scholarly journals Folklore*

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stelios Michalopoulos ◽  
Melanie Meng Xue
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Cultural Economics ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Classification Methods ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
Second Generation Immigrants ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Folklore is the collection of traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community passed through the generations by word of mouth. We introduce to economics a unique catalogue of oral traditions spanning approximately 1,000 societies. After validating the catalogue’s content by showing that the groups’ motifs reflect known geographic and social attributes, we present two sets of applications. First, we illustrate how to fill in the gaps and expand upon a group’s ethnographic record, focusing on political complexity, high gods, and trade. Second, we discuss how machine learning and human-classification methods can help shed light on cultural traits, using gender roles, attitudes towards risk, and trust as examples. Societies with tales portraying men as dominant and women as submissive tend to relegate their women to subordinate positions in their communities, both historically and today. More risk-averse and less entrepreneurial people grew up listening to stories where competitions and challenges are more likely to be harmful than beneficial. Communities with low tolerance towards antisocial behavior, captured by the prevalence of tricksters getting punished, are more trusting and prosperous today. These patterns hold across groups, countries, and second-generation immigrants. Overall, the results highlight the significance of folklore in cultural economics, calling for additional applications.

scholarly journals The paradox of being on the glass cliff: why do women accept risky leadership positions?

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maral Darouei ◽  
Helen Pluut
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Glass Cliff ◽  
Shed Light

PurposeRecent evidence from glass cliff research suggests that women are more willing than men to accept risky leadership positions. The purpose of this paper (based on three studies) is to reveal and resolve the apparent paradox that women are more risk averse than men yet end up in risky leadership positions.Design/methodology/approachIn Study I, risk attitudes of 125 participants were surveyed to understand gender differences in risk taking. In two experimental vignette studies, 119 university students (Study II) and 109 working adults (Study III) were offered a leadership position in either a risky or successful company and asked to rate their willingness to accept the job.FindingsTogether, the results showed that although women are generally more risk averse than men, women who scored low on career self-efficacy were more likely to perceive a risky job as a promotional opportunity and were therefore more willing to accept such a job. These findings shed light on the role of women’s career decision making in the glass cliff phenomenon.Originality/valueGlass cliff research has focused almost exclusively on organizational decision makers. The authors aim to better understand the glass cliff phenomenon by incorporating the perspective of job seekers.

A Summary-Report on the Oral Traditions of Yoruba Musicians

Africa ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darius L. Thieme
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Summary Report ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThis paper reports briefly on some oral traditions collected from Yoruba musicians in western Nigeria in 1964-6. These relate mainly to the origins of their musical instruments. The research sought to answer these questions: Do Yoruba musicians have an established body of traditional beliefs with respect to their instruments? If so, how can these beliefs best be collected for collation and comparative study?

scholarly journals A worldwide view of matriliny: using cross-cultural analyses to shed light on human kinship systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1780) ◽  
pp. 20180077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Surowiec ◽  
Kate T. Snyder ◽  
Nicole Creanza
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Subsistence Strategy ◽  
Wealth Transfer ◽  
Single Region ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Shed Light

Although matriliny and matrilocality are relatively rare in contemporary human populations, these female-based descent and residence systems are present in different cultural contexts and across the globe. Previous research has generated numerous hypotheses about which cultural traits are associated with the stability or loss of matrilineal descent. In addition, several studies have examined matrilineal descent with phylogenetic analyses; however, the use of language phylogenies has restricted these analyses to comparisons within a single language family, often confined to a single continent. Cross-cultural comparisons are particularly informative when they account for the relationships between widely distributed populations, as opposed to treating each population as an independent sample or focusing on a single region. Here, we study the evolution of descent systems on a worldwide scale. First, we test for significant associations between matriliny and numerous cultural traits that have been theoretically associated with its stability or loss, such as subsistence strategy, animal domestication, mating system, residence pattern, wealth transfer and property succession. In addition, by combining genetic and linguistic information to build a global supertree that includes 16 matrilineal populations, we also perform phylogenetically controlled analyses to assess the patterns of correlated evolution between descent and other traits: for example, does a change in subsistence strategy generally predict a shift in the rules of descent, or do these transitions happen independently? These analyses enable a worldwide perspective on the pattern and process of the evolution of matriliny and matrilocality. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals’.

