Innovation in Cultural Systems

by O'Brien, Michael J.; Shennan, Stephen J.

• ISBN13: 9780262013338
• ISBN10: 0262013339
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-12-31
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

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:Andre 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 Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	p. vii
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction
Issues in Anthropological Studies of Innovation	p. 3
The Biological Substrate
Innovation and Invention from a Logical Point of View	p. 21
Comparative Perspectives on Human Innovation	p. 37
Organismal Innovation	p. 53
Innovation, Replicative Behavior, and Evolvability	p. 69
Contributions from Neuroscience and Human Decision-Making Theory
Innovation from EvoDevo to Human Culture	p. 81
Cultural Inheritance
The Evolution of Innovation-Enhancing Institutions	p. 99
Fashion versus Reason in the Creative Industries	p. 121
Demography and Variation in the Accumulation of Culturally Inherited Skills	p. 137
Cultural Traditions and the Evolutionary Advantages of Noninnovation	p. 161
The Experimental Study of Cultural Innovation	p. 175
Social Learning, Economic Inequality, and Innovation Diffusion	p. 193
Patterns in the Anthropological Record
Technological Innovations and Developmental Trajectories	p. 217
Social Factors as Evolutionary Forces
Can Archaeologists Study Processes of Invention?	p. 235
War, Women, and Religion	p. 251
The Spread of Salado Polychrome in the American Southwest
Contributors	p. 267
Index	p. 269
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