Are Jungian Archetypes Memes?
If 9GAG is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word
meme raise your hand! What is a meme beyond that? In this article, I’m
going to explore this further, and explain why I think it’s relevant to Jungian
archetypes, after explaining what is an archetype.
In 1976 Richard Dawkins wrote “Selfish Gene”, proposing a gene-centered view of evolution rather than an organism or group centered one. The reason he describes the gene as “selfish “ and not altruistic is that the gene’s ‘agenda’ is to survive as a gene through replication and that replication of the genes are at the gene level: A gene of type A, when it replicates, will only make copies of gene A, not of gene B. In this ground-breaking book, Dawkins has also coined the term ‘meme’ as the equivalent unit of cultural evolution to gene, which has later given birth to the memetics, the study (not the science, as it is considered to be pseudo-science by many) of information based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution.
But wait — what is a meme?
A meme is a unit of a culture or a system of behavior which is “hosted” in the minds of one or more individuals and passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means. Dawkins explains that “just like genes who propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, memes also propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain by the process called imitation” (The Selfish Gene, 1976). Examples of memes are “tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, ways of making pots or of building arches, fashions in dress or diet, and about ceremonies, customs and technologies — all of which are spread by one person copying another” (ibid). Discovery of mirror neurons is considered as a scientific prove by many memetics.
Some memes are more suited for replication than others, and memes that are good at being copied spread and continue to exist in culture, while other less capable memes disappear over time. This process is called -wait for it- natural memetic selection. But while natural selection selects generally the genes that are useful to their hosts, memetic selection does not select for the advantage of their hosts but mostly of memes.
“Just like gene complexes found in biology, memeplexes are groups of memes that are often found present in the same individual” (ibid). Memeplexes are formed because memes will copy themselves more successfully when they are “teamed up“. Like genes, they work together and influence each other. Memeplexes work together in a way that they will build in protections for each other within the memeplex. Examples include a set of memes like singing and playing guitar, or the Christmas tree and Christmas dinner. Or in the concept of Catholicism, memeplexes include the idea of an omnipotent and omniscient God, the Virgin Birth, etc…
Now let’s move on to the second part.
Carl G. Jung is the father of Analytical Psychology, whose core concepts are individuation, symbols, the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious, archetypes, complexes, the persona, the shadow, the anima and animus, and the self. We’re gonna elaborate the collective unconscious and archetypes.
According to Jung, the unconscious has 2 layers: The personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The “personal unconscious” is made up essentially of contents which have disappeared from consciousness through having been forgotten or repressed. It rests upon the deeper layer, the collective unconscious which Jung considers to be universal and that has contents and modes of behavior that are more or less the same everywhere and in all individuals. The collective unconscious is constituted of archetypes. An archetype is an innate tendency to perceive basic human behavior and situations, the model image of a person or role such as the mother figure, father, wise old man and clown/joker, etc. that are consistent in every culture. It represents fundamental human motifs of our experience as we evolved. It causes us to react in a typical way to basic human problems, inner or outer. Three other core concepts (the persona, the shadow, the anima and animus, and the self) are archetypes as well. Archetypes manifest themselves through archetypal images (in all the cultures and religious doctrines), in dreams visions and mythology
Returning to my initial question: Can archetypes be considered as memes?
Basic characteristics of memes are that they’re 1. information patterns 2. held in an individual’s memory
3. capable of being copied to another individual’s memory
Archetypes are sure information patterns, they’re held in the collective unconscious but they’re universal and pretty much same in everybody which makes them impossible to be an imperfect, individual copy. Also, they remain only as a psychic potential until the moment they enter consciousness and actualize themselves. However, the moment they enter in consciousness and are manifested through archetypal images and behaviors, they become something that can be imitated and passed on — thus they become memes.
Imagine an archetypal image, let’s say reading a myth, seeing a depiction in literature or cinema. It’ll help us to concretize the archetype that we already have in our unconscious as an abstract image. We’ll have a clearer understanding of what this archetype stands for, like its characteristics & ideas it holds together. We’ll retain this image in our conscious mind until we reference it in a conversation. When we use it as an example to convey an idea, it becomes a meme. For example, the werewolf myth is the representation of the shadow archetype. It concretizes the abstract image of “dark, hidden part that takes over the person”. The story gets told, thus transmitted billion times from an individual to another and we use this archetypal image as an example when we talk about the “beast” in us coming out. As a result, it becomes a tool (a meme!) to translate this idea.
Voilà. That’s my two cents on the matter.
Ω
Written by Yagmur Oztan
Illustrated by Selin Ayata (Faust)Sources
- Dawkins, R. (1976) The Selfish Gene
- Blackmore, S (1999) The Meme Machine
- Mcnamara, Adam. (2011). Can we Measure Memes?
- Glossary of Jungian Terms http://www.carl-jung.net/glossary.html
- http://www.definitions.net/definition/memeplex
- Hossain, Shaikat. (2012). The Internet as a Tool for Studying the Collective Unconscious
- Campbell, A. (2009) Religion, Language, Narrative and the Search for Meaning
Visuals
Faust and Mephisto, Selin Ayata
Gandalf Visits Bilbo, Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, 1976
Anakin / Darth Vader, famouscutouts.com
Originally published at brainbowjournal.wordpress.com on November 7, 2017.
