A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with "cream") is a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word μιμητισμός (pronounced /mimætismos/) for "something imitated".) Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate an...
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A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with "cream") is a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word μιμητισμός (pronounced /mimætismos/) for "something imitated".) Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures. Memeticists have not empirically proven the existence of discrete memes or their proposed mechanism (compare the status of Platonic forms or of concepts such as "ideals"), and memes (as distinct from ideas or cultural phenomena) do not form part of the consensus of mainstream social sciences.
The British scientist Richard Dawkins introduced the word "meme" in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a basis for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes...
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