Theory Of Cultural Evolution Research Articles

Cultural Survivals Theory and Traditional Customs: An Examination of the Effects of Privileging on the Form and Perception of Some English Calendar Customs

AbstractCultural survivals theory is a development of the theory of cultural evolution proposed by E. B. Tylor. From his work on ‘primitive’ societies, Tyler put forward the theory that all cultures evolve in relatively fixed sequences through stages of savagery and barbarism to civilization. Residual expressive culture from early stages of the progression was proposed as ‘surviving’ into the civilized era in the form of traditional songs, games, narratives, and customs. The universality of cultural development, which is posited as underlying the survivals thesis, renders the expressive culture of one culture and period open to interpretation through data drawn from other social groups in different geographical areas and temporal periods, thus forming the basis of the comparative method in folkloristics, anthropology, sociology, and other social sciences.

Antropologia kulturowa i społeczna

The central concept of anthropology as a humanistic discipline is that of culture. The use of "culture", although operative since the Ancient era, derives mainly from social evolutionism and Kuiturgeschichte of the XIX century. The turning point in the development of cultural (social) anthropology was the work of an Englishman, E. B. lyior. Since his "Primitive Culture" (London 1871) it became possible to speak of culture in general and of particular cultures. It is difficult to settle upon a single definition of this complex term. A.L. Kroeber and C. Kluckhohn analysed 168 definitions of culture. These appeared, as judged by general emphasis, to fall into six major groups: 1) enumeratively descriptive, 2) historical, 3) normative, 4) psychological, 5) structural, 6) genetic. The term "cultural anthropology" is more widely used in the United States whereas in Britain the term "social anthropology" is predominant. In Central Europe, particularly in German-speaking countries, the term "anthropology" has been reserved for biological aspects of man’s life. The study of cultural dimension of man’s existence appears under the label of ethnology (the theoretical and generalizing aspect) and ethnography (the descriptive aspect). This pattern has been followed, by and large, by Polish scientific community. However, there is too much overlap to warrant keeping apart "cultural" from "social" anthropology. The subject matter of the discipline is essentially two-dimensional, being always both "cultural" and "social". All human behaviour is influnced by cultural standards, and conversely culture itself is essentially social, in its transmission and distribution among the members of a society. Many anthropologists therefore either speak of social and cultural anthropology jointly or fuse them into a single term "sociocultural anthropology". In the growth of the discipline, one can discern several theoretical orientations. 1) Evolutionism - the application of the general theory of evolution to cultural phenomena as distinguished from biological or physical phenomena. Cultural evolution is conceived as a continuous and usually accumulative process, by which cultural phenomena undergo change, one form or stage succeeding another. 2) Diffusion ism - a term to refer to all the orderly processes which produce cultural similarities in various societies other than invention. The concept of the Kulturkreis, coined by the German culture-historical school, has proved to be most influential and representative for this school of thought. 3) Historicism - the emphasis on historically created diversities, leaving to psychology the exploration of common human nature. Every aspect of culture must be considered in the total context in which it occurred. F. Boas was a leading exponent of this way of viewing anthropology. 4) Culture and personality approach - the stress laid upon the interaction between culture and personality formation. Culture exists only in human personalities; motives, emotions and values are institutionalized in culture. 5) Functionalism - the explanation of anthropological facts by the part which they play within the integral system of culture and by the manner in which they are related to each other. Functionalism, propounded by B. Malinowski and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, became the theoretical foundation of the British social anthropology with its emphasis on organization and social structure. 6) Structuralism - a thesis of fundamental constancy of structural, unconscious equipment of man (its main representative is C. Lévi-Strauss). In order to reach the structure of socio-cultural reality, a process of symbolization (converting facts into signs) is required. 7) Ncocvoluliotiism - an attempt to revive, refine and test the theory of cultural evolution, particularly with regard to its unilinear or multilinear character. Within this orientation the interdisciplinary discussion is being held on the interaction between biology and culture. Human evolution is considered the history of feedback relationship between organism and behaviour. Human behaviour can best be described as biocultural behaviour. Man is viewed more and more in a holistic way. The emergence of anthropology tout court, an integrated science of man, is a logical consequence of this stance.

