Cultural Evolution

How Darwinian Theory Can Explain Human Culture and Synthesize the Social Sciences

Mesoudi Alex

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.

Reviews

"While much of modern behavioral and social science treats individuals as autonomous agents, it is absolutely clear that the way we think and act is enormously influenced by the culture in which we live. It also is clear that the major elements of modern culture – science, technology, law, music, and religion – have evolved over time in a quite concrete sense of the term. Mesoudi makes these arguments very well and his book is a very good read" – Richard R. Nelson, Columbia University

"With an engaging, well-informed and clearly written discussion of the evolution of culture, 'Cultural Evolution' is also vital reading for those wishing to understand how the social sciences can and must evolve" – Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire

"For just over a quarter century, scattered groups of renegade evolutionary social scientists have been quietly hammering away in the remote corners of anthropology, archaeology, biology, psychology, and economics to forge a fully Darwinian approach to culture. In elegantly assembling and synthesizing these disparate and often highly technical efforts, Mesoudi has turned on the lights and put out the welcome mat: the interdisciplinary science of culture for the twenty-first century is open for business" – Joseph Henrich, University of British Columbia

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