Cultural universal  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
Revision as of 20:46, 29 November 2008
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

← Previous diff		 Revision as of 11:52, 4 April 2018
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

Next diff →
Line 1: Line 1:
 +[[Image:The-bouba-kiki-effect.png|thumb|right|200px|The [[Bouba/kiki effect]] (1929)]]
{{Template}} {{Template}}
-:''[[The Savage Mind]]''+A '''cultural universal''' (also called an '''anthropological universal''' or '''human universal'''), as discussed by [[Emile Durkheim]], [[George Murdock]], [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]], [[Donald Brown (anthropologist)|Donald Brown]] and others, is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all [[human culture]]s worldwide. Taken together, the whole body of cultural universals is known as the [[human condition]]. [[Evolutionary psychology|Evolutionary psychologists]] hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations. Some anthropological and sociological theorists that take a [[cultural relativist]] perspective may deny the existence of cultural universals: the extent to which these universals are "cultural" in the narrow sense, or in fact biologically inherited [[ethology|behavior]] is an issue of "[[nature versus nurture]]".
-A '''cultural universal''' (see [[George Murdock]], [[Claude Levi-Strauss]], [[Donald Brown]]) is an [[element]], [[pattern]], [[trait]], or [[institution]] that is common to all [[human culture]]s on the planet. It should be noted that some anthropological and sociological theorists of an extreme [[cultural relativism]] perspective may deny, or minimize the importance of, the existence of cultural universals: the extent to which these universals are "cultural" in the narrow sense, or in fact biologically inherited [[ethology|behavior]] is an issue in the "[[nature versus nurture]]" controversy.+
-These universals are sometimes referred to as "empty universals" since merely remarking on their presence in a particular culture doesn't actually show anything unique or significant about that culture.+In his book ''[[Human Universals]]'' (1991), [[Donald Brown (anthropologist)|Donald Brown]] defines human universals as comprising "those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exception", providing a list of hundreds of items he suggests as universal.
- + 
 +==General==
The emergence of these universals dates to the [[Upper Paleolithic]], with the first evidence of full [[behavioral modernity]]. The emergence of these universals dates to the [[Upper Paleolithic]], with the first evidence of full [[behavioral modernity]].
 +
 +==List of cultural universals==
 +<!-- This list is based on the work by the mentioned author. Please no removing or adding based on original research or unrelated authors about whether these listed below are or are not cultural universals -->
Among the cultural universals listed by Brown (1991) are: Among the cultural universals listed by Brown (1991) are:
-*[[language]] and cognition (see also [[linguistic universal]])+===Language and cognition===
-**language employed to manipulate others+:''[[Linguistic universal]]
-**language employed to misinform or mislead+* Language employed to manipulate others
-**language is translatable+* Language employed to misinform or mislead
-**abstraction in speech & thought+* Language is [[translation|translatable]]
-**antonyms, synonyms+* [[Abstraction]] in speech and thought
-**logical notions of "and", "not", "opposite", "equivalent", "part/whole", "general/particular"+* [[Antonym]]s, [[synonym]]s
-**binary cognitive distinctions+* [[Logical predicate|Logical notions]] of "and", "not", "opposite", "equivalent", "part/whole", "general/particular"
-**[[color term]]s: black, white+* Binary cognitive distinctions
-**classification of: age, behavioral propensities, body parts, colors, fauna, flora, inner states, kin, sex, space, tools, weather conditions+* [[Color term]]s: black, white
-**continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)+* Classification of: age, behavioral propensities, body parts, colors, fauna, flora, inner states, kin, sex, space, tools, weather conditions
-**discrepancies between speech, thought, and action+* Continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)
-**figurative speech, metaphors+* Discrepancies between speech, thought, and action
-**symbolism,symbolic speech+* [[Figurative speech]], [[metaphor]]s
-**synesthetic metaphors+* Symbolism, [[symbolic speech]]
-**tabooed utterances+* [[Synesthetic]] metaphors
-**+* [[Taboo]]ed utterances
-**special speech for special occasions+* Special speech for special occasions
-**prestige from proficient use of language (e.g. poetry)+* Prestige from proficient use of language (e.g. poetry)
-**planning+* Planning
-**units of time+* Units of time
 + 
 +===Society===
 +* [[Given name|Personal names]]
 +* Family or household
 +* [[kinship|Kin groups]]
 +* [[Peer group]]s not based on family
 +* Actions under self-control distinguished from those not under control
 +* Affection expressed and felt
 +* Age grades
 +* Age statuses
 +* Age terms
 +* [[Law]]: rights and obligations, rules of membership
 +* [[Morality|Moral sentiments]]
 +* Distinguishing right and wrong, good and bad
 +* Promise/oath
 +* Prestige [[social inequality|inequalities]]
 +* Statuses and roles
 +* Leaders
 +* De facto [[oligarchy]]
 +* [[Property]]
 +* Coalitions
 +* Collective identities
 +* Conflict
 +* Cooperative labor
 +* [[Gender role]]s
 +* Males on average travel greater distances over lifetime
 +* [[Marriage]], though this is disputed
 +* Husband older than wife on average
 +* Copulation normally conducted in privacy