Carl Sauer and Cultural Evolution

Abstract Time and change are basic concepts in Carl Sauer's cultural geography: how he used time and conceived change is the subject of this paper. I interpret his historical method in the context of reaction against turn-of-the-century theories of unilinear and providential cultural evolution in favor of cultural historical approaches. The roots of Sauer's anti-evolutionism are found in his early rejection of environmental determinism for an empiricist chorology of material culture traits and in his connection with contemporary anthropology. Anti-evolutionism, and an empiricist, chorological approach to geography are also characteristic of Sauer's mature work on culture change. A comparison of his geographical practice with evolutionary thinking suggests that his emphasis on material expressions of culture as objects of study encouraged genetic explanations of the products of culture change rather than theoretical explanations of evolutionary processes.

World prehistory and the theory of cultural evolution

Eddy, Frank. Archaeology: A Cultural‐Evolutionary Approach. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice‐Hall, 1984. x + 342 pp. including illustrations, references, glossary, and index. $21.95 paper.

Blood and Sacrifice

MU t ove over Montezuma. Take a powder Columbus. The written history of the Americas began in 50 B.C., long before the ascent of the Aztecs or the arrival of the Europeans, and is studded with a string of kings whose lives and culture are just beginning to come to light. These once-proud rulers Pacal of Palenque, Shield Jaguar of Yaxchilan and Yax-Pac of Copan, to name a few-are speaking to modern-day researchers thanks to dramatic advances in understanding the magnificent artwork and hieroglyphics of the Maya civilization. In addition, continuing excavations of ancient Maya cities are turning traditional theories of Maya cultural evolution inside out. The Maya culture did not hit a deadend with Spanish conquest in A.D. 1541. About 2 million people who speak more than 30 Mayan languages still live in Mexico and Central America. Their forebears, whose civilization arose in the region's tropical forests around 300 B.C., left behind pyramids, temples and inscriptions that have intrigued scholars for the last 150 years. During most of that time, researchers assumed that the images on stelae (carved tablets), temple walls, pottery and other artifacts showed mystical priests or gods primarily concerned with astrology and a complex calendar system. Furthermore, the archaeological remains at Maya sites were long believed to be the products of people who were peace-loving, religious, modest, conservative and clean, at least until the ninth century, when they began to adopt the bloody sacrificial habits of central Mexican invaders. However, beginning in the early 1960s, the Maya took on a totally different cast as researchers started to decipher their complex writing system. First, Maya monuments were shown to contain emblem glyphs that refer to their city of origin. Then, a series of inscriptions was identified relating to births, accessions, wars, deaths and marriages of Maya kings, as were name glyphs for individual rulers. Finally, it was demonstrated that the hieroglyphics are a bona fide writing system with grammatical structure and phonetic symbols. From there, the study of Maya language and the art to which it is indelibly tied took off. An up-to-date picture of the Maya, particularly during the Classic period or golden era that lasted from around A.D. 200 to A.D. 900, is presented in The Blood of Kings: Dynastyand Ritual in Maya Art [Kimbell Art Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas, 1986] by art historians Linda Schele of the University of Texas at Austin and Mary Ellen Miller of Yale University The book was published in conjunction with a major exhibit of Maya art that opened on May 17 at the Kimbell Art Museum.

