Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology [Paperback]

J. M. Balkin (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Paperback CDN $27.22   -- --
Paperback, May 25 1998 --   -- --
There is a newer edition of this item:
Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
CDN$ 27.22
In Stock.

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25 1998
Cultural Software is the first book that seriously applies theories of cultural evolution and the theory of memes to the problems of ideology and justice. Instead of resting the concept of ideology on outmoded notions of "false consciousness," Cultural Software shows how ideological effects get produced through the spread and reproduction of forms of cultural know-how, or cultural software.

Human beings are the bearers of this cultural software, it helps constitute them and shapes them as persons with distinctive values and purposes. Yet cultural software reproduces whether or not it serves the interests of human beings. Rather, cultural conventions and institutions spread as if they had their own interests in survival and reproduction. And some kinds of cultural software can act like virtual parasites, breeding unhappiness and injustice as they reproduce in human minds and institutions.

Drawing on anthropology, evolutionary theory, cognitive science, linguistics, sociology, political theory, social psychology, and law, Cultural Software offers a strikingly original theory of cultural evolution, a theory that explains both shared understandings and diversity within cultures.

"Balkin argues ingeniously that meme theory replaces more familiar critical theories of ideology, because it alone explains how people come to believe the things they believe, without reference to dubious assumptions about "false consciousness" or "hegemony." [Balkin] writes with lucid balance. . . . Balkin's account is the most nuanced and convincing on the question of what we actually gain from meme theory."

--Mark Kingwell, Harpers

"After 250 years of writing about ideology, it is difficult to have something new to say that advances our understanding of this elusive concept, and yet Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology by J.M. Balkin manages to do just that... a remarkable work that will be usefully read by a broad audience."

--Susan Silbey, American Journal of Sociology

"[A] path-breaking effort to rethink legal critique using ... biological and cybernetic models; the scope of its ambition and the subtlety of its execution are likely to make it a definitive work."

--David Charny, University of Michigan Law Review

"[I]ntelligent and extremely well crafted... [A] wonderfully clear presentation of the major strands of postmodern thought."

--Emily Sherwin, Philosophy in Review

Product Details

Product Description

From the Inside Flap

According to J.M. Balkin, cultural evolution occurs through the transmission of cultural information and know-how-- "cultural software"--in human minds. Individuals embody cultural software and spread it to others through communication and social learning. Ideology, he contends, is neither a special nor a pathological form of thought but an ordinary product of the evolution of cultural software. Because cultural understanding is a patchwork of older imperfect tools that are continually adapted to solve new problems, human understanding is partly adequate and partly inadequate to the pursuit of justice.

Balkin offers many current and historical examples that demonstrate the causes 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.

"A brilliant and daring job of examining law in the light of new thought in the human sciences and vice versa. This is contemporary legal scholarship at its most thoughtful."

--Jerome Bruner, Research Professor of Psychology at New York University and Senior Research Fellow in Law at New York University School of Law.

"Balkin takes the hot button words of current intellectual debate-- culture, ideology, transcendence, pragmatism, historicism-- and manages the considerable feat of making them usable again. He avoids final judgment while at the same time redeeming the vocabulary of final judgment so that it is once again available to those who have learned the lessons of various postmodernisms. An impressive and truly helpful book."

--Stanley Fish, Duke University

About the Author

Jack M. Balkin is Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School, and the founder and director of Yale's Information Society Project, devoted to the study of law and the new technologies. He is the author of "Legal Canons" (with Sanford Levinson), and "Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking" (with Brest, Levinson and Amar).

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

5 star
2
4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A wise and erudite analysis of cultural understanding Mar 8 1999
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderfully wise, erudite, and well-written book. Don't let the title fool you. The book is not about forms of software designed to promote culture. The book is about cultural understanding, and culture software is an apt metaphor, helping Balkin to explain his position. As Balkin demonstrates in a wide variety of contexts, our tools of cultural understanding are a double-edged sword leading us to progress on the one hand and substantial injustice on the other. The book features an enormously valuable guide to and critique of the literature on ideology, a persuasive account of the pragmatic necessity of making transcendent claims about truth and justice, and extremely rich discussions of the ways we think about the world, including, e.g., narration, metaphor, and paired oppositions. Particularly impressive is Balkin's ability to crisply, accessibly, and fairly treat a wide variety of important thinkers from many different disciples. This book should appeal to all who try to think broadly whether their primary intellectual allegiance is to Anthropology, History, Law, Philosophy (analytic or continental), Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology.

