Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-0-19-886925-2
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 1024 Seiten, Format (B × H): 173 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 1905 g

Reihe: Oxford Library of Psychology

This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Evolution, which has in recent years matured into an increasingly diverse and wide-reaching but intellectually coherent research programme. The book showcases the disciplinary spectrum of research into Cultural Evolution, from primatology and medieval literature to gene-culture co-evolution, computer science, anthropology, archaeology, and experimental psychology.

The handbook consists of review essays contributed by leading experts in their areas, structured into ten sections covering key approaches and debates, major themes and “real-world” applications. Taken together, the essays offer an exceptionally broad and forward-looking perspective on the field for researchers across the cognitive and evolutionary social sciences, including those working in fields adjacent to Cultural Evolution, such as Behavioural Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology and Digital Humanities. The handbook also provides a unique educational resource for students and teachers seeking to integrate Cultural Evolution into undergraduate and postgraduate curricula, as well as highlighting some of the potential applications of Cultural Evolution in fields such as education, public health, and environmental policy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tehrani, Jamshid

Kendal, Rachel L

Kendal, Jeremy

Über Autor(innen)

Jamshid Tehrani is an anthropologist specialising in the transmission and transformation of culture across generations. He trained in social anthropology at the London School of Economics and subsequently earned a Master's degree in Human Evolution and Behaviour from University College London. He completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2005 at UCL, focusing on the transmission of craft traditions among Iranian tribal groups. Tehrani joined Durham University in 2007, becoming a Chair in Anthropology in 2020 and serving as Head of Department from 2022 - 2025. His current research primarily investigates the dissemination of popular narratives, including folktales, urban legends, and conspiracy theories.

Rachel Kendal is an evolutionary anthropologist specialising in cultural evolution. She trained in Zoology and Psychology at Nottingham University and completed a PhD in Zoology (2003) at Cambridge University, focusing on innovation and social learning in monkeys and fish. She joined Durham University in 2007, becoming Chair in 2020. Recently, she served as President of the Cultural Evolution Society and led the CES Transformation Fund grant scheme. Her current research concerns learning strategies across species, their potential contribution to the evolution of human, and non-human culture and their potential application to societal issues such as conservation and public health.

Jeremy Kendal is an anthropologist specialising in cultural evolution. He trained in biology at the Nottingham University and subsequently earned a Master's degree in Biological Computation from the University of York. He completed his Ph.D. in Zoology in 2003 at Cambridge University, focusing on the adaptive value of social learning, combining mathematical modelling with experiments using guppy fish. Kendal joined Durham University in 2007. His current research concerns epistemology, memory, cultural transmission and disease emergence