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Donald E. Brown
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Human Universals Hardcover – January 1, 1991

by Donald E. Brown (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 59 ratings
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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.
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  1. Print length
    220 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Temple Univ Pr
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1991
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0877228418
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0877228417
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

In the course of co-teaching a seminar on primate and human sexuality with my colleague Donald Symons he presented a proposed list of pan-cultural human sex differences.  I bet him on the spot that I could find an ethnographically-described society in which all those traits were reversed.  I lost that bet.  At about the same time I noted a few studies published in a short period of time that each overthrew some classic anthropological account of a society that purportedly exhibited the opposite of what westerners might assume to be universal.  All this led me to question the strong cultural-relativist position that I (and the majority of anthropologists) had largely taken for granted.
I decided to look into the evidence and reasoning that might support more attention to human universals than they were then receiving.  The result was this book and a few papers that expand on one or another facets of the matter.

From the Inside Flap

Challenging dominant assumptions of cultural relativism, Donald E. Brown contends that certain behavioral traits are common to human beings everywhere. In Human Universals he addresses the problems posed for anthropology by the topic of universals, discusses studies that have caused anthropologists to rethink their position, and provided an ethnography of "The Universal People."

Although human universals were of considerable importance to early anthropologists, a later emphasis on sociocultural determinants of behavior produced an ambivalence toward both universals and the concept of human nature. This ambivalence toward universals has persisted since the 1920s; however, six important case studies involving the classification of basic colors, facial expressions of emotion, sex roles, time, adolescent stress, and the Oedipus Complex have reopened discussion of this nearly taboo topic.

After discussing the distinctions between the various kinds of universals, the history of attempts to study universals, and the means by which universality may be demonstrated and explained, Brown presents a list of some four hundred human universals in the form of an ethnography that describes any and all peoples known to anthropologists. In his conclusion the author charges that, in making universals and human nature virtual non-subjects, anthropology has not adequately performed its major task. While the field has demonstrated well how people vary, it has not provided a sense of the ways in which they are all alike.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Temple Univ Pr; First Edition (January 1, 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 220 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0877228418
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0877228417
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 59 ratings

About the author

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Donald E. Brown

Donald E. Brown

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Born and raised in South Dakota but long a resident of California. Higher degrees from UCLA and Cornell. Doctoral research in Brunei. Professor of anthropology at UCSB from 1969 until retirement in 1994. Professor Emeritus at present. Orchid hobbyist (Don Brown).

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
59 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

John P. Stratis
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2021
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This is a must read for those who seek to understand why we, as humans, do what we do. It is especially enlightening in our current social and political environment in western culture. So much of our current cultural changes are based on focusing on group and even individual differences. There is almost an unspoken denial of what makes us the same.
It also brings to light the recurring debate between human nature and the ability to shape the culture. Again, we are in an era where powerful forces are attempting to impose or rather nudge, the people a certain way that, as far as I can tell, goes against their common human nature.
It is important for those movers and shakers to know what are human universals and what are not. Otherwise they will eventually fail.
5 people found this helpful
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Rod Matthews
4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic list of what all people have in common
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2013
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For many years anthropologists have looked into human behaviour and human culture through the filter of looking for the difference. If you were a student of anthropology before the year 2000, chances are you would have completed your doctorate by travelling to some far flung location, finding a tribe who still lives the hunter gatherer lifestyle and then written your thesis on how they are different to other cultures ... most likely your own.
To look at our fellow humans through this lens is to miss half the picture. On one level we are all different. At the risk of stating the obvious ... everyone is an individual. On another level ... we are all the same. Every culture on earth shares certain behaviours.
In his book "Human Universals," Donald E. Brown conducts a Meta study of the anthropological literature to establish the existence of universals and then builds an astonishing list of the behaviours that are universal to us all across cultures, history and geography. It is a very interesting list.
10 people found this helpful
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Tatler
5.0 out of 5 stars What the World Needs Now
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2017
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Truly is a masterpiece. Should be kept in print.
6 people found this helpful
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Erik Watson
4.0 out of 5 stars Critical Theory
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2021
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Reductionist science absent the negligence of speculation and fantasy has repeatedly shown its power to eliminate falsehood and reveal truth. This book is in the tradition of GC Williams and others who pull the dreams back to the proper realm of science, that is the actual world. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Daniel Cloud
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2014
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very cool
3 people found this helpful
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Austen Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing account of universals and anthropology
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2001
This is a comprehensive survey of the anthropological study of human universals, human nature, culture vs. biology, etc. It's also a critique of the field of anthropology, and one given from a refreshing outside-looking-in perspective. Brown deals with several influential cases (such as Margaret Mead's study of Samoan adolescence) and shows where they erred. He discusses the processes of defining and demonstrating universals, takes us on a grand tour of the history of universals in anthropology, presents the basic gamut of how universals have been and can be explained. In the final chapters he lays out his position and leaves cultural relativism thoroughly refuted. Cultural relativists, he demonstrates, have relied on universals even in their attempts to show cultural relativity. Among even the most dissimilar human languages, for example, the similarities (grammar, syntax, rhythm, content, etc.) still far outweigh the differences. Anthropologists have historically focused on the differences while remaining blind to the (often more fundamental and important) similarities. I'm a little leery of some of the traits Brown ends up calling universal; he does acknowledge the "working" nature of such a list. But what precisely shall be found to be universal is less important than simply the shift to an orientation that would seek to understand human nature in such terms. This is what Brown proposes. He understands the place of anthropology in the social sciences, the field's potential, where and how that potential has gone unrealized, and how anthropologists will need to alter their approach if they're to be fruitful in the future. I haven't even scraped the surface here; the book is a gold mine of interdisciplinary connections and it brims with insights. More than anything, it's a sensible, biologically-informed, (dare I say) reality-based account of human nature. The tone is that of a genuine pursuit of truth, as opposed to the trend among some social scientists to search high and low for anything that supports established theory. This book is packed, and in many ways it only aims to lay the framework of a better approach to the subject.
94 people found this helpful
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Tim Cooper
4.0 out of 5 stars still good
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2011
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I thought I would add a comment to the others already here to say that in the ten years or so since the reviews above, this book is still relevant. While not an academic in the field, I'm fairly sure I'm right in saying that human universals have now re-surfaced as a major question in psychology with the recent paper by Henrich et al. on the incredible extent to which all modern (western) sociology and psychology is based on "WEIRD" (western, educated, industrialised, rich, democratic)subjects - the vast majority of them 1st or 2nd yr American phsychology undergrads. Read the two together and you have enough questions for several PhDs.... enjoy.
23 people found this helpful
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Peter Mills
4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2012
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This book is great anathema to the (relatively) recent, more popular (and false) "tabala rasa" view of human nature. He documents many instances of how human cultures converge across the board, although I would say the book is far from ground-breaking. Rather it demonstrates just how far much of psychological and socialogical science has gone off the rails. Some of the most interesting examples are from human language. He, Steven Pinker and Noam Chomsky should collaborate...
9 people found this helpful
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