Communicating culture: An evolutionary explanation

 James Lull, San José (США)

 Eduardo Neiva, Alabama (США)

https://doi.org/10.3916/C36-2011-02-02

Ключевые слова

Evolution, evolutionary communication, culture, meme, cultural transmission, cultural development

Резюме

Whether gathering around bonfires, watching TV, or sitting in front of computer screens, the pressures of Darwinian natural selection have forced individuals into tight patterns of interdependency, welded together by communication links. Can the information-sharing behavior of our species ever be brought into broader perspective and eventually foster greater harmony for all humankind? The authors argue that the answer to this question is «yes». Culture provides the necessary space for social negotiation and change. Advanced communication ability is the means by which this necessary cultural work is perpetually accomplished. A non-deterministic understanding of culture must be acknowledged from the outset. Cultural life differs greatly from biological conditions. Even under repressive conditions, culture is not determined the same way viral infections ravage biological bodies or computers. Technological advances in communication do not simply reinforce and intensify top-down, dominant cultural messages as theories of imperialism, memetic transmission, or social contagion contend. The pace of cultural development over the past 10,000 years has been particularly fast compared to any other time since hominids split from our common ancestor with chimpanzees millions of years ago. Our species’ unique skill as communicators in the dynamic technological and cultural environment of today offers real hope for retrieving the primordial affinities that unite us all.

Ссылки

Aunger, R. (2002). The Electric Meme. New York: Free Press.

Link Google Scholar

Blackmore, S. (1999). The Meme Machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Christakis, N. & Fowler, J. (2009). Connected. New York: Little Brown and Company.

Link Google Scholar

Darwin, C. (1859/1979). The Origin of Species. New York: Random House.

Link Google Scholar

Darwin, C. (1871/1981). The Descent of Man. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Dawkins, R. (1989). The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Dawkins, R. (2006a). The God Delusion. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Link Google Scholar

Dawkins, R. (2006b). Afterword. Presented to London School of Economics and Political Science. March 16.

Link Google Scholar

Dennett, D. (1995). Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. Evolution and the Meaning of Life. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Link Google Scholar

Dennett, D. (2006). Breaking the Spell. New York: Penguin.

Link Google Scholar

Dennett, D. (2009). Darwin and the Evolution of «Why». Address Given to Darwin Anniversary Festival, Cambridge, UK. July 8.

Link Google Scholar

Distin, K. (2005). The Selfish Meme. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

Link Google Scholar

Harpending, H. (2009). The 10,000 Year Explosion. New York: Basic Books.

Link Google Scholar

Hull, D.L. (1988). Science as a Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Link Google Scholar

Johanson, D. & Edgar, B. (2006). From Lucy to Language. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Link Google Scholar

Liberty in Today’s Diverse World. New York: Oxford University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Lull, J. (2007). Culture-on-Demand. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.

Link DOI | Link Google Scholar

Maynard Smith, J. & Szathmáry, E. (1995). The Major Transitions in Evolution. Oxford: W.H. Freeman/Spektrum.

Link Google Scholar

Pinker, S. & Bloom, P. (1990). Natural Language and Natural Selection. Behavioral and Brain Science, 13; 707-784.

Link Google Scholar

Pinker, S. (2009). My Genome, my Self. The New York Times Magazine, January 11; 26-30.

Link Google Scholar

Richerson, P.J. & Boyd, R. (2005). Not by Genes Alone. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Link Google Scholar

United Nations Development Programme (2004). Human Development Report: Cultural

Link Google Scholar

Wade, N. (2006). Before the Dawn. New York: Penguin.

Link Google Scholar

Fundref

Эта работа не имеет финансовой поддержки

Crossmark

Техническая спецификация

метрика

Метрики этой статьи

Просмотров: 35414

Ознакомление с аннотациями: 28534

загрузки PDF-файлов: 6880

Полные метрики 36

Просмотров: 814008

Ознакомление с аннотациями: 641532

загрузки PDF-файлов: 172476

Цитируется