Memetics
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | According to [[memetics|memetic]] theory, a '''meme''' — a unit of [[culture|cultural]] [[information]], [[Sociocultural evolution|cultural evolution]] or [[cultural diffusion|diffusion]] — propagates from one mind to another [[analogy|analogous]]ly to the way in which a [[gene]] propagates from one organism to another as a unit of [[genetics|genetic]] information and of biological [[evolution]]. Multiple memes may propagate as cooperative groups called ''[[memeplex]]es'' (meme complexes). | + | According to [[memetics|memetic]] theory, a '''meme''' — a unit of [[culture|cultural]] [[information]], [[Sociocultural evolution|cultural evolution]] or [[cultural diffusion|diffusion]] — propagates from one mind to another [[analogy|analogous]]ly to the way in which a [[gene]] propagates from one organism to another as a unit of [[genetics|genetic]] information and of biological [[evolution]]. |
| [[Biologist]] and evolutionary theorist [[Richard Dawkins]] coined the term ''meme'' in 1976. He gave as examples tunes, catch-phrases, beliefs, clothing fashions, ways of making pots, and the technology of building arches. | [[Biologist]] and evolutionary theorist [[Richard Dawkins]] coined the term ''meme'' in 1976. He gave as examples tunes, catch-phrases, beliefs, clothing fashions, ways of making pots, and the technology of building arches. | ||
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According to memetic theory, a meme — a unit of cultural information, cultural evolution or diffusion — propagates from one mind to another analogously to the way in which a gene propagates from one organism to another as a unit of genetic information and of biological evolution.
Biologist and evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins coined the term meme in 1976. He gave as examples tunes, catch-phrases, beliefs, clothing fashions, ways of making pots, and the technology of building arches.
Meme theorists contend that memes evolve by natural selection similarly to Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance influencing an organism's reproductive success. So with memes, some ideas will propagate less successfully and become extinct, while others will survive, spread, and, for better or for worse, mutate. Memeticists argue that the memes most beneficial to their hosts will not necessarily survive; rather, those memes that replicate the most effectively spread best, which allows for the possibility that successful memes may prove detrimental to their hosts.
The idea of memes has proved a successful meme in its own right, gaining a degree of penetration into popular culture rare for an abstract scientific theory.
