Cultural universal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A cultural universal (see George Murdock, Claude Levi-Strauss) is an element, pattern, trait or institution that is common to all human cultures on the planet. Examples of elements that may be considered cultural universals are gender roles, the incest taboo, religious and healing ritual, myth, marriage, language, art, music, cooking, games, and jokes. 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 "nature versus nurture" argument has been going on for generations and is likely to continue.

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.

[edit] Bibliography

Bourginon, Erika (1973) Diversity and Homogeneity in World Societies. New Haven Connecticut: HRAF Press

Brown, D.E. (1991) Human Universals. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Greenberg, Joseph H., et al. (1978) Universals of Human Language, 4 vols. Stanford University Press

Laughlin, Charles D. and Eugene G. d'Aquili (1974) Biogenetic Structuralism. New York: Columbia University Press

Levi-Strauss, Claude (1966) The Savage Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press [first published in French in 1962]

Osgood, Charles E., William S May and Murray S Miron (1975) Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press

Pinker, Steven (2002), The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, New York: Penguin Putnam

Pinxten, R. (1976) "Epistemic Universals: A Contribution to Cognitive Anthropology." in Universalism Versus Relativism in Language and Thought, R. Pinxten (ed.). The Hague: Mouton.