Understanding Cultural Persistence and Change

Understanding Cultural Persistence and Change

When does culture persist and when does it change? We examine a determinant of extent of cultural persistence that has been put forth in the evolutionary anthropology literature: the stability of the environment. A prediction, which is standard in a variety micro-founded models, is that valuing tradition and placing greater importance on maintaining the customs of the previous generation is rel...

Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of Traditional Values

Modernization theorists from Karl Marx to Daniel Bell have argued that economic development brings pervasive cultural changes. But others, from Max Weber to Samuel Huntington, have claimed that cultural values are an enduring and autonomous influence on society. We test the thesis that economic development is linked with systematic changes in basic values. Using data from the three waves of the...

Kyoto’s Glocal Identity: Establishing Balance between Identity Change and Persistence

Kyoto is a miniature of Japan; through centuries of experience and persistence, it has maintained the symbols of the country’s civil and cultural identity. The city has demonstrated a collection of Japan’s noble identity and characteristics through its material and spiritual heritage. Kyoto’s rich history and its position have gathered a collection of religion-based works, artistic innovations,...

Persistence of Contrasting Traditions in Cultural Evolution: Unpredictable Payoffs Generate Slower Rates of Cultural Change

We report an experimental test of the hypothesis that contrasting traditions will persist for longer, maintaining cultural differences between otherwise similar groups, under conditions of uncertainty about payoffs from individual learning. We studied the persistence of two alternative, experimentally-introduced, task solutions in chains of human participants. In some chains, participants were ...

Persistence and Change