Abstract
In this paper, we distinguish two different approaches to cultural evolution. One approach is meme-centered, the other organism-centered. We argue that in situations in which the meme- and organism-centered approaches are competing alternatives, the organism-centered approach is in many ways superior. Furthermore, the organism-centered approach can go a long way toward understanding the evolution of institutions. Although the organism-centered approach is preferable for a broad class of situations, we do leave room for super-organismic (group based) or sub-organismic (meme-based) explanations of some cultural phenomena.
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De Block, A., Ramsey, G. The Organism-Centered Approach to Cultural Evolution. Topoi 35, 283–290 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-014-9283-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-014-9283-2