Items related to Mixed Messages – Cultural and Genetic Inheritance...
As social and symbolic animals - animals with language and systems of signs - humans are informed by two different kinds of heritage, one biological, the other cultural. Scholars have tended to study our genetic and symbolic lineages separately, but in recent years some have begun to explore them together, offering a "dual inheritance theory." In this book, Robert A. Paul offers an entirely new and original consideration of our dual inheritance, going deep inside an extensive ethnographic record to outline a fascinating relationship between our genetic codes and symbolic systems. Examining a wide array of cultures, Paul reveals how the inherent tensions between these two modes of transmission generate many of the features of human society, such as marriage rules, initiation rituals, gender asymmetry, and sexual symbolism. Exploring differences in the requirements, range, and agendas of genetic and symbolic reproduction, he shows that a properly conceived dual inheritance model does a better job of accounting for the distinctive character of actual human societies than either evolutionary or sociocultural construction theories can do alone. Ultimately this book offers a powerful call for a synthesis of the traditions inspired by Darwin, Durkheim, and Freud-one that is critically necessary if we are to advance our understanding of human social life.
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Review:
"Most of the time our genes and culture both work to enhance our survival, but in this riveting book Robert Paul argues that our genetic and cultural inheritances are often in conflict. His exploration takes us from the Mbaya people of South America to the fundamentalist Shaker people in the US to Japan's kamikaze pilots. Who are we really? Robots controlled by our genes or robots of our cultures? Read this book to find out."--New Scientist
"Paul's intent is to stress the dual inheritance theory that extends Darwinian theories and methods from biology and population genetics to human and sociocultural life. Quantifying evolving trends, as seen through the author's extensive use of the HRAF (Human Relations Area Files) to show ethnographically how ideas are copied, perpetuated, and spread through specific cultures, he extends Boyd and Richerson's use of the model. The convincing text is useful for understanding and explaining the depth and breadth of symbolic systems and how they evolve and are 'passed on' from generation to generation. As Paul so eloquently shows here, the 'scientification' of ethnography provides a fascinating opportunity to bridge the divide in the discipline between socially grounded and biologically grounded practitioners. He argues that to see a complete account of human life, anthropology cannot be either/or, but must be both/and to be true to the subject matter. For students of anthropology as well as for biology students, so that what the author proposes can be accomplished. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
"Mixed Messages is an important and thoughtful addition to the literature on evolutionary approaches to ethnographic data."--American Anthropologist
"Mixed Messages is an extraordinary book, in my eyes perhaps the most important anthropological publication of its generation."--Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
"An extremely broad-ranging and informative investigation of cultural dynamics in small-scale societies."--Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture
About the Author:
"Paul's intent is to stress the dual inheritance theory that extends Darwinian theories and methods from biology and population genetics to human and sociocultural life. Quantifying evolving trends, as seen through the author's extensive use of the HRAF (Human Relations Area Files) to show ethnographically how ideas are copied, perpetuated, and spread through specific cultures, he extends Boyd and Richerson's use of the model. The convincing text is useful for understanding and explaining the depth and breadth of symbolic systems and how they evolve and are 'passed on' from generation to generation. As Paul so eloquently shows here, the 'scientification' of ethnography provides a fascinating opportunity to bridge the divide in the discipline between socially grounded and biologically grounded practitioners. He argues that to see a complete account of human life, anthropology cannot be either/or, but must be both/and to be true to the subject matter. For students of anthropology as well as for biology students, so that what the author proposes can be accomplished. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
"Mixed Messages is an important and thoughtful addition to the literature on evolutionary approaches to ethnographic data."--American Anthropologist
"Mixed Messages is an extraordinary book, in my eyes perhaps the most important anthropological publication of its generation."--Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
"An extremely broad-ranging and informative investigation of cultural dynamics in small-scale societies."--Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture
Robert A. Paul is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emory University. He is the author of Moses and Civilization and The Tibetan Symbolic World, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.
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- PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
- Publication date2015
- ISBN 10 022624072X
- ISBN 13 9780226240725
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages368
- Rating
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Mixed Messages: Cultural and Genetic Inheritance in the Constitution of Human Society
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University of Chicago Press
(2015)
ISBN 10: 022624072X
ISBN 13: 9780226240725
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Hardcover
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. Good - Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name - GOOD Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # M022624072XZ3
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