Gestures, habits, and cultural transmission: From "organic memory" to the social sciences

The chapter asks to what extent the study of gestures and habits can help us investigate the dynamics of cultural transmission. I first describe the theories of habit that emerged in the 19th century as a bridge between biological and cultural transmission. Second, I show how, once the Lamarckian premises of this 19th-century paradigm were lifted, the question of cultural transmission through habit became a sociological rather than a biological problem. Third, I analyze the work of Paul Connerton, who argued that habit and bodily performances are central to the functioning of social memory.