Includes bibliographical references and author index (pages 301-315), subject index and glossary of mathematical terms (pages 317-331).
Overview -- Some methodological preliminaries -- The cultural inheritance system -- Guided variation and the evolution of cultural inheritance -- Biased transmission and the sociobiology debate -- The natural selection of cultural variations : conflicts between cultural and genetic evolution -- Frequency-dependent bias and the evolution of cooperation -- Indirect bias and the evolution of symbolic traits -- Conclusion.
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How do biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural factors combine to change societies over the long run? Boyd and Richerson explore how genetic and cultural factors interact, under the influence of evolutionary forces, to produce the diversity we see in human cultures. Using methods developed by population biologists, they propose a theory of cultural evolution that is an original and fair-minded alternative to the sociobiology debate.