Innovation in Cultural Systems

Contributions from Evolutionary Anthropology
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-262-01333-8
Verlag: MIT Press Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 295 Seiten, Format (B × H): 182 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 586 g

Reihe: Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology

Leading scholars offer a range of perspectives on the roles played by innovation in the evolution of human culture.In recent years an interest in applying the principles of evolution to the study of culture emerged in the social sciences. Archaeologists and anthropologists reconsidered the role of innovation in particular, and have moved toward characterizing innovation in cultural systems not only as a product but also as an evolutionary process. This distinction was familiar to biology but new to the social sciences; cultural evolutionists from the nineteenth to the twentieth century had tended to see innovation as a preprogrammed change that occurred when a cultural group “needed” to overcome environmental problems. In this volume, leading researchers from a variety of disciplines—including anthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, philosophy, and psychology—offer their perspectives on cultural innovation. The book provides not only a range of views but also an integrated account, with the chapters offering an orderly progression of thought. The contributors consider innovation in biological terms, discussing epistemology, animal studies, systematics and phylogeny, phenotypic plasticity and evolvability, and evo-devo; they discuss modern insights into innovation, including simulation, the random-copying model, diffusion, and demographic analysis; and they offer case studies of innovation from archaeological and ethnographic records, examining developmental, behavioral, and social patterns.Contributors
André Ariew, R. Alexander Bentley, Werner Callebaut, Joseph Henrich, Anne Kandler, Kevin N. Laland, Daniel O. Larson, Alex Mesoudi, Michael J. O'Brien, Craig T. Palmer, Adam Powell, Simon M. Reader, Valentine Roux, Chet Savage, Michael Brian Schiffer, Jeffrey H. Schwartz, Stephen J. Shennan, James Steele, Mark G. Thomas, Todd L. VanPool

Autoren/Hrsg.

O'Brien, Michael J.

Shennan, Stephen J.

Weitere Mitwirkende

O'Brien, Michael J.

Shennan, Stephen J.

Ariew, Andrè

Laland, Kevin N.

Reader, Simon M.

Schwartz, Jeffrey H.

Larson, Daniel O.

Callebaut, Werner

Henrich, Joseph

Bentley, R. Alexander

Powell, Adam

Thomas, Mark G.

Palmer, Craig T.

Mesoudi, Alex

Kandler, Anne

Steele, James

Roux, Valentine

Schiffer, Michael Brian

VanPool, Todd L.

Savage, Chet

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Über Autor(innen)

Palmer, Craig T.
Craig T. Palmer is Instructor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado.

O'Brien, Michael J.
Michael J. O'Brien is Provost and Professor of History at Texas A&M University–San Antonio and the coauthor of I'll Have What She's Having: Mapping Social Behavior and The Acceleration of Cultural Change: From Ancestors to Algorithms (both published by the MIT Press).

Callebaut, Werner
The late Werner Callebaut was Scientific Manager of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Vienna, and Visiting Research Professor of Philosophy of Science at University of Vienna.

Shennan, Stephen J.
Stephen J. Shennan is Professor of Theoretical Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.

Bentley, R. Alexander
R. Alexander Bentley is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee and coauthor of I'll Have What She's Having: Mapping Social Behavior and The Acceleration of Cultural Change: From Ancestors to Algorithms (both published by the MIT Press).

O'Brien, Michael J.
Michael J. O'Brien is Provost and Professor of History at Texas A&M University–San Antonio and the coauthor of I'll Have What She's Having: Mapping Social Behavior and The Acceleration of Cultural Change: From Ancestors to Algorithms (both published by the MIT Press).

Laland, Kevin N.
Kevin N. Laland is Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology at the University of St. Andrews.

Schiffer, Michael Brian
Michael Brian Schiffer is Fred A. Riecker Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona and Research Associate at the Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of six previous books on technology.

Shennan, Stephen J.
Stephen J. Shennan is Professor of Theoretical Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.

Schwartz, Jeffrey H.
Jeffrey H. Schwartz is Professor of Physical Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of The Red Ape: Orang-utans and Human Origins, What the Bones Tell Us, and other books.

Stephen J. Shennan is Professor of Theoretical Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.