Jægerkulturer og fænomenet skyld

This article is a slightly edited Danish version of the opening Fulbright address given at the Department of the History of Religions, Aarhus University. The article introduces definitions of religion, guilt, and religious behaviour, and then introduces a means by which the history of religion can be applied to the evolution of humankind and culture in a timeframe of several thousand years. The theme of guilt in the history of religious humanity is then discussed in three subsections. The first subsection concerns guilt, tools and divine predators, the goal of which is to illuminate the two major forms of guilt-and reconciliation bonding in the course of hominid evolution. This is reconstructed on the basis of recent anthropological theories of cultural evolution and the reshaping of the hominid family tree, from suspected similarities at pre-hominid levels of primate behaviour, as well as from extant Stone Age hunter traditions which, to this day, still contain soteriological solutions to problems of long ago. The second subsection concerns guilt, hunting and healing, the goal of which is to fill the scholastic lacuna concerning primitive hunters’ religious practices especially in relation to the entire primitive hunter-gatherer ethos. The bitter fact of the primitive hunter life, that trickery is a hunter’s actual guilt-producing lifestyle, has never dawned on educated connoisseurs of trickster tales. Primitive folks are portrayed, in spite of what they say or do, as though they face their gods with the same indifference as do their learned visitors. Data which I collected on Navajo hunter traditions substantiate the points in this subsection; while, on the one hand, a healing ceremonial can be understood as a delayed conciliatory hunting rite, it can also be seen, on the other hand, in its restorative function, as a reconciliation ceremony or peace treaty that is performed – on account of human guilt – in accordance with divinely ordained protocol. The third subsection concerns modern versus primitive hunting, the goal of which is to bridge the misunderstanding which academic studies reveal by underlining the extreme pre-suppositional differences between the two forms of hunting.

Prenatal experience with low-frequency maternal voice sounds influences newborns' perception of female voices

Little research has tested the parasite-stress theory of sociality based on a well-framed model of personal values using a multilevel analysis conducted on multinational samples. To robustly examined the validity of this novel theory of cultural evolution, this study used multilevel data of European Social Survey (from 2002 to 2016, 32 countries, N = 374,730) and World Values Survey (from 2005 to 2014, 80 countries, N = 173,540) to investigate the relationships between pathogen prevalence and the conflicting values dimensions (Conservation versus Openness to change; Self-enhancement versus Self-transcendence) of the circular model of human values, accounting for the micro- (age, sex, religious belief, education, and income) and macro-level predictors (modernization and cultural similarity). Results did not support the parasite-stress theory at both the country and individual levels when controlling for a composite index of modernization. Across all analyses, modernization remained a significant predictor of values even when controlling for cultural similarity. No conclusions changed when using an alternative parasite stress estimate. These findings support the modernization theory of value-change but challenge the roles of infectious diseases in cultural evolution.

Culture and the Evolutionary Process

How do biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural factors combine to change societies over the long run? Boyd and Richerson explore how genetic and cultural factors interact, under the influence of evolutionary forces, to produce the diversity we see in human cultures. Using methods developed by population biologists, they propose a theory of cultural evolution that is an original and fair-minded alternative to the sociobiology debate.

Biological and cultural evolution: Different manifestations of the same principle. A systems-theoretical approach

Sociobiology started as the study of the biological evolution of social behavior. Human behavior, however, is the result of the interaction of both biological and cultural factors. Therefore, a theory of human sociobiology should be focused on the interaction of biological and cultural evolution. The recent development of gene-culture coevolutionary theory is a first step into that direction though it is still far from being applicable to concrete situations. One of the main reasons for this is that so far a comprehensive theory of cultural evolution is lacking, thereby leaving unclear the precise nature of the influence of genetic change on cultural change, and vice versa. To be sure, attempts have been made to explain cultural evolution by simply transferring the mechanisms of biological evolution to a cultural setting. This approach, however, is not satisfactory, mainly because the principles that allow the conservation and transfer of information in cultural evolution are quite different from those in biological evolution. In fact, if both types of evolution are different expressions of the same principle, as the names suggest, it should be possible to formulate a more basic definition of evolution. This definition, then, could be used as the starting point for the construction of a theory of cultural evolution. Using concepts from general systems theory, this paper attempts to provide such a basis by formulating a generalized definition of evolution, which applies both to biological and cultural evolution.

