We discussed this mirror neuron article on Stan Goff's blog. I'd say the qualities of the mirror neuron are the opposite of what we are looking for in finding a physiological basis for symbolling, language and culture. Symbolling involves a mental process of _not_ imitating , of not representing like with like.
Monkey see, monkey do, imitating is not the critical aspect of the human ability to pass on enormous amounts of information from one generation to the next through culture and language. It is the opposite process of representing something by something that it is not, that is critical for getting across the death barrier between generations.
[WS:] I think you are downplaying the importance of mirror neurons and the behavior they enable. Mirror neurons are essential in developing empathy - which is considered the most "human" of all emotions. Arguably, empathy is the foundation of all social organization and social solidarity. Without empathy, you would essentially have that heaven of neoliberalism, a "market society" - aka Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071691/
While we are at that, I suspect that Chicago style economists suffer from some form of autism, which makes them empathy-blind. According to Simon Baron-Cohen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Baron-Cohen individuals, especially males, with high IQ and strong systemizing ability often suffer from empathy deficiency, which is a hallmark of autism (Asperger syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome). Or at least it appears so judging from their vision of "ideal society."
That goes with my general theory that conservatism is a form of mental disorder http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/28/308/98527
Wojtek