Cultural universal
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| + | [[Image:The-bouba-kiki-effect.png|thumb|right|200px|The [[Bouba/kiki effect]] (1929)]] | ||
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| - | 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. | + | 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]]". |
| - | 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]] | + | ===Society=== |
| - | **personal names | + | * [[Given name|Personal names]] |
| - | **family or household | + | * Family or household |
| - | **kin groups | + | * [[kinship|Kin groups]] |
| - | **[[peer group]]s not based on family | + | * [[Peer group]]s not based on family |
| - | **actions under self-control distinguished from those not under control | + | * Actions under self-control distinguished from those not under control |
| - | **affection expressed and felt | + | * Affection expressed and felt |
| - | **age grades | + | * Age grades |
| - | **age statuses | + | * Age statuses |
| - | **age terms | + | * Age terms |
| - | **law: rights and obligations, rules of membership | + | * [[Law]]: rights and obligations, rules of membership |
| - | **moral sentiments | + | * [[Morality|Moral sentiments]] |
| - | **promise/oath | + | * Distinguishing right and wrong, good and bad |
| - | **prestige inequalities | + | * Promise/oath |
| - | **statuses and roles | + | * Prestige [[social inequality|inequalities]] |
| - | **leaders | + | * Statuses and roles |
| - | **de facto oligarchy | + | * Leaders |
| - | **property | + | * De facto [[oligarchy]] |
| - | **coalitions | + | * [[Property]] |
| - | **collective identities | + | * Coalitions |
| - | **conflict | + | * Collective identities |
| - | **cooperative labor | + | * Conflict |
| - | **[[gender role]]s | + | * Cooperative labor |
| - | **males dominate public/political realm | + | * [[Gender role]]s |
| - | **males more aggressive, more prone to lethal violence, more prone to theft | + | * Males on average travel greater distances over lifetime |
| - | **males engage in more coalitional violence | + | * [[Marriage]], though this is disputed |
| - | **males on average travel greater distances over lifetime | + | * Husband older than wife on average |
| - | **marriage | + | * Copulation normally conducted in privacy |
| - | **husband older than wife on average | + | * [[Incest]] prevention or avoidance, incest between mother and son unthinkable or tabooed |
| - | **copulation normally conducted in privacy | + | * [[Collective decision making]] |
| - | **incest prevention or avoidance, incest between mother and son unthinkable or tabooed | + | * [[Etiquette]] |
| - | **rape | + | * [[Inheritance]] rules |
| - | **collective decision making | + | * Generosity admired, gift giving |
| - | **ethnocentrism | + | * Redress of wrongs, sanctions |
| - | **etiquette | + | * [[Sexual jealousy in humans|Sexual jealousy]] |
| - | **inheritance rules | + | * [[Sexual violence]] |
| - | **distinguishing right and wrong, good and bad | + | * [[Shame]] |
| - | **generosity admired, gift giving | + | * [[Territoriality]] |
| - | **redress of wrongs, sanctions | + | * Triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people) |
| - | **sexual jealousy | + | * Some forms of proscribed violence |
| - | **shame | + | * Visiting |
| - | **territoriality | + | * [[Trade]] |
| - | **triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people) | + | |
| - | **some forms of proscribed violence | + | |
| - | **visiting | + | |
| - | **trade | + | |
| - | *[[myth]], [[ritual]], [[aesthetics]] | + | ===Myth, ritual and aesthetics=== |
| - | **[[magical thinking]] | + | |
| - | **use of magic to increase life, win love, | + | |
| - | **beliefs about death | + | |
| - | **beliefs about disease | + | |
| - | **beliefs about fortune and misfortune | + | |
| - | **[[divination]] | + | |
| - | **attempts to control weather | + | |
| - | **dream interpretation | + | |
| - | **beliefs and narratives | + | |
| - | **proverbs, sayings | + | |
| - | **poetry/rhetorics | + | |
| - | **[[healing]] practices, medicine | + | |
| - | **childbirth customs | + | |
| - | **rites of passage | + | |
| - | **[[music]], [[rhythm]], [[dance]] | + | |
| - | **play | + | |
| - | **toys, playthings | + | |
| - | **death rituals, mourning | + | |
