Cultural universals promote mutual understanding between the people of the planet

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Culture, no doubt, was born with man.The need to understand the world and themselves, affect the validity, to develop some experience for the next generation distinguishes man from all other representatives of wildlife.Culture in the broadest sense is the way of human existence in this world, and the cultural universals - it kind of systematization.

code culture

Each community has its own norms, values, beliefs, ideas and stereotypes - a set of codes determines the perception of reality and dictating behavior in a given situation.People convey this experience to the next generation - so runs the story.But in each culture (people, nation, state) there are realities and related concepts that are common to all human beings on the planet.

unifying beginning

cultural universals - a kind of generalization of experience of civilization.No matter what nationality or treated people, whatever time is born, some views and ideas he may stuck and no matter what the social environment may belong, there is a system of signs encoding common to all people in the world view of the world and interactions withthem.This happens because all members of the human race are arranged on the same biological laws, have the same needs, they are all equal before the tasks given to them by nature.

word "Universal" comes to us from medieval philosophy, as the sages of the past designated general concepts.The term "cultural universals" contains the same meaning: universal cultural traits common to all of humanity.

Examples of cultural universals

All people in the world have a need for procreation and care of life and safety.In connection with this culture, there are ideas about the relationship, about the requirements of hygiene, including ways to optimize work.Without exception, all people are born and die: all peoples have traditions and rituals that accompany these two great process.People tend not to need to survive alone, but together.Therefore, all the inhabitants of the planet have customs related to life together: the division of labor, cooperation, welcome and farewell, and so on. D. All the people are united by the ability to laugh and cry, sleep, eat, be physically active, and so on. D. Around these categories developscertain material and spiritual activities of the people.The fruits of it - it's cultural universals.Examples - the names, kinship, communication, education, professional associations, technology, cosmogony, divination, calendar, hygiene, cooking, games, dances, clothing, and body jewelry, decorative art, religion, social self, politics, and so on. D.

Matrix One - the content of different

However, it should be understood that, within each culture the content of this or that cultural universals specific.All nations have the custom to start a family, but in some age for marriage is 18 years old, the other girls can marry at age 8.Or, for example, different cultures can vary significantly in nature funeral rites, although the presence of burial customs, symbols and rules exist everywhere.

George Murdoch

famous anthropologist who devoted life to the study of man - his origins and interaction with the environment, early imbued with the greatest interest in the culture of the peoples of the planet.The scientist was about twenty-four years old when he traveled around the world, after which began to study at Yale University, USA Research features traditional cultures of tribes and peoples.Together with colleagues Murdoch has created an impressive database of world culture and classified elements inherent in all cultures, which are nothing more than cultural universals.List to include more than eighty categories, with the development of civilization is replenished.Cultural universals studied famous ethnographers, anthropologists and sociologists - Bronislaw Malinowski, Adolf Bastian, Leslie White, Clark Wissler, Emile Durkheim, Marcel Mauss, Georg Simmel, Talcott Parsons.

Modern

cultural universals, of course, the native people of the world, because they are the foundation for a unified identity of each individual culture.Today, the main human needs are to protect the environment, scientific and technical progress in the development of human rights and peace-tech ideas.Accordingly, in these areas and develop modern cultural universals.