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

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

Print version record.

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.

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.

English.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide