Cross-Cultural Aesthetic Contrasts and Implications for Aesthetic Evolution and Change

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Richard L. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Market Value ◽  
Culture Contact ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Neolithic Cultures

In contrast to small-scale societies, philosophies of art in complex societies tend to be relatively explicit, produced by specialists, and densely textured—a pattern exemplified by the differences between the aesthetic systems of Aboriginal Australian versus pre-Columbian Aztec societies. These differences may parallel the gradual changes in aesthetics that occurred as some small, pre-neolithic cultures evolved into complex states. Also, when traditional societies undergo the shock of culture contact, their previously profound aesthetic systems, whether explicit or implicit, tend to be replaced by concerns about craftsmanship, intensiveness of work, and market value—as exemplified by pre- and post-contact Aztec culture. Also discussed are possible future developments in each of these dynamic processes, respectively designated “bary-evolution” and “ocy-evolution.”

scholarly journals Moralistic Gods and Social Complexity: A Brief History of the Problem

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Grant Purzycki ◽  
Ryan McKay
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
History Of

A cluster of persistent and contentious questions in the scientific study of religion concern when and why so-called “moralistic traditions” developed and how they have shaped human relationships. Is there an association between moralistic gods and the size and/or complexity of the society that might worship them? How cross-culturally ubiquitous are such traditions? Are people more willing to engage in cooperative behavior when they believe their god cares about morality? This chapter focuses on how these questions have arisen and how generations of researchers have struggled to address them. We first briefly examine the intellectual history of the problem, pointing to some of the troubling aspects of early observations of traditional societies and subsequent anthropological positions. We then address how early observations of small-scale peoples have populated cross-cultural resources that have informed and driven contemporary empirical projects. We finish by pointing to ways in which we might go about ensuring that the conversation continues with clarity and consistency.

To give and to give not: The behavioral ecology of human food transfers

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Gurven
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Ecology ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Costly Signaling ◽  
Sexual Division Of Labor ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Sharing Patterns ◽  
Sharing Behavior

The transfer of food among group members is a ubiquitous feature of small-scale forager and forager-agricultural populations. The uniqueness of pervasive sharing among humans, especially among unrelated individuals, has led researchers to evaluate numerous hypotheses about the adaptive functions and patterns of sharing in different ecologies. This article attempts to organize available cross-cultural evidence pertaining to several contentious evolutionary models: kin selection, reciprocal altruism, tolerated scrounging, and costly signaling. Debates about the relevance of these models focus primarily on the extent to which individuals exert control over the distribution of foods they acquire, and the extent to which donors receive food or other fitness-enhancing benefits in return for shares given away. Each model can explain some of the variance in sharing patterns within groups, and so generalizations that ignore or deny the importance of any one model may be misleading. Careful multivariate analyses and cross-cultural comparisons of food transfer patterns are therefore necessary tools for assessing aspects of the sexual division of labor, human life history evolution, and the evolution of the family. This article also introduces a framework for better understanding variation in sharing behavior across small-scale traditional societies. I discuss the importance of resource ecology and the degree of coordination in acquisition activities as a key feature that influences sharing behavior.

Beautiful Uselessness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd Whitesell
Keyword(s):  
Small Scale ◽  
Central Values ◽  
Overall Design ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Musical Arrangement

This chapter explores special cases where glamour conventions demonstrate aestheticist values, that is, the exaltation of style for its own sake. At such times, the aesthetic intensity of glamour seems to offer an escape to a world of pure artifice, beauty, and style. The discussion identifies the central values of aestheticism as expressed in the high-art milieu and illustrates the same values at work in glamorous numbers. To analyze ultrastylishness in musical arrangement, it considers finesse on a small scale (e.g., contrapuntal ornamentation, textural and harmonic ingenuity) before turning to ingenuity of overall design in numbers such as “Dancing in the Dark,” from the film The Band Wagon, and “This Heart of Mine,” from Ziegfeld Follies.

scholarly journals Small-scale societies exhibit fundamental variation in the role of intentions in moral judgment

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (17) ◽  
pp. 4688-4693 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Clark Barrett ◽  
Alexander Bolyanatz ◽  
Alyssa N. Crittenden ◽  
Daniel M. T. Fessler ◽  
Simon Fitzpatrick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Narrow Range ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Moral Assessment ◽  
Mitigating Circumstances

Intent and mitigating circumstances play a central role in moral and legal assessments in large-scale industrialized societies. Although these features of moral assessment are widely assumed to be universal, to date, they have only been studied in a narrow range of societies. We show that there is substantial cross-cultural variation among eight traditional small-scale societies (ranging from hunter-gatherer to pastoralist to horticulturalist) and two Western societies (one urban, one rural) in the extent to which intent and mitigating circumstances influence moral judgments. Although participants in all societies took such factors into account to some degree, they did so to very different extents, varying in both the types of considerations taken into account and the types of violations to which such considerations were applied. The particular patterns of assessment characteristic of large-scale industrialized societies may thus reflect relatively recently culturally evolved norms rather than inherent features of human moral judgment.

Psychology Within and Without the State

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Clark Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The World ◽  
Psychological Similarity

Psychological research in small-scale societies is crucial for what it stands to tell us about human psychological diversity. However, people in these communities, typically Indigenous communities in the global South, have been underrepresented and sometimes misrepresented in psychological research. Here I discuss the promises and pitfalls of psychological research in these communities, reviewing why they have been of interest to social scientists and how cross-cultural comparisons have been used to test psychological hypotheses. I consider factors that may be undertheorized in our research, such as political and economic marginalization, and how these might influence our data and conclusions. I argue that more just and accurate representation of people from small-scale communities around the world will provide us with a fuller picture of human psychological similarity and diversity, and it will help us to better understand how this diversity is shaped by historical and social processes. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals A cross-cultural comparison of music education experiences and ambitions in two Spanish and English primary schools

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elinor Hardcastle ◽  
Stephanie Pitts ◽  
José Luis Aróstegui
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cultural Comparison ◽  
Music Curriculum ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison

A small-scale comparative study of music education provision in two Spanish and English primary schools was carried out in 2013–14, using questionnaires, interviews and observations. The study investigated the musical experiences of the children in the two schools, their ambitions for their musical futures, and the classroom practices and policy contexts that shaped these encounters with musical learning. Through thematic analysis and comparison of the data from the two schools, we examine music in children’s lives, music in the classroom, and musical ambitions and values, and consider how well the music curriculum serves the children in each setting.

scholarly journals Quantifying the relationship between food sharing practices and socio-ecological variables in small-scale societies: A cross-cultural multi-methodological approach

PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. e0216302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Ahedo ◽  
Jorge Caro ◽  
Eugenio Bortolini ◽  
Débora Zurro ◽  
Marco Madella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Food Sharing ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Ecological Variables ◽  
The Relationship

The experiences of mothers caring for a child with developmental disabilities: a cross cultural perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 218-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuljit Heer ◽  
John Rose ◽  
Michael Larkin ◽  
Nidhi Singhal
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Disabilities ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – India has one of the more progressive disability frameworks in the developing world which tends to adopt western philosophies and principles (e.g. parent participation and advocacy) which to some degree mirrors the type of service delivery in the UK. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a cross-cultural perspective to explore caregiving amongst parents caring for a child with intellectual/developmental disabilities in India. Design/methodology/approach – Three focus groups were used to interview parents at Action for Autism (AFA) located in Delhi, India. The focus groups explored how disability is encountered within an Indian context. Findings – Two main themes were identified in the parents narratives which were “making the decision to get help” and “seeing disabilities in from a new perspective”. Family members played an important role in the decision to get help and acted as a platform for mothers to explore their own concerns. Seeing disability from a new perspective was a four stage process which included initially accepting the diagnosis and their child; regaining control through parenting skills training; witnessing positive changes in their children and themselves and reaping personal benefits as a result of their involvement with AFA. Research limitations/implications – The research is very small scale and focused on parents in a specific organisation, as a consequence the results cannot be generalised. Originality/value – The discourses of these individuals do provide a useful insight into the provision of services to children in India and provide a starting point for cross-cultural understanding of parenting children with disabilities.

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