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Human Universals
This book explores physical and behavioral characteristics that can be considered universal among all cultures, all people. It presents cases demonstrating universals, looks at the history of the study of universals, and presents an interesting study of a hypothetical tribe, The Universal People.
230 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 15, 2023
Are there cultural traits shared by all people in the world? That is the core question in the 'Human Universals' debate. It is one of the most essential questions in social anthropology, and at the same time the most intensely debated one. Donald E Brown (° 1934), theoretical anthropologist from the University of California, Santa Barbara, provides a good overview of that debate in this book. Very interesting, as far as I'm concerned. And actually entertaining too, and I say that with some gloating. Brown exposes how some renowned anthropologists in the first half of the 20th century (especially Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict and Borislaw Malinowski) unjustifiably claimed that all human behavior was determined by culture (not biology), and that, since every culture is different, there could be no such thing as universal characteristics or behavior. Indeed, this puts us in the middle of the nature-nurture war that was fought within the social sciences for much of the 20th century (and which has actually still not been completely settled).
Brown clearly shows how this cultural relativism/determinism was based on very inadequate field research, and biased assumption. Brown's own position will be clear by now: according to him, there indeed are universal characteristics that transcend local cultures, and these are simply the result of general human evolution in the Darwinian sense. Brown draws mainly on evolutionary psychology, which was still emerging when his book was published (1991). But in his treatment of what these universal values are in concrete terms, he remains rather vague and general: for example, that language is very important for all people and in all cultures, both in dealing with the environment, with others and with oneself. Well, I could have come up with that myself. Brown is a little more concrete when it comes to family and kinship: that a family is primarily a mother and children, and that this usually also involves a man and some form of marriage or institutional commitment. But then again: what use are general statements like that? Maybe the merit of this book just lies in proving cultural determinism wrong, nothing more than that. But perhaps I should see Brown's work as a starting point: it is already 30 years old, and maybe others have built on it to arrive at much more concrete delineations. I keep on searching. (Rating 2.5 stars).
Brown clearly shows how this cultural relativism/determinism was based on very inadequate field research, and biased assumption. Brown's own position will be clear by now: according to him, there indeed are universal characteristics that transcend local cultures, and these are simply the result of general human evolution in the Darwinian sense. Brown draws mainly on evolutionary psychology, which was still emerging when his book was published (1991). But in his treatment of what these universal values are in concrete terms, he remains rather vague and general: for example, that language is very important for all people and in all cultures, both in dealing with the environment, with others and with oneself. Well, I could have come up with that myself. Brown is a little more concrete when it comes to family and kinship: that a family is primarily a mother and children, and that this usually also involves a man and some form of marriage or institutional commitment. But then again: what use are general statements like that? Maybe the merit of this book just lies in proving cultural determinism wrong, nothing more than that. But perhaps I should see Brown's work as a starting point: it is already 30 years old, and maybe others have built on it to arrive at much more concrete delineations. I keep on searching. (Rating 2.5 stars).
December 11, 2012
Brown provides a detailed history of how anthropology has resisted the notion of human universals. He summarizes the prevailing (1991) paradigm in anthropology as follows: All that is meaningful in human behavoir is influenced (determined?) by sociological and cultural forces. To the extent that we have a common human nature, it involves our animal nature and, as that is in common to all, it is not significant in its influence over the evident variety we see in human affairs.
Brown does a good job describing this "biophobia" and indicates his sympathies with Darwinian theory and evolutionary psychology. In his next to last chapter, he lists "universals" that emerge from all the anthropological studies. This approach is only mildly interesting without speculating or theorizing about the underlying biological structures that result in these universal behaviors and how they came to be. We know, and anthropologists especially know, humans live in groups, but this doesn't reveal that much. From the perspecitve of evolutionary theory, though, we have a sense about why this is important (security), which in turn brings in a host of other universal phenomena (respect, equality, fairness; conformity; hierarchy and rank; compassion and empathy; embarassment and shame and guilt; rules and expectations) that in many instances are variably (culturally) manifested. While Brown does a good job describing anthropology's resistance, he does not provide a strong counter argument about why the study of human universals is significant and advances our understanding of human behavior.