| - | **feasting | + | |
| - | **[[body adornment]] | + | |
| - | **hairstyles | + | |
| - | *technology | + | :''[[Myth and ritual]], [[aesthetic universal]] |
| - | **shelter | + | * [[Magical thinking]] |
| - | **[[control of fire|fire]] | + | * Use of magic to increase life and win love |
| - | **tools, tool making | + | * Beliefs about death |
| - | **[[weapon]]s, spear | + | * Beliefs about disease |
| - | **containers | + | * Beliefs about fortune and misfortune |
| - | **[[cooking]] | + | * [[Divination]] |
| - | **lever | + | * Attempts to control weather |
| - | **tying material (i.e., something like string), twining (i.e. weaving or similar) | + | * Dream interpretation |
| - | ==See also== | + | * Beliefs and narratives |
| - | :''[[The Savage Mind]], [[structural anthropology]]'' | + | * [[Proverb]]s, sayings |
| + | * Poetry/[[rhetorics]] | ||
| + | * [[Healing]] practices, medicine | ||
| + | * Childbirth customs | ||
| + | * Rites of passage | ||
| + | * [[Music]], [[rhythm]], [[dance]] | ||
| + | * Play | ||
| + | * Toys, playthings | ||
| + | * Death rituals, mourning | ||
| + | * [[Feasting]] | ||
| + | * [[Body ornamentation (disambiguation)|Body adornment]]<!--intentional link to DAB page--> | ||
| + | * Hairstyles | ||
| + | * [[Art]] | ||
| - | ==Bibliography== | + | ===Technology=== |
| - | * [[Erika Bourginon]] (1973) ''Diversity and Homogeneity in World Societies''. New Haven, Connecticut: [[HRAF Press]] | + | * Shelter |
| - | * [[Donald Brown]] (1991) ''Human Universals''. Philadelphia, [[Temple University Press]] ([http://condor.depaul.edu/~mfiddler/hyphen/humunivers.htm online summary]). | + | * [[Control of fire]] |
| - | * [[Joseph H. Greenberg]], ''et al''. (1978) ''Universals of Human Language'', 4 vols. [[Stanford University Press]] | + | * Tools, tool making |
| - | * [[Charles D. Laughlin]] and [[Eugene G. d'Aquili]] (1974) ''Biogenetic Structuralism''. New York: Columbia University Press | + | * [[Weapon]]s, spear |
| - | * [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] (1966) ''[[The Savage Mind]]''. Chicago: [[University of Chicago Press]] [first published in French in 1962] | + | * Containers |
| - | * [[Charles E. Osgood]], [[William S May]], and [[Murray S Miron]] (1975) ''Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning'' Champaign, IL: [[University of Illinois Press]] | + | * [[Cooking]] |
| - | * [[Steven Pinker]] (2002), ''[[The Blank Slate|The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature]]'', New York: [[Penguin Putnam]] | + | * [[Lever]] |
| - | * [[Rik Pinxten]] (1976) "Epistemic Universals: A Contribution to Cognitive Anthropology" in ''Universalism Versus Relativism in Language and Thought'', R. Pinxten (ed.). [[The Hague]]: Mouton. | + | * [[Rope|Cordage]] |
| + | ==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 [[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
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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
- 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
- Personal names
- Family or household
- Kin groups
- Peer groups 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
- Distinguishing right and wrong, good and bad
- Promise/oath
- Prestige inequalities
- Statuses and roles
- Leaders
- De facto oligarchy
- Property
- Coalitions
- Collective identities
- Conflict
- Cooperative labor
- Gender roles
- 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
- Sexual violence
- Shame
- Territoriality
- Triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people)
- Some forms of proscribed violence
- Visiting
- Trade
Myth, ritual and aesthetics
- Magical thinking
- Use of magic to increase life and win love
- Beliefs about death
- Beliefs about disease
- Beliefs about fortune and misfortune
- Divination
- Attempts to control weather
- Dream interpretation
- Beliefs and narratives
- Proverbs, sayings
- Poetry/rhetorics
- Healing practices, medicine
- Childbirth customs
- Rites of passage
- Music, rhythm, dance
- Play
- Toys, playthings
- Death rituals, mourning
- Feasting
- Body adornment
- Hairstyles
- Art
Technology
- Shelter
- Control of fire
- Tools, tool making
- Weapons, spear
- Containers
- Cooking
- Lever
- Cordage
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.
