Wexler , B . E . ( 2008 ). Brain and culture : Neurobiology , ideology , and social change . Cambridge , MA : MIT Press . 307 pp .
Book Review : Brain and Culture
Stephen M . Ryan
Wexler , B . E . ( 2008 ). Brain and culture : Neurobiology , ideology , and social change . Cambridge , MA : MIT Press . 307 pp .
It is difficult to imagine two more complex topics to bring together in a single volume than culture and the brain . Between them they are responsible for the deaths of scores of forests and the re-arrangement of countless electrons . Bruce Wexler , a Yale psychiatrist , certainly knows his brain science , at least as the field existed ten years ago when the book was written . However , his attempts to deal with culture , that most difficult of concepts , while always enlightening , often come across as bizarre and idiosyncratic .
His argument can be stated quite briefly : a child ’ s brain is shaped by the environment , both physical and social , in which the child grows up , but , after a certain point the brain becomes less susceptible to outside influences and from then on focuses its efforts on trying to re-shape the physical and social world around it to match its understanding of how the world should be . Wexler lays out this thesis in the introduction and then spends the next three chapters supporting it . Methodically , he summarises study after study to build his case , citing both animal and human experiments . He first explains the effects of sensory deprivation on the growing brain and then shows how specific sensory input shapes thought processes . The “ culture ” here is the physical environment , the actions and reactions of mothers to their offspring , and the more distant assumptions of the wider society .
This part of the book is impressive for its thoroughness and lucidity . Wexler clearly knows the experimental data and deploys it in a way that is both accessible and persuasive . Technical explanations and methodological details are omitted in favour of clear summaries and forensic organisation . His goal is to convince the reader of his central thesis and in this he succeeds : nobody could read the first three chapters of the book without believing that there is strong evidence for the role of environmental factors in moulding the growing brain . To paraphrase Wexler , an inner world is created which mirrors the outer environment in which it has been nurtured .
And then the whole process goes into reverse . During adolescence the brain becomes less plastic , less open to keeping itself in tune with a changing external environment .
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