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The Evolution of Culture in Animals by John Tyler Bonner Pdf

Animals do have culture, maintains this delightfully illustrated and provocative book, which cites a number of fascinating instances of animal communication and learning. John Bonner traces the origins of culture back to the early biological evolution of animals and provides examples of five categories of behavior leading to nonhuman culture: physical dexterity, relations with other species, auditory communication within a species, geographic locations, and inventions or innovations. Defining culture as the transmission of information by behavioral rather than genetical means, he demonstrates the continuum between the traits we find in animals and those we often consider uniquely human.

Cultural Evolution

Peter J. Richerson,Morten H. Christiansen
Cultural Evolution Book PDF

Author : Peter J. Richerson,Morten H. Christiansen
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 499 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2024-04-30
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780262551908

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Cultural Evolution by Peter J. Richerson,Morten H. Christiansen Pdf

Leading scholars report on current research that demonstrates the central role of cultural evolution in explaining human behavior. Over the past few decades, a growing body of research has emerged from a variety of disciplines to highlight the importance of cultural evolution in understanding human behavior. Wider application of these insights, however, has been hampered by traditional disciplinary boundaries. To remedy this, in this volume leading researchers from theoretical biology, developmental and cognitive psychology, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, history, and economics come together to explore the central role of cultural evolution in different aspects of human endeavor. The contributors take as their guiding principle the idea that cultural evolution can provide an important integrating function across the various disciplines of the human sciences, as organic evolution does for biology. The benefits of adopting a cultural evolutionary perspective are demonstrated by contributions on social systems, technology, language, and religion. Topics covered include enforcement of norms in human groups, the neuroscience of technology, language diversity, and prosociality and religion. The contributors evaluate current research on cultural evolution and consider its broader theoretical and practical implications, synthesizing past and ongoing work and sketching a roadmap for future cross-disciplinary efforts. Contributors Quentin D. Atkinson, Andrea Baronchelli, Robert Boyd, Briggs Buchanan, Joseph Bulbulia, Morten H. Christiansen, Emma Cohen, William Croft, Michael Cysouw, Dan Dediu, Nicholas Evans, Emma Flynn, Pieter François, Simon Garrod, Armin W. Geertz, Herbert Gintis, Russell D. Gray, Simon J. Greenhill, Daniel B. M. Haun, Joseph Henrich, Daniel J. Hruschka, Marco A. Janssen, Fiona M. Jordan, Anne Kandler, James A. Kitts, Kevin N. Laland, Laurent Lehmann, Stephen C. Levinson, Elena Lieven, Sarah Mathew, Robert N. McCauley, Alex Mesoudi, Ara Norenzayan, Harriet Over, Jürgen Renn, Victoria Reyes-García, Peter J. Richerson, Stephen Shennan, Edward G. Slingerland, Dietrich Stout, Claudio Tennie, Peter Turchin, Carel van Schaik, Matthijs Van Veelen, Harvey Whitehouse, Thomas Widlok, Polly Wiessner, David Sloan Wilson

Cultural Vision

J. Knutsen
Cultural Vision Book PDF

Author : J. Knutsen
Publisher : iUniverse
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2003-11
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780595291465

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Cultural Vision by J. Knutsen Pdf

For hundreds of millennia, thousands of tribal cultures have thrived throughout the planet, each possessing a unique Vision, derived from thousands of years of evolution. With their deep ties to the world around them they experienced a communion with life, which offered a spiritual sense of overwhelming interconnectedness with the land, the plants, the animals, and each other. But one culture evolved to dominate all others, and linear history was created. Now a new reality has been built over the former surface of the planet, not only altering the biosphere, but also what is available for us to interact with and relate to. We struggle with the meaningless daily rote duties of our jobs. We live sequestered lives in houses and apartments, cut off from our neighbors, woefully uninformed in a sea of trivial information. Unprecedented resource extraction and energy consumption is heralding the greatest mass extinction of plant and animal life, the likes of which has not been seen in the last 65 million years. Cultural Vision exposes the ancient roots of these challenges as it reveals a new direction for the future of humanity based upon cooperation, true human values, and cultural diversity.

Cultural Heritage, Cultural Rights, Cultural Diversity

Silvia Borelli,Federico Lenzerini
Cultural Heritage Cultural Rights Cultural Diversity Book PDF

Author : Silvia Borelli,Federico Lenzerini
Publisher : Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
Page : 461 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2012-07-05
Category : Law
ISBN : 9789004228399

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Cultural Heritage, Cultural Rights, Cultural Diversity by Silvia Borelli,Federico Lenzerini Pdf

This volume explores the recent evolution of cultural heritage law which has resulted in the emergence of a new international conscience, rooted in the awareness that cultural heritage represents a holistic notion strongly connected with the identity of peoples.

Human Natures

Paul R. Ehrlich
Human Natures Book PDF

Author : Paul R. Ehrlich
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 545 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2001-12-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780142000533

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Human Natures by Paul R. Ehrlich Pdf

Why do we behave the way we do? Biologist Paul Ehrlich suggests that although people share a common genetic code, these genes "do not shout commands at us...at the very most, they whisper suggestions." He argues that human nature is not so much result of genetic coding; rather, it is heavily influenced by cultural conditioning and environmental factors. With personal anecdotes, a well-written narrative, and clear examples, Human Natures is a major work of synthesis and scholarship as well as a valuable primer on genetics and evolution that makes complex scientific concepts accessible to lay readers.