Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Understanding early civilizations
- Introduction
- Sociopolitical organization
- Economy
- Cognitive and symbolic aspects
- 19 Conceptions of the Supernatural
- 20 Cosmology and Cosmogony
- 21 Cult
- 22 Priests, Festivals, and the Politics of the Supernatural
- 23 The Individual and the Universe
- 24 Elite Art and Architecture
- 25 Literacy and Specialized Knowledge
- 26 Values and Personal Aspirations
- 27 Cultural Constants and Variables
- Discussion
- References
- Index
26 - Values and Personal Aspirations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Understanding early civilizations
- Introduction
- Sociopolitical organization
- Economy
- Cognitive and symbolic aspects
- 19 Conceptions of the Supernatural
- 20 Cosmology and Cosmogony
- 21 Cult
- 22 Priests, Festivals, and the Politics of the Supernatural
- 23 The Individual and the Universe
- 24 Elite Art and Architecture
- 25 Literacy and Specialized Knowledge
- 26 Values and Personal Aspirations
- 27 Cultural Constants and Variables
- Discussion
- References
- Index
Summary
Beliefs varied greatly from one early civilization to another concerning the nature of an ideal human life and what characterized a successful individual. Despite many similarities in social and economic institutions, life as experienced by an Aztec must have differed greatly from life as it was experienced by a Mesopotamian or a Yoruba. Inspired by the views of the eighteenth-century German philosopher Johann Herder, cultural relativists have interpreted these experiential variations as vindicating the humanist claim that every culture is a unique expression of the human spirit that is worthy of study for its own sake (Vernant 1995).
The source materials available for studying these variations largely concern the understandings and aspirations of high-ranking males, but these ideals were probably shared or at least admired to some extent by most people in the society. Consensus could have been either a product of status emulation or a reflection of long-established, culturally specific views that were retained and adapted to new situations as societies developed more complex class hierarchies. The lack of comparable data concerning the values and aspirations of women in early civilizations invites the suggestion that greater cross-cultural similarities in their roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers made their views about themselves more similar than those of men, but this conclusion may simply impose androcentric prejudices on early civilizations. Opportunities for women to participate in the political and economic activities of their societies varied greatly from one early civilization to another.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Understanding Early CivilizationsA Comparative Study, pp. 626 - 637Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003