Anthropology, law and genetic inheritance

Although anthropology has accepted organic evolution as established fact for more than a century, anthropologists have made few serious attempts to anchor human institutions in the specific social behavior of animal aggregations. Throughout the first half of this century, American and British social and cultural anthropologists with few exceptions rejected cultural evolutionary theory in favor of structural—functional study of directly observable societies. Contemporary anthropologists tend to reject or downgrade the significance of panhuman genetic factors in favor of the dogma of culture as sui generis . However, law as a phenomenon of social structure can probably be linked fruitfully to behavioral research with genetic implications—with cautious stretching of the limits of naivety, through examination of the so-called imperatives of societal maintenance and the ‘law jobs’.

The Southwest and the Plains: Ecology and Economics

The ecological concept of niche is used to provide a better understanding of prehistoric interactions between the Plains and the Puebloan Southwest. A diachronic model is presented based on concepts of energy flow and regional microvariation in net energy input. At a general level, such use of ecological models and principles enables changes in human systems to be seen as an example of a general increase in ecosystem complexity. The application of more powerful theoretic and methodological concepts and constructs can then lead to a more powerful theory of human cultural evolution.

Social Complexity in Chinese Coastal Neolithic Sites

Neolithic cemeteries in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces from about 5000 to 2000 B.C. show increases in the mean numbers of burial goods, goods found with males, and tools used as grave goods; separation of burial localities; differentiation of sets of tools found with males and females; a decrease in goods found with children; and common ornaments found with males and females. The distribution of tools seems to reflect a sexual division, with an increase in the prominence of males which may be associated with intensification of cultivation. Emergence of ranking is suggested by very rich graves and ornaments shared by males and females. Chinese theories of cultural evolution are introduced.

Animal cultures and a general theory of cultural evolution

A review of evidence reveals that animal traditions are phylogenetically widespread, appearing in all major vertebrate classes and in the Insecta. Some, but not all, of these traditions fit a general definition of culture, and the evidence further indicates that the cultural traditions of some avian and mammalian species may constitute complex cultural systems. The general definition of culture employed here is based on a concensus of anthropological thought and on population thinking. Population thinking is then used to develop a general theory of branching-reticulate cultural evolution. This theory identifies the causal mechanisms for change and the resultant patterns of change in human and nonhuman cultures. Cultural evolution is viewed at three levels: microevolution; evolution of cultural institutions; and the evolution of cultural lineages and systems. The parallels with, and differences between, organic and cultural evolution are discussed in detail. The theory of branching-reticulate cultural evolution is then applied to specific instances of change in several avian and mammalian cultures.

Comments on the Analogy between Biological and Cultural Evolution

Norman Yoffee's characterizations of the theory of biological evolution and the theory of cultural evolution are inaccurate, unsupported in his work and, further, unsupportable in the literature of evolutionary studies. Therefore, his conclusion that the analogy between biological and cultural evolution is inappropriate cannot be logically valid.

Unconscious Planning in Small Groups

The authors offer a new hypothesis to solve the general theoretical and practical problem of how collaborative groups evolve: Namely, that these small groups engage in unconscious planning to solve their own problems, and that consultants work best by augmenting this group planning. This hypothesis borrows the concept of individual unconscious planning propounded by Weiss (unpublished) and furthered by Weiss et al. (1977) and Sampson (1976) from the context of individual psychoanalysis and explains group development as the coordinating of individual planning, i.e., as group planning. This involves making prominent in early meetings what general problem the group wishes to control and master, as well as a logical sequence of the order in which difficulties need to be confronted. After introducing the problem, the authors consider four major aspects of the group planning theory: First, the presentation of the theory itself, compared to previous theories of group development; second, exemplification of the theory by detailed narratives of two study groups in an experimental group relations conference conducted by the authors; third, the considerable scientific problems in this and further tests of the group planning theory; fourth, this theory as a special case of the general theory of biological evolution, and in particular the theory of more effective cultural evolution through the use of scientific method (Popper, 1972).

