Tag: memes

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a cultureoften with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.

Proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influences a meme’s reproductive success.Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and mutate.Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts.

A field of study called memetics arose in the 1990s to explore the concepts and transmission of memes in terms of an evolutionary model.

The word meme is a neologism coined by Richard Dawkins. It originated from Dawkins’ 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Humphrey’s suggestion that “memes should be considered as living structures, not just metaphorically”