Editing Meme (section)

{{Short description|Cultural idea which spreads through imitation}}
{{About||the usage of the term on the Internet|Internet meme|other uses||}}
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{{use dmy dates|cs1-dates=l|date=August 2020}}
{{anthropology|concepts}}
A '''meme''' ({{IPAc-en|m|iː|m|audio=en-us-meme.ogg}}; {{respell|MEEM}})<ref>{{cite web |title=meme |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meme |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523192242/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meme |archive-date=23 May 2019 |access-date=30 December 2017 |website=Oxford Dictionaries}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2023 |title=Meme |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/meme |url-status=live |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=Cambridge Dictionary |archive-date=18 March 2021  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318030401/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/meme}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=meme ''noun'' |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/meme?q=meme |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520120515/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/meme?q=meme |date=2019 |archive-date=20 May 2019 |access-date=30 December 2017 |website=Oxford Learner's Dictionaries}}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme Meme] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921183926/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme |date=21 September 2018}}. ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary''.</ref> A meme acts as a unit for carrying [[culture|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 [[gene]]s in that they [[Self-replication|self-replicate]], mutate, and respond to [[natural selection|selective pressures]].<ref>{{harvnb|Graham|2002}}</ref> In popular language, a meme may refer to an [[Internet meme]], typically an image, that is remixed, copied, and circulated in a shared cultural experience online.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Shifman |first=Limor |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/860711989 |title=Memes in Digital Culture |date=2014 |isbn=9781461947332 |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |oclc=860711989 |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-date=22 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622003628/https://www.worldcat.org/title/memes-in-digital-culture/oclc/860711989 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Miltner |first=Kate M. |contribution=Internet Memes |date=2018 |url=https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-handbook-of-social-media/i3302.xml |title=The Sage Handbook of Social Media |pages=412–428 |publisher=Sage Publications |doi=10.4135/9781473984066.n23 |isbn=9781412962292 |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-date=20 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620055956/https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-handbook-of-social-media/i3302.xml |url-status=live}}</ref>

Proponents theorize that memes are a [[viral phenomenon]] that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of [[evolution|biological evolution]].<ref name="The Selfish Gene 30th Anniversary Edition section on survival">{{cite book |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/selfishgene00dawk_669 |title=The Selfish Gene 30th Anniversary Edition |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2006 |isbn=9780191537554 |edition=3rd |page=[https://archive.org/details/selfishgene00dawk_669/page/n223 199] |url-access=limited}}</ref> Memes do this through processes analogous to those of [[genetic diversity|variation]], [[mutation]], [[competition]], and [[heredity|inheritance]], each of which influences a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts. Memes that [[fecundity|propagate]] less prolifically may become [[extinction|extinct]], while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) 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.<ref name="Kelly">{{harvnb|Kelly|1994|p=360}} "But if we consider culture as its own self-organizing system—a system with its own agenda and pressure to survive—then the history of humanity gets even more interesting. As Richard Dawkins has shown, systems of self-replicating ideas or memes can quickly accumulate their own agenda and behaviours. I assign no higher motive to a cultural entity than the primitive drive to reproduce itself and modify its environment to aid its spread. One way the self organizing system can do this is by consuming human biological resources."</ref>

A field of study called ''[[memetics]]''<ref>{{harvnb |Heylighen|Chielens|2009}}</ref> arose in the 1990s to explore the concepts and transmission of memes in terms of an [[evolutionary model]]. Criticism from a variety of fronts has challenged the notion that academic study can examine memes [[empirical]]ly. However, developments in [[Functional neuroimaging|neuroimaging]] may make empirical study possible.<ref name="mcnamara">{{harvnb|McNamara|2011}}</ref> Some commentators in the [[social sciences]] question the idea that one can meaningfully categorize culture in terms of discrete units, and are especially critical of the biological nature of the theory's underpinnings.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gill |first=Jameson |date=2011 |title=Memes and narrative analysis: A potential direction for the development of neo-Darwinian orientated research in organisations. |url=http://shura.shu.ac.uk/4241/1/Memes_and_Narrative%5B1%5D.pdf |journal=EURAM 11: Proceedings of the European Academy of Management |publisher=[[European Academy of Management]] |pages=0–30 |issn=2466-7498 |access-date=5 April 2022 |s2cid=54894144 |archive-date=10 October 2021  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010093736/http://shura.shu.ac.uk/4241/1/Memes_and_Narrative%5B1%5D.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Others have argued that this use of the term is the result of a misunderstanding of the original proposal.<ref name="misunderstanding">{{cite journal |last1=Burman |first1=J. T.|date=2012 |title=The misunderstanding of memes: Biography of an unscientific object, 1976–1999 |journal=[[Perspectives on Science]] |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=75–104 |doi=10.1162/POSC_a_00057 |s2cid=57569644 |doi-access=free | issn = 1063-6145 }}</ref>

The word ''meme'' itself is a [[neologism]] coined by [[Richard Dawkins]], originating from his 1976 book ''[[The Selfish Gene]]''.<ref name="cream">{{harvnb|Dawkins|1989|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WkHO9HI7koEC&pg=PA192 192]}} "We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of ''imitation''. 'Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene'. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to ''meme''. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to 'memory', or to the French word ''même''. It should be pronounced to rhyme with 'cream'."</ref> Dawkins's own position is somewhat ambiguous. He welcomed [[Nicholas Keynes Humphrey|N. K. Humphrey]]'s suggestion that "memes should be considered as living structures, not just metaphorically",<ref name="cream" /> and proposed to regard memes as "physically residing in the brain".<ref name="TEP">{{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Dawkins |title=The Extended Phenotype |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1982 |isbn=9780192860880 |page=109}}</ref> Although Dawkins said his original intentions had been simpler, he approved Humphrey's opinion and he endorsed [[Susan Blackmore]]'s [[The Meme Machine|1999 project]] to give a scientific theory of memes, complete with predictions and empirical support.<ref>Dawkins's foreword to {{harvnb|Blackmore|1999}}, p. xvi–xvii</ref>