#686 Olivier Morin: How Traditions Live and Die
RECORDED ON JULY 25th 2022.
Dr. Olivier Morin has a full-time tenured research position at the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris. He is also a Research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Jena, with the Minds and Traditions Research Group. His work focuses on cultural transmission and touches on the relations between anthropology, psychology and the philosophy of social science. He is the author of How Traditions Live and Die.
In this episode, we focus on How Traditions Live and Die. We first define “tradition” and “culture”. We talk about theories of cultural transmission, like memetics, and forms of cultural transmission, like imitation, learning, communication, teaching, and social influence. We discuss the Theory of Diffusion Chains, and what makes for cultural success. We talk about transmission within and between generations. We discuss the evolution of human culture, and why culture is rare in the animal kingdom. We also talk about human nature, and ask if there could be human societies without culture.
Time Links:
Intro
What is a tradition?
Transmission and diffusion
What is culture?
Culture is not monolithic
Differences between people are not always cultural
Memetics
Forms of cultural transmission: imitation, learning, communication, teaching, social influence
Imitating prestigious people
Teaching
Imitation, and conformity
Do people just follow any kind of fad?
The Theory of Diffusion Chains
Cultural success: accessible individuals plus attractive traditions
Transmission within and between generations
Have we evolved adaptations for culture?
The first human cultures
What characterizes human culture
Cumulative culture
Why are there traditions rather than nothing?
Human nature
Could there be human societies without culture?
Follow Dr. Morin’s work!
Follow Dr. Morin’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3wkZlQv
Website: https://bit.ly/3wgF8v6
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/3u85gqk
How Traditions Live and Die: https://amzn.to/36ntiEG