scholarly journals The Importance of Cultural Traits in Children’s Willingness to Provide Informal Care to a Parent

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 561-562
Author(s):  
Freya Diederich ◽  
Hans-Helmut König ◽  
Christian Brettschneider
Keyword(s):  
Informal Care ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Second Generation Immigrants ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Cultural Measure

Abstract The likelihood that a child will provide informal care to a parent varies across countries and between social groups within countries. We highlight the importance of cultural traits in children’s value of informal care and their willingness to provide informal care to a parent. We initially construct a cultural measure of the strength of family ties at the country level using data from the World Values Survey. Then, we use a sample of second-generation immigrants from the German Family Panel (N=1,041) and regress their value of informal care on the strength of family ties that prevails in their parents’ country of origin. Immigrants who have origins in countries with strong family ties are significantly more likely to report a high value of informal care. Finally, we show that children who report a high value of informal care are significantly more likely to provide informal care to a parent in need. Part of a symposium sponsored by the International Aging and Migration Interest Group.

scholarly journals Women to the Placards! The Socio-economic Situation of Female Choreographers in the Male World of Ballet Art

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-89
Author(s):  
Emilia Cholewicka
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Cultural Economics ◽  
Male Gender ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Evidence Analysis ◽  
Shed Light

The ballet environment is very specific – hermetic and small. Analysing the history and literature of ballet as well as looking at the contemporary repertoire of leading ballet companies, it is easy to notice the numerous domination of women, which does not determine their dominance in the creative (choreography) and management sphere. In Poland, in the season 2019/2020, 6 out of 9 largest, primer ballet companies are headed by men. As research has shown, it is the male gender that has been dominating in choreography for years, constituting the spectacles shown on the stages and, as a result, the ballet heritage. The article Women tothe placards! The socio-economic situation of female choreographers in the male world of ballet art shed light on the labour market of Polish choreographers working in leading ballet companies, pointing out the prevailing inequalities between men and women who are involved in ballet choreography. In this study, I apply the methods of social sciences (documentary evidence analysis – repertoire and labour force of 9 primer Polish ballet companies in the season 2019/2020), I analyse the data collected during the study Estimation of the number of artists, creators and performers in Poland (Ilczuk et al. 2018), whilst cultural economics is the theoretical framework of my study. This theoretical-methodical base allowed me to expose the inequalities, potential causes and dependencies that exist on the labour market of artists creating ballet choreographies. An immanent feature of this market is the deficit of women.

scholarly journals Shaping Tastes and Values Through the Law: Law and Economics Meets Cultural Economics

Global Jurist ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Fabbri
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Law And Economics ◽  
Cultural Economics ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
The Law

Abstract This article elaborates on the point made by Guido Calabresi in his recent book “The Future of Law and Economics: Essays in Reform and Recollection”, where he holds that Law and Economics should inform law-makers and policy-makers regarding what tastes and values are more desirable than others. Calabresi invites economists to depart from the approach traditionally embraced in economic analysis holding that “De gustibus non est disputandum”. He proposes instead to dialogue with law-makers in order to openly engage in the promotion of welfare-enhancing tastes and values. My main argument is that recent empirical findings in Economics support Calabresi’s invitation to normatively engage in shaping cultural traits – at least for a specific set of tastes and values.

scholarly journals A Report and Request toward Building a Canine Burial Corpus

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan P. McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Canis Familiaris ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Symbolic Expression ◽  
The World ◽  
Enormous Amount ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light

Both the affectionate and mutually adaptive relationships that contemporary humans share with the dog (Canis familiaris) are the result of a long history of domestication. Because of this long partnership, an analysis of dog burials can shed light on certain integrated components associated with mortuary practices, symbolic expression, and oral traditions in humans. There is an enormous amount of archeological and ethnological literature describing the role of the domesticated dog around the world. These sources describe the variable roles of dogs as human partners, friends, companions in hunting and herding, as pack animals, as guard, fighting, and war dogs, as active participants in ritual, and as meat for consumption in lean times or reserved as offerings in ceremonial feasting.

