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The Evolution of Cultural Identities

Wheeler, Michael

Ever since Darwin, scholars have noted that cultural entities such as languages, laws, firms and theories seem to evolve through sequences of variation, selection and replication, in many ways just like living organisms. These essays consider whether this comparison is just a metaphor, or whether modern evolutionary theory can help us to understand the dynamics of different cultural domains. The evolutionary paradigm of rationality has a significant role to play throughout the human sciences, but raises complex issues in every cultural context where it is applied. By fostering discussion between scholars from a wide range of research traditions, this volume aims to influence the evolution of all of them. 221p (British Academy/OUP 2002)

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