Cultural Evolution from Minimal Principles : Origins, Mechanisms, and Consequences

This clear and engaging introduction to the field of cultural evolution uncovers how language, technology, norms, and knowledge emerge from simple learning principles and social interaction. Written by leading interdisciplinary scholars, it offers valuable insights for readers across the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences alike.

This comprehensive and integrative guide to the evolution of human culture offers a unified introduction to one of today's most dynamic interdisciplinary fields. Drawing on research from the Stockholm School of Cultural Evolution, it explains how complex human cultures arise from simple learning mechanisms and social interactions. Across eleven accessible chapters, leading scholars trace the deep origins of culture in animal behavior, explore the evolution of language and technology, model the spread of ideas and norms, and examine how large-scale cultural systems emerge and transform. Bridging biology, psychology, archaeology, linguistics, intellectual history, and complex-systems science, this volume demonstrates how minimalist, domain-general principles can account for the extraordinary diversity of human cultures. Written for students and researchers across the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences, it provides a coherent, up-to-date framework for understanding what culture is and how it changes.