Mental Adaptation, Social Interaction, and the Organization of Culture

• In Event: 078 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 01. Culture and Cognition

Abstract

In this project, I explore the relationship among mental adaptation, social interaction, and the organization of culture. I utilize cognitive theory and research to demonstrate that our brains are hard-wired to adapt to constantly changing circumstances, and I draw from empirical data gathered from interviews with working parents to demonstrate these adaptive abilities in action. In so doing, I explore variations in the ways culture is appropriated, mobilized, and used by various social actors. The theoretical lens and interdisciplinary engagement of this project allow me to demonstrate not only that people use culture strategically, to pursue valued ends, but that some cultural elements can be used to control, anchor, or organize others. In this way, the project allows us to witness a more complete view of culture-in-action, one that demonstrates adaptation while accepting the fact that structure and agency exist in complex, but not immutable, states of interdependence.

Author

• Karen Danna, CCM