scholarly journals Worldwide evidence of cultural similarity among co-religionists within and across countries using the World Values Survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindel White ◽  
Michael Muthukrishna ◽  
Ara Norenzayan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Fixation Index ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
World Religions ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Cultural Similarity

Cultural evolutionary theories suggest that world religions have contributed to the expansion of human cooperation, in part by consolidating beliefs, values, and practices within a culturally integrated super-ethnic identity. To test this hypothesis, we measured cultural distance between religious groups within and between countries, using the Cultural Fixation Index (CF_ST) applied to the World Values Survey (88 countries, N=243,118). We found cultural similarity between co-religionists within and across countries: Individuals who shared a religious denomination and level of religiosity were more culturally similar than those with different affiliations and levels of religiosity, even after excluding overtly religious values. Moreover, distances between denominations echoed shared historical descent (e.g., Christian denominations were culturally similar). Non-religious individuals across countries also shared cultural values, suggesting the cultural evolution of secularization. Together, results reveal the pervasive cultural signature of religion and support the role of world religions in sustaining superordinate identities that transcend geographical boundaries.

scholarly journals Cultural similarity among coreligionists within and between countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (37) ◽  
pp. e2109650118
Author(s):  
Cindel J. M. White ◽  
Michael Muthukrishna ◽  
Ara Norenzayan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Fixation Index ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Cultural Similarity

Cultural evolutionary theories suggest that world religions have consolidated beliefs, values, and practices within a superethnic cultural identity. It follows that affiliation with religious traditions would be reliably associated with global variation in cultural traits. To test this hypothesis, we measured cultural distance between religious groups within and between countries, using the Cultural Fixation Index (CFST) applied to the World Values Survey (88 countries, n = 243,118). Individuals who shared a religious tradition and level of commitment to religion were more culturally similar, both within and across countries, than those with different affiliations and levels of religiosity, even after excluding overtly religious values. Moreover, distances between denominations within a world religion echoed shared historical descent. Nonreligious individuals across countries also shared cultural values, offering evidence for the cultural evolution of secularization. While nation-states were a stronger predictor of cultural traits than religious traditions, the cultural similarity of coreligionists remained robust, controlling for demographic characteristics, geographic and linguistic distances between groups, and government restriction on religion. Together, results reveal the pervasive cultural signature of religion and support the role of world religions in sustaining superordinate identities that transcend geographical boundaries.

scholarly journals Beyond Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) Psychology: Measuring and Mapping Scales of Cultural and Psychological Distance

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 678-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Muthukrishna ◽  
Adrian V. Bell ◽  
Joseph Henrich ◽  
Cameron M. Curtin ◽  
Alexander Gedranovich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fixation Index ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Cultural Comparison ◽  
Online Application ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World

In this article, we present a tool and a method for measuring the psychological and cultural distance between societies and creating a distance scale with any population as the point of comparison. Because psychological data are dominated by samples drawn from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) nations, and overwhelmingly, the United States, we focused on distance from the United States. We also present distance from China, the country with the largest population and second largest economy, which is a common cultural comparison. We applied the fixation index ( FST), a meaningful statistic in evolutionary theory, to the World Values Survey of cultural beliefs and behaviors. As the extreme WEIRDness of the literature begins to dissolve, our tool will become more useful for designing, planning, and justifying a wide range of comparative psychological projects. Our code and accompanying online application allow for comparisons between any two countries. Analyses of regional diversity reveal the relative homogeneity of the United States. Cultural distance predicts various psychological outcomes.

