A Method for Measuring the Motion of Culture

Bibliographic Data

ID2279813
AuthorsGreg Urban (0000-0003-1567-000X, University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume112
Issue1
Pages122-139
Publication date2010-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01201.x
OpenAlexW2110501853
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited38

Beginning with Edward Tylor's (1889) definition of culture as socially "acquired," I focus in this article on motion as social acquisition and transmission through "artifacts"-both durable (like ceramic pots) and fleeting (like sounds). Motion can be detected by comparison of the artifacts to which people are exposed with those they in turn produce. I examine rates of interaction with artifacts and changes in rates as evidence of the operation of "forces" such as interest and metaculture. I develop a set of axioms or laws of motion, growing out of fine-grained research on naturally occurring discourse, and endeavor to demonstrate their utility through application to three empirical cases. Although I deal with relatively small-scale artifacts, I conclude this article with the suggestion that its methods may prove useful in the broader study of cultural phenomena

Aesthetics · Art · Axiom · Cultural transmission in animals · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Geography · Geometry · Motion (physics · Optics · Physics · Scale (ratio · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics