SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY (Michaelmas 2016) Dr Michael Biggs

Transcription

1 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY (Michaelmas 2016) Dr Michael Biggs Theoretical Perspectives 8. Cultural evolution SociologicalTheory.shtml! Applying for MSc in Sociology at Oxford?

2 conflict Evolution image of social order harmony individual locus of explanation situation macro

3 Darwin s natural selection Three elements (Lewontin): heritability genes variation mutation, random with respect to fitness differential replication genes making the fittest organisms are most likely to be replicated Could social phenomena be explained by a similar process? cultural evolution evolutionary psychology coevolution (Durham 1991)

4 1. Culture is adaptive vis à vis environment Intentional explanation is not sufficient because the results of innovation cannot be foreseen, especially cumulative Differential replication because people with inferior culture (i) eliminated extension of natural selection (ii) adopt superior culture Example: technology Norse in Greenland (Dugmore et al. 2012)

5 2. Culture is adaptive for the collective vis à vis individual Individual self-interest can produce inferior outcome (Hobbes) norms of cooperation may create a better outcome a tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes (Darwin 1871) EP? Problem: every individual has an incentive to violate the norm! how could norms be maintained? Functionalist account of religion (Wilson 2002) e.g. Stark (1996) on the rise of Christianity: Roman cities are chaotic and deadly Christians help each other during outbreaks of disease (i) they are more likely to survive natural selection (ii) pagans are impressed and thus convert

6 3. Culture is adaptive for itself vis à vis humans Shift to seeing humans as the environment for culture meme: unit of information in the brain, analogous to gene (Dawkins 1982) Memes compete with each other to replicate the teddy bear: survival of the cutest (Hinde & Bardon 1985; Morris, Reddy, & Bunting 1995) replication may entail harming the host; e.g. lancet fluke

7 Religion as virus of the mind (Dawkins 1993) conflates harm with irrationality, e.g. belief that mystery is a virtue what are the criteria for evaluating the rationality of beliefs? [cf. lecture 1] Real harm: religious martyrdom? contrast value-rationality [lecture 3]! Georges du Mesnil de La Tour St Sebastien Attended by St Irene ( )

8 Evolutionary account of science (Hull 1988) Social institutions harness self-interest of individual scientists: desire for credit, awarded through citation balance continuity (need to cite predecessors) and novelty (reward given for being first); ensure publication of results Scientific memes are replicated through teaching and citation via scientists, interact with reality (their environment); the best proliferate, the worst go extinct no one tries to disprove their own ideas; falsification happens because competing scientists have an interest in defeating their rivals Resulting selection process is effective though inefficient At higher level, these institutions have themselves evolved

9 Problems Hard to measure fitness in a way that is not tautological religion enhances cooperation, but also provokes sectarian violence Memes difficult to identify (Aunger ed. 2000; Jablonka & Lamb 2005) behaviour or idea? a religion like Christianity comprises innumerable elements culture emphasizes logical coherence [lecture 7]

10 Summary Evolution potentially explains change Differential replication of culture by extinction of bearers or by imitation Culture can be adaptive for individuals, adaptive for groups, adaptive for itself Virtues: population thinking is useful regardless (Richerson & Boyd 2005) variation not just mean/ ideal type returns to big questions like religion, long-term cultural change

11 Questions Do societies evolve? Are there any features of modern societies that could be considered evolutionary adaptations? Can memes explain anything?

12 Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) David L. Hull, Science as a Process: An Evolutionary Account of the Social and Conceptual Development of Science (1988) David L. Hull, Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science (2001) Andrew J. Dugmore et al., Cultural Adaptation, Compounding Vulnerabilities and Conjunctures in Norse Greenland, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (2012) William H. Durham, Coevolution: Genes, Culture, and Human Diversity (1991) Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity (1996) David Sloan Wilson, Darwin s Cathedral (2002) Peter J. Richerson & Robert Boyd, Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution (2005) Robert Aunger (ed.), Darwinizing Culture: The Status of Memetics as a Science (2000) Eva Jablonka & Marion J. Lamb, Evolution in Four Dimensions (2005) Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (1982) Richard Dawkins, Viruses of the Mind, Bo Dahlbohm (ed.), Dennett and His Critics: Demystifying Mind (1993) Alex Mesoudi, Andrew Whiten, & Kevin L. Laland, Towards a Unified Science of Cultural Evolution, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29 (2006) Robert A Hinde & L. A. Barden, The Evolution of the Teddy Bear, Animal Behavior 33 (1985)