ISBN:
0521199514
,
0521136148
,
9780521199513
,
9780521136143
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (viii, 257 p)
,
ill
,
24 cm
Edition:
Online-Ausg. 2010 Electronic reproduction; Available via World Wide Web
Parallel Title:
Print version The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection
DDC:
303.4
Keywords:
Darwin, Charles
;
Social evolution
;
Sociology
;
Natural selection
;
Electronic books
Abstract:
"In The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection, W. G. Runciman presents an original and wide-ranging account of the fundamental process by which human cultures and societies come to be of the different kinds that they are. Drawing on and extending recent advances in neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, Runciman argues that collective human behaviour should be analyzed as the acting-out of information transmitted at the three separate but interacting levels of heritable variation and competitive selection - the biological, the cultural, and the social. The implications which this carries for a reformulation of the traditional agenda of comparative and historical sociology are explored with the help of selected examples, and located within the context of current debates about sociological theory and practice. The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection is a succinct and highly imaginative contribution to one of the great intellectual debates of our times, from one of the world's leading social theorists"--Provided by publisher
Description / Table of Contents:
Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Prologue: The Darwinian legacy; Chapter 1 The neo-Darwinian paradigm; Chapter 2 Natural selection and evoked behaviour; Chapter 3 Cultural selection and acquired behaviour; Chapter 4 Social selection and imposed behaviour; Chapter 5 Selectionist theory as narrative history; Epilogue: Sociology in a post-Darwinian world; References; Index
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
,
Electronic reproduction; Available via World Wide Web
URL:
Volltext
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Volltext
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