Random drift and culture change

R. Alexander Bentley; Matthew W. Hahn; S.J. Shennan

doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2746

Random drift and culture change

R. Alexander Bentley, Matthew W. Hahn, S.J. Shennan

Department of Anthropology and Archaeology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

318 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We show that the frequency distributions of cultural variants, in three different real-world examples--first names, archaeological pottery and applications for technology patents--follow power laws that can be explained by a simple model of random drift. We conclude that cultural and economic choices often reflect a decision process that is value-neutral; this result has far-reaching testable implications for social-science research.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1443-1450
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume	271
Issue number	1547
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2746
Publication status	Published - 22 Jul 2004

Keywords

cultural evolution
random genetic drift
patents
first names
pottery

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title = "Random drift and culture change",

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AB - We show that the frequency distributions of cultural variants, in three different real-world examples--first names, archaeological pottery and applications for technology patents--follow power laws that can be explained by a simple model of random drift. We conclude that cultural and economic choices often reflect a decision process that is value-neutral; this result has far-reaching testable implications for social-science research.

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KW - random genetic drift

KW - patents

KW - first names

KW - pottery

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DO - 10.1098/rspb.2004.2746

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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Random drift and culture change

Abstract

Keywords

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