Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities
Cultural change constitutes a Darwinian evolutionary process, comprising the three Darwinian principles of variation, selection and inheritance. Yet cultural evolution is not identical to genetic evolution: the sources of variation, the forms of selection and the modes of inheritance found in cultur...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2010-12-01
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| Series: | Cultural Science |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.24 |
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| _version_ | 1823860423597752320 |
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| author | Mesoudi Alex |
| author_facet | Mesoudi Alex |
| author_sort | Mesoudi Alex |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cultural change constitutes a Darwinian evolutionary process, comprising the three Darwinian principles of variation, selection and inheritance. Yet cultural evolution is not identical to genetic evolution: the sources of variation, the forms of selection and the modes of inheritance found in cultural evolution may be very different to those found in genetic evolution. Here, I review research conducted in the last 30 years that has built a Darwinian theory of cultural change by borrowing the rigorous, quantitative methods developed by biologists to explain biological evolution, yet simultaneously acknowledging the differences between cultural and genetic evolution. I argue that the quantitative nature of Darwinian methods (e.g. statistical analysis, formal models, laboratory experiments) has resulted in a significantly better understanding of cultural phenomena than many traditional non-evolutionary, non-scientific approaches to cultural change in the social sciences and humanities. Evolutionary theory also provides a synthetic framework within which different branches of the social sciences and humanities may be integrated, equivalent to the “evolutionary synthesis” that integrated the biological sciences in the early 20th century. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-620af834fe9c49bfb6cd2dd6b52fabca |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1836-0416 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2010-12-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cultural Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-620af834fe9c49bfb6cd2dd6b52fabca2025-02-10T13:26:38ZengSciendoCultural Science1836-04162010-12-013120721810.5334/csci.2424Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and HumanitiesMesoudi Alex0Biological and Experimental Psychology Group, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary University of London, LondonUKCultural change constitutes a Darwinian evolutionary process, comprising the three Darwinian principles of variation, selection and inheritance. Yet cultural evolution is not identical to genetic evolution: the sources of variation, the forms of selection and the modes of inheritance found in cultural evolution may be very different to those found in genetic evolution. Here, I review research conducted in the last 30 years that has built a Darwinian theory of cultural change by borrowing the rigorous, quantitative methods developed by biologists to explain biological evolution, yet simultaneously acknowledging the differences between cultural and genetic evolution. I argue that the quantitative nature of Darwinian methods (e.g. statistical analysis, formal models, laboratory experiments) has resulted in a significantly better understanding of cultural phenomena than many traditional non-evolutionary, non-scientific approaches to cultural change in the social sciences and humanities. Evolutionary theory also provides a synthetic framework within which different branches of the social sciences and humanities may be integrated, equivalent to the “evolutionary synthesis” that integrated the biological sciences in the early 20th century.https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.24 |
| spellingShingle | Mesoudi Alex Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities Cultural Science |
| title | Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities |
| title_full | Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities |
| title_fullStr | Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities |
| title_short | Evolutionary Synthesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities |
| title_sort | evolutionary synthesis in the social sciences and humanities |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.24 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mesoudialex evolutionarysynthesisinthesocialsciencesandhumanities |