Ideas, Dan Sperber argues, may be contagious. They may invade whole populations. In the process, the people, their environment, and the ideas themselves are being transformed. To explain culture is to describe the causes and the effects of this contagion of ideas. This book will be read by all those with an interest in the impact of the cognitive revolution on our understanding of culture.
Preface. Introduction.
1. How to be a True Materialist in Anthropology.
2. Interpreting and Explaining Cultural Representations.
3. Anthropology and Psychology: Towards an Epidemiology of Representations.
4. The Epidemiology of Beliefs.
5. Selection and Attraction in Cultural Evolution.
6. Mental Modularity and Cultural Diversity.
Conclusion: What is at Stake?.
Notes.
References.
Index.
