Culturgen (''culture'' + ''-gen'') is a term used to denote a theoretical 'unit' of

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

cultural evolution Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as "information capable of affecting individuals' behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation ...

. More specifically, analogous to a

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

, it is a

cultural artifact A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information ...

or element of behaviour whose repetition or reproduction is transmissible from one

generation A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and b ...

to the next. It has largely been displaced by the similar term ''

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

''. The term was coined in 1980 by two American scientists—the biomathematician Charles J. Lumsden and the

sociobiologist Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within the study of ...

E. O. Wilson Edward Osborne Wilson (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, ecologist, and entomologist known for developing the field of sociobiology. Born in Alabama, Wilson found an early interest in nature and frequ ...

—in a controversial attempt to analyse

by using techniques borrowed from

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and among populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as Adaptation (biology), adaptation, s ...

, to develop a comprehensive theory of how genes interact with cultural variation,Bell, Adrian, and Peter Richerson. 2008.
Review - Charles J. Lumsden and Edward O. Wilson, Genes, Mind, and Culture: 25th Anniversary Edition
" ''Journal of Bioeconomics'' 10:307–14. . and to

infer Inferences are steps in logical reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word '' infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinctio ...

a theory of the evolution of the human mind. The fullest exposition of their theory appeared in their book ''Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process'' (1981),Lumsden, Charles J., and E. O. Wilson. 1982. "The ‘Culturgen’: Science or Science Fiction?" ''

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ''Behavioral and Brain Sciences'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of Open Peer Commentary established in 1978 by Stevan Harnad and published by Cambridge University Press. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal ...

'' 5(1):12–13. .William, B. J. 1982.
Have We a Darwin of Biocultural Evolution?
DF" ''American Anthropologist'' 84:848–52. eview of ''Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process'' which expanded upon the agenda that Wilson had laid out in '' Sociobiology: The New Synthesis'' (1975) and '' On Human Nature'' (1978). In the book, the two assume that culturgens are stored in

long-term memory Long-term memory (LTM) is the stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model in which informative knowledge is held indefinitely. It is defined in contrast to sensory memory, the initial stage, and short-term or working memory, the second stage ...

, are readily observable in the

external world Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imaginary. Different cultures and academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions about the nature of reality, existence, or b ...

, and are to be transmitted via

socialization In sociology, socialization (also socialisation – see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is the process of Internalisation (sociology), internalizing the Norm (social), norm ...

. ''Genes, Mind, and Culture'' received many highly negative reviews in the scientific press, however; it was re-issued in 2005 with a review of subsequent developments.Lumsden, Charles J., and E. O. Wilson. 2005. ''Genes, Mind, And Culture: The Coevolutionary Process'' (25th Anniversary ed.). Singapore: World Scientific
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It also effectively means much the same as the older term ''cultural trait'' used by

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

s, and offers similar difficulties of identification and definition. The term has declined in popularity; the slightly older term ''

''—coined by

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

in his book ''

The Selfish Gene ''The Selfish Gene'' is a 1976 book on evolution by ethologist Richard Dawkins that promotes the gene-centred view of evolution, as opposed to views focused on the organism and the group. The book builds upon the thesis of George C. Willia ...

'' (1976)—is now used in its stead, almost universally (even by Wilson in his later writings).

References

{{Culture Cultural concepts