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

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