Cultural software : a theory of ideology / J.M. Balkin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Balkin, J. M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ideology.

Culture.

Social values.

Justice.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 335 p. )

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this book J.M. Balkin offers original theory of cultural evolution, a theory that explains shared understandings, disagreement, and diversity within cultures. Drawing on many fields of study - including anthropology, evolutionary theory, cognitive science, linguistics, sociology, political theory, philosophy, social psychology, and law - the author explores how cultures grow and spread, how shared understandings arise, and how people of different cultures can understand and evaluate each other's views. Balkin presents numerous examples that illuminate the sources of ideological effects and their contributions to injustice. He also enters the current debate over multiculturalism, applying his theory to problems of mutual understanding between people who hold different worldviews. He argues that cultural understanding presupposes transcendent ideals and shows how both ideological analysis of others and ideological self-criticism are possible.

Contents:

Tools of understanding

Bricolage and the construction of cultural software

Memetic evolution

The spread of cultural software

Conceptions of ideology

Ambivalence and self-reference

Transcendence

Cultural heuristics

Narrative expectations

Homologies and associations

Metaphor, metonymy, and cognitive models

The power of understanding

Knowledge made flesh.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-326) and index.

ISBN:

0-300-14779-1

0-585-38250-6