Steven Shiffrin, Cornell University

Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
5.0 out of 5 stars A profound and sophisticated theory Oct 22 1998
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I highly recommend this book, especially for scholars in law, philosophy, and political theory. It is one of the most insightful and wide-ranging books I have read. Balkin develops a profound and sophisticated theory of cultural understanding - the ways in which individuals think, form their beliefs, values, and identities, and evaluate each other's ideas. Balkin explains cultural understanding by using the very appropriate metaphor of "cultural software." With this metaphor, he crafts a theory of cultural understanding that accounts for the effects of historical change on shared belief systems as well as variation and disagreement among individuals in the same culture. Balkin's topic is one that is both incredibly complex yet essential to many fields: conceptions of cultural understanding underpin much of the scholarly discourse in philosophy, sociology, political theory, and law. Although his project is quite ambitious, he engages it with remarkable clarity, depth, and sophistication. The book is unusual in that it masterfully synthesizes numerous diverse fields, including philosophy, law, psychology, biology, and sociology. Balkin is at home in each of these fields, displaying command over the thought of such diverse thinkers such as Plato, Geertz, Foucault, Levi-Strauss, Gadamer, Goffman, and Mannheim.

Balkin is a fantastic writer, able to explain his concepts very clearly without resorting to excessive jargon and without sacrificing complexity or nuance. The richness of his thought is manifested when he applies his theories to concrete issues in law and politics, such as his powerful analysis of racism toward the end of the book. The book is also worth reading for Balkin's absolutely superb discussion of narratives, one of the most illuminating I have read. In sum, this book is definitely worth reading; Balkin has set forth a serious and convincing theory to be reckoned with.

Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 3.5 out of 5 stars  4 reviews
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A wise and erudite analysis of cultural understanding Mar 8 1999
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderfully wise, erudite, and well-written book. Don't let the title fool you. The book is not about forms of software designed to promote culture. The book is about cultural understanding, and culture software is an apt metaphor, helping Balkin to explain his position. As Balkin demonstrates in a wide variety of contexts, our tools of cultural understanding are a double-edged sword leading us to progress on the one hand and substantial injustice on the other. The book features an enormously valuable guide to and critique of the literature on ideology, a persuasive account of the pragmatic necessity of making transcendent claims about truth and justice, and extremely rich discussions of the ways we think about the world, including, e.g., narration, metaphor, and paired oppositions. Particularly impressive is Balkin's ability to crisply, accessibly, and fairly treat a wide variety of important thinkers from many different disciples. This book should appeal to all who try to think broadly whether their primary intellectual allegiance is to Anthropology, History, Law, Philosophy (analytic or continental), Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology.

Steven Shiffrin, Cornell University

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A profound and sophisticated theory Oct 22 1998
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I highly recommend this book, especially for scholars in law, philosophy, and political theory. It is one of the most insightful and wide-ranging books I have read. Balkin develops a profound and sophisticated theory of cultural understanding - the ways in which individuals think, form their beliefs, values, and identities, and evaluate each other's ideas. Balkin explains cultural understanding by using the very appropriate metaphor of "cultural software." With this metaphor, he crafts a theory of cultural understanding that accounts for the effects of historical change on shared belief systems as well as variation and disagreement among individuals in the same culture. Balkin's topic is one that is both incredibly complex yet essential to many fields: conceptions of cultural understanding underpin much of the scholarly discourse in philosophy, sociology, political theory, and law. Although his project is quite ambitious, he engages it with remarkable clarity, depth, and sophistication. The book is unusual in that it masterfully synthesizes numerous diverse fields, including philosophy, law, psychology, biology, and sociology. Balkin is at home in each of these fields, displaying command over the thought of such diverse thinkers such as Plato, Geertz, Foucault, Levi-Strauss, Gadamer, Goffman, and Mannheim.

Balkin is a fantastic writer, able to explain his concepts very clearly without resorting to excessive jargon and without sacrificing complexity or nuance. The richness of his thought is manifested when he applies his theories to concrete issues in law and politics, such as his powerful analysis of racism toward the end of the book. The book is also worth reading for Balkin's absolutely superb discussion of narratives, one of the most illuminating I have read. In sum, this book is definitely worth reading; Balkin has set forth a serious and convincing theory to be reckoned with.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars A theory? Jan 23 2011
By Enjolras - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Theories should have predictive power and present insights otherwise available. I don't see what Balkin's Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology gives us. Much of the book seems to contrast his theory to other great philosophers, but the exact contours of his theory remain elusive. Perhaps this is because of the metaphor of software prevalent throughout the book. It just doesn't seem to fit what he's describing. He describes an interactive process between individuals and cultural power, but software is generally created by one person or group and installed into a passive computer. I suspect the metaphor stems from the fact that Balkin wrote this book near the height of the tech bubble (today it would probably be the "cultural app"). Still, he does manage to parry his arguments against a wide range of philosophers and at least exposes the weaknesses in their theories, if not the strengths of his. Beware though that this book will only be readable to professional students of philosophy; layreaders will be left bewildered.
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

    Your Shopping Cart is empty.

    Give it purpose—fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics, and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    View Cart (0 items)

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback

      Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?