Sociocultural Evolution and Cognitive Ontogenesis: A Sociocultural-Cognitive Algorithm

Jürgen Klüver, Rouven Malecki, Jörn Schmidt and Christina Stoica
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Jürgen Klüver: University of Duisburg-Essen
Rouven Malecki: University of Duisburg-Essen
Jörn Schmidt: University of Duisburg-Essen
Christina Stoica: University of Duisburg-Essen

Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 2003, vol. 9, issue 3, No 4, 255-273

Abstract: Abstract Sociocultural evolution is defined as the permanent interplay between the evolution of social order, cultural achievements and cognitive ontogenetic development. The key concept is that of social roles that are defined as a set of social rules and role specific knowledge. Sociocultural evolution accordingly is defined as the enlargement and variation of roles and in their social and cognitive dimension and as the variation of the relations between roles. The main theoretical thesis is the hypothesis of heterogeneity: sociocultural evolution is possible only if the degree of role autonomy in a particular society is large enough. A computational model, the sociocultural-cognitive algorithm is described that captures the main features of the evolution of societies. In particular it can be shown via the model why the hypothesis of heterogeneity is so important: it explains the special way of Western culture that was able totranscendcultural thresholds that limited the evolution of comparable societies.

Keywords: evolutionary theories; sociocultural evolution; sociocultural algorithm; sociocultural-cognitive algorithm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1023/B:CMOT.0000026584.19223.ef

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