The Concept of Artistic Matrices

This paper explores an alternative way of conceptualizing artistic processes in their social dimension. In particular, it sets out to redefine notions of different kinds of artistic processes such as those commonly dealt with under such rubrics as high and popular culture, mass and elite culture, folklore and fine arts. The paper begins with an extended critique of three generally accepted methods of defining different artistic processes: the concept of levels of taste and excellence; the idea of distinctive genres; and the theory of cultural evolution. In place of these accepted approaches, the paper suggests that we consider the arts as growing out of a variety of different matrices or patterns of process within the larger culture. The main body of the paper sets out to define the concept of artistic matrices and to present several model matrices based on this construct. Artistic matrices are defined as processes involving four major elements: the creator-performer, the medium, the symbolic structures and conventions, and the audience. Matrices differ in the definition of these four elements, in different distances between them, and in the presence or absence of mediating agencies within the matrix. On the basis of these definitions, four model matrices are presented: the communal, the mythical, the professional, and the reflexive. It is argued that these models provide a potentially more refined means of defining different cultural processes than the traditional concepts of folk, popular, mass, and elite cultures.

Towards a Theory of Cultural Evolution

AbstractPrevious experience in the development of the mathematical theory of biological evolution, has helped the authors toward their theory of cultural evolution. In this review a constant comparison between the two evolutions, in both directions, has led to an interdisciplinary understanding. Cultural transmission is discussed in detail and the ten major modes of transmission are enunciated; cultural traits are defined and the variance within, as well as between, groups considered. Cultural and environmental selection as well as complex transmission are further aspects leading the authors to the conclusion, that in spite of gross oversimplification, their theory is essential for a rigorous qualitative investigation of cultural evolution.

Models for cultural inheritance: a general linear model

A theory of cultural evolution is proposed based on a general linear mode of cultural transmission. The trait of an individual is assumed to depend on the values of the same trait in other individuals of the same, the previous or earlier generation. The transmission matrix W has as its elements the proportional contributions of each individual (i) of one generation to each individual (j) of another. In addition, there is random variation (copy error or innovation) for each individual. Means and variances of a group of N individuals change with time and will stabilize asymptotically if the matrix W is irreducible and aperiodic. The rate of convergence is geometric and is governed by the largest non-unit eigenvalue of W. Groups fragment and evolve independently if W is reducible. The means of independent groups vary at random at a predicted rate, a phenomenon termed "random cultural drift". Variances within a group tend to be small, assuming cultural homogeneity. Transmission matrices of the teacher/leader type, and of parental type have been specifically considered, as well as social hierarchies. Various limitations, extensions, and some chances of application are discussed.

The archaeology of government

Abstract A broad range of data concerning political systems is embedded in the archaeological record. The present survey is general in nature but suggests that demographic, cultural, societal, geographical and iconographic approaches, especially when employed in combination, will further an understanding of the political organization of text‐free archaeological societies. This in turn ought to facilitate the use of archaeological data for testing more general theories of cultural evolution.

The Psychophysiological Component of Cultural Difference in Color Naming and Illusion Susceptibility

Two classical cognitive phenomena-the naming of colors and the susceptibility to visual illusions-are known to vary across cultures. Explanations for these intercultural differences have, in the past, cen tured on theories of cultural learning, evolution, or relativity. A survey of primary color names reported in this paper suggests a regular geo graphic patterning of color naming identities which parallels the dis tribution of eye pigmentation. It is suggested that differential color sensitivity to short wavelengths, the result of yellow ocular pigment, directly influences color naming. Moreover, this yellow pigment, which reduces chromatic abberation and is therefore advantageous to visual acuity, produces better judgment of certain illusions. The psychophysio logical approach tendered here explains many of the cross-cultural differences in color naming and Muller-Lyer "susceptibility" in a direct and parsimonious fashion.