Evolutionary Theory of History

Bibliographic Data

ID4496124
AuthorsMartin Stuart‐fox, Martin Stuart–fox (0000-0003-3535-3087, The University of Queensland, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume38
Issue4
Pages33-51
Publication date1999-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/0018-2656.00103
OpenAlexW2051171465
LanguageEN
Citations received13

Several attempts have been made recently to apply Darwinian evolutionary theory to the study of culture change and social history. The essential elements in such a theory are that variations occur in a population, and that a process of selective retention operates during their replication and transmission. Location of such variable "units" in the semantic structure of cognition provides the individual psychological basis for an evolutionary theory of history. Selection operates on both the level of cognition and on its "phenotypic" expression in action in relation to individual preferred sources of psychological satisfaction. Social power comprises the principal selective forces within the sociocultural environment. Sociocultural evolution takes place both as a result of the unintended consequences of action and through the struggle of individuals and groups in pursuit of opposing interests. The implications for historiography are methodological in that evolutionary theory of history sharpens the focus of explanatory situational analysis, and interpretive in that it provides a paradigmatic metanarrative for the understanding of historical change

Action (physics) · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Darwinism · Epistemology · Evolutionary psychology · Metanarrative · Modern evolutionary synthesis · Narrative · Population · Situational ethics · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Anthropology · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

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