Center for the Promotion of Social Data Science Education and Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan.
Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One. 2022 Jul 1;17(7):e0270648. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270648. eCollection 2022.
This study proposes the notion of "root concepts" in cultural production, defined as a novel style and mode that a creator expresses at the initial field development phase, and that has a great influence on subsequent creators. We explore the role of root concepts in cultural evolution by focusing on their capacity to generate new combinations with other elements and examine how creators use root concepts jointly with other elements. Using data on artists and albums in the rap genre from the online database Allmusic, we view music moods as a type of experience that music generates and focus on music moods as a phenotype in studying styles and modes. We constructed a dataset of recombinatory patterns in the subsequent cultural production and identified two types of root concepts: implosive concepts, which artists use jointly with similar elements; and explosive concepts, which artists use in conjunction with highly diversified elements. Implosive concepts are exclusive because they require creators to have network contagions with those familiar with the root concepts and have strong and specific socio-economic identities. Previous research has suggested that finding a new combination is challenging owing to creators' limited cognitive capacities and the resulting local search. Our finding presents an alternative explanation: some root concepts (i.e., implosive ones) possess innate characteristics that limit creators from experimentally integrating diversified elements. This study develops new opportunities for future research on the evolutionary growth of cultural production and knowledge fields.
本研究提出了文化生产中的“根源概念”的概念，将其定义为创作者在初始领域发展阶段表达的新颖风格和模式，对后续创作者产生重大影响。我们通过关注根源概念与其他元素产生新组合的能力，以及创作者如何共同使用根源概念和其他元素，来探讨根源概念在文化进化中的作用。我们利用在线数据库 Allmusic 中关于说唱流派的艺术家和专辑的数据，将音乐情绪视为音乐产生的一种体验类型，并将音乐情绪作为研究风格和模式的表型。我们构建了后续文化生产中重组模式的数据集，并确定了两种类型的根源概念：内爆概念，艺术家与相似元素共同使用；以及爆炸概念，艺术家与高度多样化的元素结合使用。内爆概念是排他性的，因为它们要求创作者与熟悉根源概念的人具有网络关联，并具有强烈而具体的社会经济身份。先前的研究表明，由于创作者的认知能力有限以及由此产生的局部搜索，找到新的组合具有挑战性。我们的发现提供了另一种解释：一些根源概念（即内爆概念）具有内在特征，限制了创作者从实验上整合多样化的元素。本研究为未来关于文化生产和知识领域的进化增长的研究提供了新的机会。
