Random drift and culture change |
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| Authors: | Bentley R Alexander Hahn Matthew W Shennan Stephen J |
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| Affiliation: | AHRB Centre for the Evolutionary Analysis of Cultural Behaviour, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK. r.bentley@ucl.ac.uk |
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| Abstract: | We show that the frequency distributions of cultural variants, in three different real-world examples--first names, archaeological pottery and applications for technology patents--follow power laws that can be explained by a simple model of random drift. We conclude that cultural and economic choices often reflect a decision process that is value-neutral; this result has far-reaching testable implications for social-science research. |
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