Brown does a good job describing this "biophobia" and indicates his sympathies with Darwinian theory and evolutionary psychology. In his next to last chapter, he lists "universals" that emerge from all the anthropological studies. This approach is only mildly interesting without speculating or theorizing about the underlying biological structures that result in these universal behaviors and how they came to be. We know, and anthropologists especially know, humans live in groups, but this doesn't reveal that much. From the perspecitve of evolutionary theory, though, we have a sense about why this is important (security), which in turn brings in a host of other universal phenomena (respect, equality, fairness; conformity; hierarchy and rank; compassion and empathy; embarassment and shame and guilt; rules and expectations) that in many instances are variably (culturally) manifested. While Brown does a good job describing anthropology's resistance, he does not provide a strong counter argument about why the study of human universals is significant and advances our understanding of human behavior.
December 7, 2023
Very interesting book, but already 30 years old, and a bit disappointing because the author sticks to very vague descriptions of human universals (values and behavior that are/is shared by almost all humans). I expected more from it. See my review in my general account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
March 30, 2011
Are there universals in human behavior? If so, what might these behaviors include? Those are key questions posed--and answered--by Brown. To illustrate, these are among his "universal behaviors": males engage in coalitional violence, oligarchy, dominance and submission behavior, leaders, economic inequality, prestige inequality. One can always question judgments as to what comprises universal human behavior. But the cataloging by Brown is a useful step and sure to generate discussion.
April 20, 2017
An excellent overview of how the blank slatists came to be the status quo in anthropology, how they were extremely wrong, and how things have moved away from blank slatism and towards evolutionary psychology nowadays. Also great examples of universal features of human cultures.
December 3, 2021
Progress often proceeds by way of reactions in thought. In the 1920s, the trend in social and cultural anthropology was a dissent against social darwinism & knee-jerk racist populism. That era's new thinking asserted nurture outweighed & overrode any sort of fixed nature; consequently, among other effects, it drew attention away from ‘universal’ traits to be found in individual persons and in various societies. Societies were deemed to be diverse, personality was viewed as being mouldable by cultural & historical factors. During that early 20th-century wave, anthropologist Margaret Mead’s influential study Coming of Age in Samoa was published and became widely popular among professors and students of anthropology. (As a 23-year-old graduate student, Mead had spent a mere nine months living among the Samoans before writing her thesis.)
Late in the century, I was in university studying psychology with a second concentration in cultural anthropology at a time when a lot of thinking was taking shape in the other direction (i.e., away from tabula rasa, instead contemplating “human nature”). Brown brings together material identifying broad patterns underlying all languages, kinship systems, adult-child relationships, social norms (like reciprocity), (typical, though not all) gender behaviors, and other areas. A revised general outlook has taken shape, based on evidence not only from ethnography itself, but from biological-evolution studies, psychology (including evolutionary psychology), linguistics, brain research (neuroscience), states-of-consciousness research, and other disciplines.
Brown’s Human Universals, draws on the work of George P. Murdock, Lionel Tiger & Robin Fox, Charles F. Hockett as well as on that of numerous other researchers & thinkers. The book offers a good brief introduction & overview of what seem to be commonalities among human personalities & human societies.
Late in the century, I was in university studying psychology with a second concentration in cultural anthropology at a time when a lot of thinking was taking shape in the other direction (i.e., away from tabula rasa, instead contemplating “human nature”). Brown brings together material identifying broad patterns underlying all languages, kinship systems, adult-child relationships, social norms (like reciprocity), (typical, though not all) gender behaviors, and other areas. A revised general outlook has taken shape, based on evidence not only from ethnography itself, but from biological-evolution studies, psychology (including evolutionary psychology), linguistics, brain research (neuroscience), states-of-consciousness research, and other disciplines.
Brown’s Human Universals, draws on the work of George P. Murdock, Lionel Tiger & Robin Fox, Charles F. Hockett as well as on that of numerous other researchers & thinkers. The book offers a good brief introduction & overview of what seem to be commonalities among human personalities & human societies.
April 6, 2016
Most of the book is an exhaustive review of the history of the concept of universals within anthropology, and the controversy around it. The last third talks about a few examples of universals that have been found, which have strong evidence.
