Abstract
One of the most essential but theoretically vexing issues regarding the notion of culture is that of cultural evolution and transmission: how a group’s accumulated solutions to invariant challenges develop and persevere over time. But at the moment, the notion of applying evolutionary theory to culture remains little more than a suggestive trope. Whereas the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory has provided an encompassing scientific framework for the selection and transmission of biological adaptations, a convincing theory of cultural evolution has yet to emerge. One of the greatest challenges for theorists is identifying the appropriate time scales and units of analysis in order to reduce the intractably large and complex phenomenon of “culture” into its component “building blocks.” In this paper, we present a model for scientifically investigating cultural processes by analyzing the ways people develop conventions in a series of LEGO construction tasks. The data revealed a surprising pattern in the selection of building bricks as well as features of car design across consecutive building sessions. Our findings support a novel methodology for studying the development and transmission of culture through the microcosm of interactive LEGO design and assembly.
Highlights
Natural selection has proven to be a uniquely successful scientific paradigm
If theorists of society have had the archetype of biological evolution to inspire them for so long, why have they come up short in their attempts to achieve something similar for culture? Is culture qualitatively different than biology, so that attempting to create an “evolutionary theory” of culture is non-sensical, or a mere metaphor? In agreement with a growing number of scholars (Boyd and Richerson, 2005; Mesoudi, 2011; Sterelny, 2012), we hold that many of the basic processes which undergird the evolutionary theory of life apply to culture as well
Inspired by Darwin’s meticulous study of details, we hypothesize that an evolutionary theory of culture will develop through careful observations of the smallest phenomena that can still be called “cultural.” And just as Darwin gradually came to an understanding of natural selection by noting tiny differences among barnacles, finches, and other creatures, an understanding of the evolutionary processes of culture will likely derive from particularistic studies of culture’s “building blocks.”
Summary
Natural selection has proven to be a uniquely successful scientific paradigm. By identifying the basic processes through which organisms change, Darwin (1859) established a research program that has revolutionized the study of life, but has provided a template for what a comprehensive model of transformation over time ought to look like. In spite of many attempts to adapt ideas from biological evolution to the study of culture, beginning soon after the publication of Darwin’s magnum opus (Spencer, 1864; Galton, 1869; Haeckel, 1900), the preliminary approaches have, as of yet, failed. This includes even the impressively nuanced models of such 20th century scholars as Steward (1955) and Parsons (1966). Inspired by Darwin’s meticulous study of details, we hypothesize that an evolutionary theory of culture will develop through careful observations of the smallest phenomena that can still be called “cultural.” And just as Darwin gradually came to an understanding of natural selection by noting tiny differences among barnacles, finches, and other creatures, an understanding of the evolutionary processes of culture will likely derive from particularistic studies of culture’s “building blocks.”
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