 +* [[Incest]] prevention or avoidance, incest between mother and son unthinkable or tabooed
 +* [[Collective decision making]]
 +* [[Etiquette]]
 +* [[Inheritance]] rules
 +* Generosity admired, gift giving
 +* Redress of wrongs, sanctions
 +* [[Sexual jealousy in humans|Sexual jealousy]]
 +* [[Sexual violence]]
 +* [[Shame]]
 +* [[Territoriality]]
 +* Triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people)
 +* Some forms of proscribed violence
 +* Visiting
 +* [[Trade]]
-*[[society]]+===Myth, ritual and aesthetics===
-**personal names+
-**family or household+
-**kin groups+
-**[[peer group]]s not based on family+
-**actions under self-control distinguished from those not under control+
-**affection expressed and felt+
-**age grades+
-**age statuses+
-**age terms+
-**law: rights and obligations, rules of membership+
-**moral sentiments+
-**promise/oath+
-**prestige inequalities+
-**statuses and roles+
-**leaders+
-**de facto oligarchy+
-**property+
-**coalitions+
-**collective identities+
-**conflict+
-**cooperative labor+
-**[[gender role]]s+
-**males dominate public/political realm+
-**males more aggressive, more prone to lethal violence, more prone to theft+
-**males engage in more coalitional violence+
-**males on average travel greater distances over lifetime+
-**marriage+
-**husband older than wife on average+
-**copulation normally conducted in privacy+
-**incest prevention or avoidance, incest between mother and son unthinkable or tabooed+
-**rape+
-**collective decision making+
-**ethnocentrism+
-**etiquette+
-**inheritance rules+
-**distinguishing right and wrong, good and bad+
-**generosity admired, gift giving+
-**redress of wrongs, sanctions+
-**sexual jealousy+
-**shame+
-**territoriality+
-**triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people) +
-**some forms of proscribed violence+
-**visiting+
-**trade+
-*[[myth]], [[ritual]], [[aesthetics]]+:''[[Myth and ritual]], [[aesthetic universal]]
-**[[magical thinking]]+* [[Magical thinking]]
-**use of magic to increase life, win love,+* Use of magic to increase life and win love
-**beliefs about death+* Beliefs about death
-**beliefs about disease+* Beliefs about disease
-**beliefs about fortune and misfortune+* Beliefs about fortune and misfortune
-**[[divination]]+* [[Divination]]
-**attempts to control weather +* Attempts to control weather
-**dream interpretation+* Dream interpretation
-**beliefs and narratives+* Beliefs and narratives
-**proverbs, sayings+* [[Proverb]]s, sayings
-**poetry/rhetorics+* Poetry/[[rhetorics]]
-**[[healing]] practices, medicine+* [[Healing]] practices, medicine
-**childbirth customs+* Childbirth customs
-**rites of passage+* Rites of passage
-**[[music]], [[rhythm]], [[dance]]+* [[Music]], [[rhythm]], [[dance]]
-**play+* Play
-**toys, playthings+* Toys, playthings
-**death rituals, mourning+* Death rituals, mourning
-**feasting+* [[Feasting]]
-**[[body adornment]]+* [[Body ornamentation (disambiguation)|Body adornment]]<!--intentional link to DAB page-->
-**hairstyles+* Hairstyles
 +* [[Art]]
-*technology+===Technology===
-**shelter+* Shelter
-**[[control of fire|fire]]+* [[Control of fire]]
-**tools, tool making+* Tools, tool making
-**[[weapon]]s, spear+* [[Weapon]]s, spear
-**containers+* Containers
-**[[cooking]]+* [[Cooking]]
-**lever+* [[Lever]]
-**tying material (i.e., something like string), twining (i.e. weaving or similar)+* [[Rope|Cordage]]
-==Bibliography==+==Non-nativist explanations==
-* [[Erika Bourginon]] (1973) ''Diversity and Homogeneity in World Societies''. New Haven, Connecticut: [[HRAF Press]]+The observation of the same or similar behavior in different cultures does not prove that they are the results of a common underlying psychological mechanism. One possibility is that they may have been invented independently due to a common practical problem.
-* [[Donald Brown]] (1991) ''Human Universals''. Philadelphia, [[Temple University Press]] ([http://condor.depaul.edu/~mfiddler/hyphen/humunivers.htm online summary]).+
-* [[Joseph H. Greenberg]], ''et al''. (1978) ''Universals of Human Language'', 4 vols. [[Stanford University Press]]+
-* [[Charles D. Laughlin]] and [[Eugene G. d'Aquili]] (1974) ''Biogenetic Structuralism''. New York: Columbia University Press+
-* [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] (1966) ''[[The Savage Mind]]''. Chicago: [[University of Chicago Press]] [first published in French in 1962] +
-* [[Charles E. Osgood]], [[William S May]], and [[Murray S Miron]] (1975) ''Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning'' Champaign, IL: [[University of Illinois Press]]+
-* [[Steven Pinker]] (2002), ''The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature'', New York: [[Penguin Putnam]]+
-* [[Rik Pinxten]] (1976) "Epistemic Universals: A Contribution to Cognitive Anthropology" in ''Universalism Versus Relativism in Language and Thought'', R. Pinxten (ed.). [[The Hague]]: Mouton.+
 +Since any cultures that have been [[anthropology|studied by anthropologists]] have had contact with at least the anthropologists that studied it, and anthropological [[research ethics]] slows the studies down so that other groups unbound by such ethics, often at least locally represented by people of the same skin color as the supposedly isolated tribe but significantly culturally globalized, reach the tribe before the anthropologists do, no truly uncontacted culture has ever been scientifically studied. This allows outside influence to be an explanation for cultural universals as well. This does not preclude multiple independent inventions of [[civilization]] and is therefore not the same thing as [[hyperdiffusionism]], it merely means that cultural universals are not proof of [[innateness]].
 +==See also==
 +* [[Archetype]]
 +* [[Biocultural anthropology]]
{{GFDL}} {{GFDL}}