Democratic or cultural peace? Examining the joint democratic peace proposition through the lens of shared emancipative values

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Mariya Omelicheva ◽  
Brittnee Carter
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Interstate Conflict ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
Interstate Disputes ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Similarity ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIs it joint democracy or state similarity that has a pacifying impact on interstate relations? This study explores the complementarity of the two propositions and demonstrates the potential of a particular kind of shared emancipative culture embracing values of autonomy, equality, choice, and voice to amplify the impact of joint democracy on interstate conflict. The data on cultural values, which comes from the World Values Survey, was integrated with the data from the Correlates of War Project to test the impact of joint democracy and cultural similarity on militarised interstate disputes (1981–2010). We find that culturally similar dyads are less likely to be involved in conflict with each other than culturally dissimilar dyads. Although, cultural similarity does not wash out the pacifying effect of democracy, it offers a complementary explanation to the democratic peace. We also find that states that are democratic and share higher than average scores on the emancipative values are less likely to engage in militarised interstate disputes than democratic states, which are culturally dissimilar or score low on the emancipative dimensions. This provides support for an additional normative/cultural impact on democratic peace.

scholarly journals THE CLASSIFICA ASSIFICATION OF PHRASEOL TION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNI OGICAL UNITS WITH ONOMASTIC COMPONENTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 139-147
Author(s):  
Marjona Akhmadovna Radjabova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
National Character ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World

Abstract. The following article discusses the role of onomastic components in phraseological units and their meaning as well as giving a classification of onomastic components in phraseological units based on the materials of different structural languages. Through examples the author proves that the presence of names in the ancient rich phraseological layer of non-fraternal English, Russian and Uzbek languages is related to the national and cultural values, customs, ancient history, folklore and daily life of the peoples who speak this language. Besides, in the process of study of onomastic components it is also determined that names, along with forming their national character, are a factor giving information about the past of a particular nation. Background. In the world linguistics there have been carried out a series of researches in the field of the study of phraseological units with onomastic components in comparative-typological aspect revaling their national and cultural peculiarities, analyzing and classifying their content structurally and semantically

scholarly journals Social Modernization and the End of Ideology Debate: Patterns of Ideological Polarization

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUSSELL J. DALTON
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Industrial Democracies ◽  
Ideological Polarization ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Modernization ◽  
Over 40 Years ◽  
Western Democracies

Over 40 years ago, Daniel Bell made the provocative claim that ideological polarization was diminishing in Western democracies, but new ideologies were emerging and driving politics in developing nations. This article tests the End of Ideology thesis with a new wave of public opinion data from the World Values Survey (WVS) that covers over 70 nations representing more than 80 per cent of the world's population. We find that polarization along the Left/Right dimension is substantially greater in the less affluent and less democratic societies than in advanced industrial democracies. The correlates of Left/Right orientations also vary systematically across regions. The twin pillars of economic and religious cleavages remain important in European states; cultural values and nationalism provide stronger bases of ideology in Asia and the Middle East. As Bell suggested, social modernization does seem to transform the extent and bases of ideological polarization within contemporary societies.

scholarly journals Introduction: Evidence for entheogen use in prehistory and world religions

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Michael Winkelman
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Serotonergic System ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Serotonergic Receptors ◽  
Hominin Evolution ◽  
The World

This introduction to the special issue reviews research that supports the hypothesis that psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, were central features in the development of religion. The greater response of the human serotonergic system to psychedelics than is the case for chimpanzees’ serotonergic receptors indicates that these substances were environmental factors that affected hominin evolution. These substances also contributed to the evolution of ritual capacities, shamanism, and the associated alterations of consciousness. The role of psilocybin mushrooms in the ancient evolution of human religions is attested to fungiform petroglyphs, rock artifacts, and mythologies from all major regions of the world. This prehistoric mycolatry persisted into the historic era in the major religious traditions of the world, which often left evidence of these practices in sculpture, art, and scriptures. This continuation of entheogenic practices in the historical world is addressed in the articles here. But even through new entheogenic combinations were introduced, complex societies generally removed entheogens from widespread consumption, restricted them in private and exclusive spiritual practices of the leaders, and often carried out repressive punishment of those who engaged in entheogenic practices.

