Cultural Conventions as Group-Makers

Bibliographic Data

ID12823064
AuthorsMarc Slors (0000-0002-4459-2859, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume22
Issue3-4
Pages203-219
Publication date2022-07-25
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Cognition and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1567-7095 • E-ISSN: 1568-5373
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/15685373-12340132
OpenAlexW4288042755
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited14

In most literature on human cultural evolution and the emergence of large-scale cooperation, the main function of cultural conventions is described as providing group-markers. This paper argues that cultural conventions serve another purpose as well that is at least as important. Large-scale cooperation is characterized by complex division of labour and by a diversity of social roles associated with cultural institutions. This requires ubiquitous ‘role-interaction coordination’ – as it will be labelled. It is argued that without cultural conventions this type of coordination would be cognitively intractable. Thus, apart from functioning as group markers, they are first and foremost important group-makers

Biology · Cultural diversity · Cultural group selection · Diversity (politics · Division of labour · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Evolutionary biology · Function (biology · Geography · Group (periodic table · Metaphysics · Philosophy of mind · Political science · Scale (ratio · Social group · Sociology · Anthropology · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access