The Evolution of Culture - Softcover

Dunbar, Robin; Knight, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748610766 ISBN 13: 9780748610761

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 1999

Synopsis

This book explores the ways in which contemporary evolutionary thinking might inform the study of the peculiarly human phenomenon of symbolic culture, including language, ritual, religion, religion and art.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The Evolution of Culture seeks to explain the origins, evolution and character of human culture, from language, art, music and ritual to the use of technology and the beginnings of social, political and economic behavior. It is concerned not only with where and when human culture evolved, but also asks how and why. The book draws together original contributions by archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and psychologists. By integrating evolutionary biology with the social sciences, it shows how contemporary evolutionary thinking can inform the study of the peculiarly human phenomenon of culture. The contributors call into question the gulf currently separating the natural from the cultural sciences. Human capacities for culture, they argue, evolved through standard processes of natural and sexual selection and can be properly analyzed as biological adaptations. The Evolution of Culture is fully referenced and indexed and contains a guide to further reading. It is accessibly written and will be sure to appeal to the growing multidisciplinary readership now asking questions about human origins.

About the Author

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Psychology, Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool. Chris Knight is Reader in Anthropology at the University of East London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0748610766
• ISBN 13: 9780748610761
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256