A Possession of One's Own: Women and Consumer Behavior in England, 1660–1740

1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna Weatherill
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Daily Routines ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
Family And Household ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Material Values

Hall Men are born free, how is it that all Women are born slaves? As they must be if the being subjected to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary Will of Men, be the Perfect Condition of Slavery? [Mary Astell, Reflections upon Marriage (London, 1700), p. 66]The wife ought to be subject to the husband in all things. [Hannah Woolley, The Gentlewoman's Companion or a GUIDE to the Female sex (London, 1675), p. 104]IDid men and women have different cultural and material values in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries? We know very little in detail about the activities of people within their homes and especially about their attitudes to the material goods that they used and that surrounded them. Virginia Woolf's complaint that she had no model to “turn about this way and that” in exploring the role of women in fiction applies equally to women's behavior as consumers, for we still do not know, as she put it, “what, in short, they did from eight in the morning till eight at night.” Did their particular roles within the household result in different material values, just as their biological and economic roles were different? We do know that power was unequally distributed within the household, although we can also demonstrate cooperation and affection between family members. We take it that the household was, in some sense, the woman's domain, but very often we cannot explore what this meant in practice. In short, was being “subjected to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary Will of Men” reflected in women's cultural values and tastes?These are broad questions that are not easily answered, either in theory or by observation, especially as it is not easy to identify the behavior of women as distinct from that of the family and household, but they are questions worth asking to see if there are signs of behavior different enough to warrant the view that there was a subculture in which women had the chance to express themselves and their views of the world separately, especially as the daily routines of their lives were different.

A Response to Amos Yong

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Donald Gelpi
Keyword(s):  
Charles Sanders Peirce ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Paschal Mystery ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis response by Donald Gelpi appreciates the accuracy of the reviewer's suggestion that the author's experience of charismatic prayer has very much conditioned both the author's written theology and his way of doing theol ogy. More particularly he acknowledges how it has conditioned his under standing of the role of the charisms in the shared faith of the Church, the centrality of the charisms in the practice and theology of the sacraments, and the role of the Spirit in the Paschal Mystery and in revealing the divinity of Jesus. Gelpi proceeds to discuss his notion of 'Christological knowing' as the unique knowledge of Jesus resulting from practical assimi lation to Him in the power of the Spirit—an experience that lies at the heart of Gelpi's Christology and is seen to provide it with its proper object of reflection, as Yong has correctly observed. Gelpi offers affirmation and fur ther elaboration on Yong's recognition of the importance of the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce in his own theological work. He joins Yong in the hope that the theological directions he has pursued and proposed might provide an experiential context for dialogue among the world religions.

scholarly journals The role of the Riga Latvian Society in the life of students and graduates of the Riga Polytechnicum / Riga Polytechnic Institute (1862–1919)

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Alīda Zigmunde ◽  
Maija Pozemkovska
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
National Development ◽  
Polytechnic Institute ◽  
150Th Anniversary ◽  
Poor Students ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future

The Riga Latvian Society (RLS) is the oldest Latvian organization in the world, where students, graduates and academic staff from oldest universities in the territory of Latvia – the Riga Polytechnicum (RP), from 1896 – the Riga Polytechnic Institute (RPI), had worked. The activities of the Society and its members have been diverse and varied, and their results are different, too. The heritage preserved for the future is books compiled and translated by Latvians that are well-known folk historical and cultural values, and new educated, patriotic generations of Latvians. Poor students were supported as much as possible, enabling them to achieve their chosen goals and contribute to Latvia’s economic and national development, culture and education. The 150th anniversary of the RLS, the collaboration of the Society with the RP / RPI students, graduates and academic staff until 1919, has been studied.

scholarly journals The Role of Social Capital in Serangan Sub-District, Denpasar-Bali

2021 ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
I Gede Putra Nugraha ◽  
I Made Antara ◽  
Made Budiarsa ◽  
Syamsul Alam Paturusi
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Sustainable Tourism ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Cultural Tourism ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Sustainable Tourism Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Potential Area

Serangan sub-district as a potential area is a representation of Denpasar City Government’s policy on environmental conservation, historical and cultural values, the interests of the world of education, and the interests of cultural tourism full of attractions. The purpose of this study is to identify the role of social capital in the development of sustainable tourism in the Serangan Sub-District and to analyze the effect of government roles, community participation, and social capital on destination quality and sustainable tourism development in the Serangan sub-district. The result of this research shows that social capital norms in the Serangan sub-district has an important role in tourism development in the Serangan sub-district, where the norms in traditional villages in the Serangan sub-district are still very strong.

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