scholarly journals Hunting and Hunting-related Practices among the Kushi (Northeastern Nigeria)

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Gian Claudio Batic
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Knowledge Transmission ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Subsistence Hunting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Procedural Text ◽  
The Way

Abstract This paper deals with the practise of shwɛɛ ‘hunting’ among the Kushi, a Chadic speaking community of northeastern Nigeria. Subsistence hunting is still practised by Kushi, even if its importance and impact have been decreasing over the last few decades. A mental model of the past and present hunting practises are kept alive in the collective imagery by means of oral traditions, an instrument of knowledge transmission ubiquitous to many African societies. Shwɛɛ will be described through an oral text in which the narrator – a Kushi hunter – explains the nature and purposes of hunting along with the series of actions to be performed in order to carry it out properly, i.e. in a manner consistent with the values and social norms in force within the community. The procedural text describes some essential aspects of hunting: the way it is announced and who is allowed to lead it, the specificities of the kind of game that is hunted in terms of consumption and general use, and the traditional beliefs that need to be observed before and during hunting.

scholarly journals Broadening Relevance: The Polemic Property of Concepts in Metaphorical Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (35) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salim Bouherar ◽  
Ramona Pistol
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Mental Process ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Shed Light

The lexical pragmatic processes that relevance theory heavily relies on to account for communication are problematic. Broadening and narrowing no longer seem suitable to explain how “conceptual” meanings are modified in the comprehension processes if considering recent developments around the concept definitions and how the mind works. Using theoretical suggestions in psycholinguistics to shed light on the issue raised, the paper makes two main suggestions. Firstly, the account of concepts in relevance theory should be reconsidered to allow for more flexibility. An account of metaphors based on pragmatic adjustment of one of its constituents under the influence of another, as well as contextual assumption, does not seem a viable mental process involved in metaphor comprehension since it should not only allow flexibility of semantic associations but also a reconsideration of concepts as entities and encyclopaedical information as mere conceptual characteristics. Secondly, more cultural awareness and influence should be integrated into the relevance theoretical account of meaning since cultural traits are often considered by speakers in reaching relevance. Moreover, pre-existing conceptual knowledge varies greatly between individuals and thus the comprehension of metaphor should no longer be treated as a static process but rather a highly dynamic one.

The Archaeology of Highveld Farming Communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karim Sadr
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Central Plateau ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
White Settlers ◽  
The Many

The Highveld covers a quarter of South Africa’s central plateau and is one of the most extensively investigated archaeological landscapes in Africa. Cattle-herding, farming communities first occupied these grasslands sometime between the 15th and the 17th centuries. A surge in the importance of cattle pastoralism among the so-called Late Iron Age populations of southern Africa seems to have caused this “grassland rush.” With it came a boom in the construction of dry-laid, stone-walled structures, an innovation the success of which is evidenced by the tens of thousands of ruins visible on aerial imagery of the Highveld. In places their agglomeration reaches urban proportions. Sotho-Tswana culture dominated this grassland rush by assimilating the many Nguni- as well as Khoesan-speaking communities that had also moved into the Highveld. The Highveld’s cultural landscape was rearranged by the southern African civil wars of the 1820s—the Difeqane, as it is known in the Tswana language. Shortly thereafter, the arrival of white settlers in the late 1830s heralded the beginning of the colonial period. Archaeologists in the Highveld have largely aimed to illustrate the historical record and oral traditions pertaining to the Sotho and Tswana communities. More usefully they can focus on questions that these records cannot answer. For example, archaeology can help to fill the many gaps in the records; it can investigate the history of things—such as the changing regional settlement patterns and the diffusion of technological innovations—about which the records are silent, and it can test hypotheses to explain the evolution of social and political complexity in the precolonial Highveld. In this way archaeology can help to balance the mostly “top-down” political view provided by the oral traditions and historical records with a “bottom-up” view of social, technological, and architectural developments among the precolonial farming communities of the Highveld.

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