The most compelling part came at the end, where Brown turned the method of study in anthropology on anthropology itself, analyzing why the field came to its early conclusions, making culture an irreducible subject, and why later a minority of anthropologists began to accept biological origins for culture, as universals. He explained that despite the findings of this minority, anthropology still relegates the concept of universals to a minor role in the study of humanity, and continues to place culture and cultural relativism front and center.
I really enjoyed reading Brown's conclusions about the field, and I went through his bibliography with interest.
Being a newcomer to anthropology, this was a pretty dry read. I read this book on a recommendation from someone who has a degree in anthropology. He's recommended I study the subject to address some concerns I have. From what he had said about it in the past, I thought the concept of universals was much more accepted in the field. So I was surprised to learn that it's still controversial. I guess it could be said this book is a good introduction to that controversy. I've gone back and forth on whether this is a good introductory text on the subject of universals itself. It felt like it was written for people who are already familiar with some background in the field.
My disappointment has more to do with me than the book. I was expecting to read a rather complete catalog of universals, and it turned out to be something else, though informative, nevertheless.
The most compelling part came at the end, where Brown turned the method of study in anthropology on anthropology itself, analyzing why the field came to its early conclusions, making culture an irreducible subject, and why later a minority of anthropologists began to accept biological origins for culture, as universals. He explained that despite the findings of this minority, anthropology still relegates the concept of universals to a minor role in the study of humanity, and continues to place culture and cultural relativism front and center.
I really enjoyed reading Brown's conclusions about the field, and I went through his bibliography with interest.
Being a newcomer to anthropology, this was a pretty dry read. I read this book on a recommendation from someone who has a degree in anthropology. He's recommended I study the subject to address some concerns I have. From what he had said about it in the past, I thought the concept of universals was much more accepted in the field. So I was surprised to learn that it's still controversial. I guess it could be said this book is a good introduction to that controversy. I've gone back and forth on whether this is a good introductory text on the subject of universals itself. It felt like it was written for people who are already familiar with some background in the field.
My disappointment has more to do with me than the book. I was expecting to read a rather complete catalog of universals, and it turned out to be something else, though informative, nevertheless.
September 11, 2009
A brilliant work by an anthropologist willing to re-think the dominant orthodoxy of his day (1991) that all human behavior is culturally determined and relative. Of course, we know now how much is universal and determined by the collision of DNA and environment, but Brown was taking on the whole anthropology establishment when he wrote this fascinating book. The only downside is the amount of genuflecting he has to do because it is an academic book. The guts of his insight are in Chapter 6, "The Universal People." Must reading for anyone interested in human behavior.
August 1, 2012
Likely the authoritative anthropological work describing global cultural universals. Dr. Brown defines clearly and discusses the history of the study of human universals from the standpoint of sociobiology.
September 6, 2022
Not the most beautifully written book, to be honest. It's not dense and impenetrable, like so much academic writing; on the contrary, it's very accessible, but a bit lacking in verve, let's say. But an important subject, and Brown's case for the existence of features of human societies that are universal is rock solid (of course). In fact one of the most interesting aspects of the book is its account of how anthropology had (has?) spent so long inhibited, almost to the point of taboo, from even considering that 'human universals' might exist.
December 6, 2022
Excellent although I basically got everything I needed from the list which led me to read the book in the first place.
The most intriguing thing in the whole book is the concept of archoses, useless universals which have survived via culture, not nature.
The most intriguing thing in the whole book is the concept of archoses, useless universals which have survived via culture, not nature.
Read
December 11, 2019Genuinely bizarre endorsement, a ways in, to a criticism of Van Den Berghe. I'm not sure how an adult can believe these things.
July 18, 2020
Fascinating book that makes you think about the fundamentals of who we are
July 30, 2014
El énfasis está en el descubrimiento de diferencias entre culturas, a más diferencias mayores méritos científicos del investigador. ¿Por qué no tomar la otra ruta y no olvidarse de las similitudes entre culturas? Son muchas más que las diferencias y eso muestra algo.
Want to read
November 2, 2014CAN ANYONE PLEASE SEND ME AN EBOOK OF "HUMAN UNIVERSALS". I want to read it please.
January 21, 2017
Dry. but very very very interesting
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews