Simple Lives, Cultural Complexity: Rethinking Culture in Terms of Complexity Theory

by Steen Bergendorff

Overview

Simple Lives, Cultural Complexity explores how people manage to live relatively simple lives while remaining seemingly unaware of the cultural complexity they produce while doing so. Using complexity theory, the book reconceptualizes culture as a complex dynamic system called cultural complexity, and argues that cultural complexity arises from persistent interactions among people and groups who act according to simple rules. The order produced is different from, and not reducible to, the interactions that created it. People only need simple rules of engagement in order to cope with their surroundings: rules that can be enacted through all kinds of strategies, and that together produce very complex emergent properties. Bergendorff argues that people do not need to know their entire "cultural order" and its formal logics to cope with everyday life. They do not need to be enculturated; they only need to be enskilled to act in everyday situations. Theoretically dense and rich, this book offers an innovative perspective on the concept of culture and the many ways that it is deployed and understood by its bearers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739128978
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	10/29/2009
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Steen Bergendorff is associate professor in the department of society and globalization at Roskilde University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Cultural Issues
Chapter 2 Chapter 1. Western Ontology and Cultural Malaises
Chapter 3 Chapter 2. Contested Culture
Chapter 4 Chapter 3. Complex Dynamic Systems
Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Cultural Complexity
Chapter 6 Chapter 5. Persistent Interaction and Cultural Complexity among the Mekeo, PNG
7 Chapter 6. Cultural Complexity and Change in Mekeo Society
8 Conclusion