Revision as of 11:52, 4 April 2018

The Bouba/kiki effect (1929)
Enlarge
The Bouba/kiki effect (1929)

Related e

Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Shop

Featured:

A cultural universal (also called an anthropological universal or human universal), as discussed by Emile Durkheim, George Murdock, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Donald Brown and others, is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all human cultures worldwide. Taken together, the whole body of cultural universals is known as the human condition. Evolutionary psychologists hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations. Some anthropological and sociological theorists that take a cultural relativist perspective may deny the existence of cultural universals: the extent to which these universals are "cultural" in the narrow sense, or in fact biologically inherited behavior is an issue of "nature versus nurture".

In his book Human Universals (1991), Donald Brown defines human universals as comprising "those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exception", providing a list of hundreds of items he suggests as universal.

Contents

General

The emergence of these universals dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the first evidence of full behavioral modernity.

List of cultural universals

Among the cultural universals listed by Brown (1991) are:

Language and cognition

Linguistic universal
  • Language employed to manipulate others
  • Language employed to misinform or mislead
  • Language is translatable
  • Abstraction in speech and thought
  • Antonyms, synonyms
  • Logical notions of "and", "not", "opposite", "equivalent", "part/whole", "general/particular"
  • Binary cognitive distinctions
  • Color terms: black, white
  • Classification of: age, behavioral propensities, body parts, colors, fauna, flora, inner states, kin, sex, space, tools, weather conditions
  • Continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)
  • Discrepancies between speech, thought, and action
  • Figurative speech, metaphors
  • Symbolism, symbolic speech
  • Synesthetic metaphors
  • Tabooed utterances
  • Special speech for special occasions
  • Prestige from proficient use of language (e.g. poetry)
  • Planning
  • Units of time

Society

Myth, ritual and aesthetics

Myth and ritual, aesthetic universal

Technology

Non-nativist explanations

The observation of the same or similar behavior in different cultures does not prove that they are the results of a common underlying psychological mechanism. One possibility is that they may have been invented independently due to a common practical problem.

Since any cultures that have been studied by anthropologists have had contact with at least the anthropologists that studied it, and anthropological research ethics slows the studies down so that other groups unbound by such ethics, often at least locally represented by people of the same skin color as the supposedly isolated tribe but significantly culturally globalized, reach the tribe before the anthropologists do, no truly uncontacted culture has ever been scientifically studied. This allows outside influence to be an explanation for cultural universals as well. This does not preclude multiple independent inventions of civilization and is therefore not the same thing as hyperdiffusionism, it merely means that cultural universals are not proof of innateness.

See also


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Cultural universal" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

Retrieved from "http://artandpopularculture.com/Cultural_universal"
Personal tools
Metas