Culture in Mind: Cognition, Culture, and the Problem of Meaning by Bradd Shore (

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An ethnographic portrait of the human mind. Using case studies from both western and non-western societies Shore argues that 'cultural models' are necessary to the functioning of the human mind.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

Despite the recognized importance of cultural diversity in understanding the modern world, the emerging science of cognitive psychology has relied far more on experimental psychology, neurobiology, and computer science than on cultural anthropology for its models of how we think. In this exciting new book, anthropologist Bradd Shore has created the first study linking multi-culturalism to cognitive psychology, exploring the complex relationship between culture inpublic institutions and in mental representations. In so doing, he answers in a completely new way the age old question of whether humans are basically the same psychologically, independent ofcultures, or basically diverse because of cultural differences. The first half of the book emphasizes cultural models, from Australian Aboriginal rituals and Samoan comedy skits, to more familiar terrain, including a study of baseball as a cultural model for Americans. Along the way, the author sheds new and novel light on many familiar institutions, from educational curricula and shopping malls to modular furniture and cyberpunk fiction. These observations are then linked to theoreticaldevelopments in linguistics, semiotics, and neuroscience, creating a bold new approach to understanding the role of culture in everyday meaning making. The author argues that culture must be considered anintrinsic component of the human mind to a degree that most psychologists and even many anthropologists have not recognized. This new position of cultural models will make absorbing reading for psychologists, anthropologists, linguists, and philosophers, and to anyone interested in the issues of cultural diversity, multiculturalism, or cognitive science in general.

Author Biography

Bradd Shore is at Emory University.

Table of Contents

PART I: The Problem of Culture in Mind1: The Psychic Unity Muddle2: Rethinking Culture as ModelsPART II: The Cognitive Landscape of Modernity3: Mind Games: Cognitive Baseball4: Playing With Rules: Sport at the Borderlands of Time and Space5: Interior Furnishings: Scenes from an American Foundational Schema6: Technologic Trends: The Neuromatic Frame of MindPART III: Rethinking "Primitive Classification"7: Totem as Practically Reason: Rationality Reconsidered8: Kwakiutl Animal Symbolism: Food for ThoughtPART IV: Dreamtime Learning9: Dreamtime Learning, Inside-Out: The Narrative of the Wawilak Sisters10: Dreamtime Learning, Outside-In: Murngin Age-Grading RitualsPART V: The Problem of Multiple Models11: Tropic Landscapes: Alternative Spatial Models in Samoan Culture12: When Models Collide: Cultural Origins of AmbivalencePART VI: Culture in Mind13: Culture and the Problem of Meaning14: Analogical Transfer and the Work of Culture

Review

"A book of remarkable power and breadth, Culture in Mind addresses questions at the core of anthropological theory, and gives us a set of concepts and models we can really work with. Clearly argued and captivatingly developed through subtle analyses of ethnographic materials, the book resolves the old paradoxes of shared culture and motivated personal knowledge to build an account of meaning and cognition that will revitalize culturalanthropology."--Fredrik Barth"A book of remarkable power and breadth, Culture in Mind addresses questions at the core of anthropological theory, and gives us a set of concepts and models we can really work with. Clearly argued and captivatingly developed through subtle analyses of ethnographic materials, the book resolves the old paradoxes of shared culture and motivated personal knowledge to build an account of meaning and cognition that will revitalize culturalanthropology."--Fredrik Barth"In this important book, Shore argues that the dichotomy between the cultural and the physical is false....Academic and research libraries with anthropology collections will consider this a necessary purchase." --Library JournalFrom the Foreword by Jerome Bruner: "The historical separation of anthropology and psychology, whatever may have caused it, must surely be counted as one of the most stunting developments in the history of the human sciences. . .Culture in Mind must be counted as a major event in the reopening of the frontier between the two disciplines. . .You may not agree with Bradd Shore's premises in detail, or you may even see their broad outlines somewhatdifferently. But what is plain as day is that our ways of life as students of humankind will be changed by what he has to say.""Culture in Mind is an extraordinarily important book. The schism that Shore cites between the study of mind and the study of culture is all too real and unfortunate for the whole range of cognitive and social sciences. Until I read Shore's introduction, I had no idea why the schism existed. Now that I know, it all seems all the more unfortunate. Shore's book couldn't be more timely. . .I am delighted that this book has been completed." --GeorgeLakoff, University of California, Berkeley"By covering a wide range of material, both theoretical and ethnographic (with examples drawn from American life, Samoa, Australia, and elsewhere), Shore brings a new angle and new passion to major topics. The result will be suggestive to advanced researchers, and both clear and exciting to upper-division undergraduates." --Choice"In following Shore's stimulating presentation, the reader will be led through an informative history of anthropology's century-long struggle with the question of whether there is a common human nature or instead countless varieties of human kind."--Science Books & Films

