Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA01194 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 29 Nov 2000 12:11:46 GMT Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745B54@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: new article Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 12:09:25 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Thanks again Derek, for another interesting article link.
The notion of quantitative changes resulting in qualitative changes, is
actually quite familiar to me- albeit not in the context or terminology of
this anthropology piece- in media studies. Debates about the inherent
differences between_mass_communication and other forms of communication, or
mass media and other media, are a major part of media studies.
Here too, there is the sense, in many authors' (most notably I suppose is
McLuhan) work is the idea that mass communication profoundly alters social
relations, due ultimately to its large scale.
Incidentally is the reference to flight in the piece right? Am aircraft
flying isn't simply about going very fast is it, it's about having a surface
to generate lift (which is why Thrust 2 could travel at nigh on mach 1
without leaving the ground). A rocket on the other hand....
My computer is having near terminal problems, so if I leave the group for a
while (hooray I hear you all shout!) without responding to posts,
apologies... I shall return!
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Gatherer, D. (Derek)
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 8:49 am
> To: 'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'
> Subject: new article
>
> The transition from quantity to quality: A neglected causal mechanism in
> accounting for social evolution
> Robert L. Carneiro
> American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024
> Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 97, Issue 23, 12926-12931, November 7,
> 2000
>
> Students of social evolution are concerned not only with the general
> course
> it has followed, but also with the mechanisms that have brought it about.
> One such mechanism comes into play when the quantitative increase in some
> entity, usually population, reaching a certain threshold, gives rise to a
> qualitative change in the structure of a society. This mechanism, first
> recognized by Hegel, was seized on by Marx and Engels. However, neither
> they
> nor their current followers among anthropologists have made much use of it
> in attempting to explain social evolution. But as this paper attempts to
> show, in those few instances when the mechanism has been invoked, it has
> heightened our understanding of the process of social evolution. And, it
> is
> argued, if the mechanism were more widely applied, further understanding
> of
> the course of evolution could be expected to result.
>
> Available at:
>
> http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/23/12926
>
> ===============================================================
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
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