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Myths about memes

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  • Douglas Roy

    (The University of New South Wales)

Abstract

Memes are conceived of as the cultural equivalents to genes. As cultural change can be modelled using theories and concepts from population genetics, a “meme’s eye view” of cultural change is arguably valid. However, such views are frequently dismissed. Whatever the merits or demerits of memetics are as a science, no prominent objections to the meme concept appear well-grounded by either evidence or logic. This paper suggests that such criticisms arise from a few key misunderstandings and fallacies concerning memes and questionable assumptions about evolution, culture and psychology on which these misunderstandings are based. These misunderstandings are described in this paper using examples of criticisms which have been made about the meme concept. These are then scrutinized using basic principles of evolutionary biology, economics, and psychology. It is hoped that future attempts to apply the meme concept are encouraged by addressing these issues here.

Suggested Citation

  • Douglas Roy, 2017. "Myths about memes," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 281-305, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbioec:v:19:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10818-017-9250-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10818-017-9250-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ulrich Witt, 2004. "On the proper interpretation of 'evolution' in economics and its implications for production theory," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 125-146.
    2. Pavel Pelikan, 2011. "Evolutionary developmental economics: how to generalize Darwinism fruitfully to help comprehend economic change," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 341-366, May.
    3. Jill Shepherd & Bill McKelvey, 2009. "An empirical investigation of organizational memetic variation," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 135-164, August.
    4. Geoffrey Hodgson & Thorbjørn Knudsen, 2008. "In search of general evolutionary principles: Why Darwinism is too important to be left to the biologists," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 51-69, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael P. Schlaile & Johannes Zeman & Matthias Mueller, 2021. "It’s a Match! Simulating Compatibility-based Learning in a Network of Networks," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Michael P. Schlaile (ed.), Memetics and Evolutionary Economics, chapter 0, pages 99-140, Springer.
    2. Ryan Weiser & Nafees Alam, 2022. "Meme culture and suicide sensitivity: a quantitative study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.

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