Promotional

An important work in the field of cultural anthropology

Long Description

Despite the recognized importance of cultural diversity in understanding the modern world, the emerging science of cognitive psychology has relied far more on experimental psychology, neurobiology, and computer science than on cultural anthropology for its models of how we think. In this exciting new book, anthropologist Bradd Shore has created the first study linking multi-culturalism to cognitive psychology, exploring the complex relationship between culture inpublic institutions and in mental representations. In so doing, he answers in a completely new way the age old question of whether humans are basically the same psychologically, independent of cultures, or basically diverse because of cultural differences. The first half of the book emphasizescultural models, from Australian Aboriginal rituals and Samoan comedy skits, to more familiar terrain, including a study of baseball as a cultural model for Americans. Along the way, the author sheds new and novel light on many familiar institutions, from educational curricula and shopping malls to modular furniture and cyberpunk fiction. These observations are then linked to theoretical developments in linguistics, semiotics, and neuroscience, creating a bold new approach to understanding therole of culture in everyday meaning making. The author argues that culture must be considered an intrinsic component of the human mind to a degree that most psychologists and even many anthropologists have not recognized. This new position of cultural models will make absorbing reading forpsychologists, anthropologists, linguists, and philosophers, and to anyone interested in the issues of cultural diversity, multiculturalism, or cognitive science in general.

Review Text

"A book of remarkable power and breadth, Culture in Mind addresses questions at the core of anthropological theory, and gives us a set of concepts and models we can really work with. Clearly argued and captivatingly developed through subtle analyses of ethnographic materials, the book resolves the old paradoxes of shared culture and motivated personal knowledge to build an account of meaning and cognition that will revitalize culturalanthropology."--Fredrik Barth"A book of remarkable power and breadth, Culture in Mind addresses questions at the core of anthropological theory, and gives us a set of concepts and models we can really work with. Clearly argued and captivatingly developed through subtle analyses of ethnographic materials, the book resolves the old paradoxes of shared culture and motivated personal knowledge to build an account of meaning and cognition that will revitalize culturalanthropology."--Fredrik Barth"In this important book, Shore argues that the dichotomy between the cultural and the physical is false....Academic and research libraries with anthropology collections will consider this a necessary purchase." --Library JournalFrom the Foreword by Jerome Bruner: "The historical separation of anthropology and psychology, whatever may have caused it, must surely be counted as one of the most stunting developments in the history of the human sciences. . .Culture in Mind must be counted as a major event in the reopening of the frontier between the two disciplines. . .You may not agree with Bradd Shore's premises in detail, or you may even see their broad outlines somewhatdifferently. But what is plain as day is that our ways of life as students of humankind will be changed by what he has to say.""Culture in Mind is an extraordinarily important book. The schism that Shore cites between the study of mind and the study of culture is all too real and unfortunate for the whole range of cognitive and social sciences. Until I read Shore's introduction, I had no idea why the schism existed. Now that I know, it all seems all the more unfortunate. Shore's book couldn't be more timely. . .I am delighted that this book has been completed." --GeorgeLakoff, University of California, Berkeley"By covering a wide range of material, both theoretical and ethnographic (with examples drawn from American life, Samoa, Australia, and elsewhere), Shore brings a new angle and new passion to major topics. The result will be suggestive to advanced researchers, and both clear and exciting to upper-division undergraduates." --Choice"In following Shore's stimulating presentation, the reader will be led through an informative history of anthropology's century-long struggle with the question of whether there is a common human nature or instead countless varieties of human kind."--Science Books & Films

Review Quote

"In this important book, Shore argues that the dichotomy between the cultural and the physical is false....Academic and research libraries with anthropology collections will consider this a necessary purchase." --Library Journal

Feature

Brings together key interpretations of cultural and cognitive theory in a way never done beforeReveals true meaning of the term "cultural diversity"The most detailed account ever published of different kinds of cultural modelsBridges the gap between views of culture as an "outside" institution or an "internal" thought processUses many familiar examples from everyday lifeSophisticated theoretically, yet highly readable

Details ISBN0195126629 Author Bradd Shore Language English ISBN-10 0195126629 ISBN-13 9780195126624 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY 306 Birth 1945 Short Title CULTURE IN MIND REV/E Edition Description Revised Subtitle Cognition, Culture, and the Problem of Meaning Position Professor, Department of Anthropology Imprint Oxford University Press Inc Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Affiliation Professor, Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia DOI 10.1604/9780195126624 UK Release Date 1999-05-06 AU Release Date 1999-05-06 NZ Release Date 1999-05-06 US Release Date 1999-05-06 Death 1955 Qualifications O.B.E. Publisher Oxford University Press Inc Year 1999 Publication Date 1999-05-06 Alternative 9780195095975 Illustrations line figures Audience Professional & Vocational Pages 448 We've got this

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