Culture as Given, Culture as Choice, 2nd Edition

This creatively written introductory work is full of insights about how humanity’s defining adaptation has evolved and functions. What makes van der Elst’s approach uniquely engaging is his focus on the implications of technology, the ways humans organize themselves, and value assumptions for individuals’ life chances and choices. He confronts readers with the need to question their enculturated biases, instills appreciation of the origins of culture in biology and language, and explains such topics as the varieties of family and marriage types and the rise of inequality. Extending the thrust of the popular first edition, this totally revised second edition includes: 1) highlighted, entertaining vignettes that serve as germane examples; 2) an expanded treatment of language; 3) end-of-chapter questions for reflection and discussion; and 4) a new chapter that demystifies kinship nomenclature. (Not-for-sale instructor resource material available to college and university faculty only; contact the publisher directly.)

On LANGUAGE . . . "If you don't have words for something, you cannot communicate it or even store it in your memory. That is why most introductory courses revolve around vocabulary; before you can understand what a discipline is about, you need to understand the way it labels experience and gives meaning to phenomena."

On MARRIAGE . . . "Romantic love as Westerners experience it becomes a possibility only under certain cultural conditions. But a case can be made that it has become a necessity for you, in today's world."

On STATUSES . . . "Inequality exists because it is unavoidable; some forms of it, like the power difference between parent and child, are necessary for society to function. But hereditary inequality is neither unavoidable nor necessary. No form of stratification now practiced is inevitable or even defensible."

On IDENTITY . . . "Biologically, the fact of your existence is as miraculously improbable as the birth of any comic book superhero, or of any supernatural entity you may care to name."

On SCIENCE . . . "'But how can you be sure?' you ask. Face it, in science you can't be. But you can be certain enough to wager your life and wealth and good name: some odds are overwhelming."

On ROLES . . . "You were born cultureless, innocent, ignorant--but I repeat myself. Even before you understood that you cannot know it all, cannot do it all, and cannot have it all, you were obligated to commit yourself to socially approved roles."

On RELIGION . . . "Parents die. Children disappoint. Lovers leave. Leaders betray. Bodies fail. The grave yawns, waiting. Knowledge is simply not enough."

On CHOICE . . . "Freedom is the area between Must and May Not . . . Life comes down to a paradox: you were built for choosing, but you cannot usually be allowed to do so."

On CONTEXT . . . "From crime to war to inequality, from unemployment to terrorism to starvation, from breathing-space to the destruction of the very ecologies that make your oxygen, every problem humanity faces is made worse by adding more people."

On VALUES . . . "Is it true that Capitalism Equals Democracy? That to be rich, at any cost to others, is the goal of life?"

On LIFE CHANCES . . . "Your personal culture is typified by your interests, attitudes, possessions and behavior. It is your personal selection of items from the cultural bazaar. Though you share its traits with others, your profile of them is yours alone."

On HUMANITY'S PROSPECTS . . . "If humanity is to be responsible for its own evolution, as the Fall from Grace perhaps implied, then we humans need to discuss what we want to become. What do you want to go into your culture? What should be thrown out?"