Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the origins, structural content, and function of sociocultural systems. The paper examines the factors that contributed to the emergence of a variety of sociocultural products that affect both the individual and the group. The functional analytic framework employs an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates behavioral genetics, cultural evolutionary theory, and research on the relationships between religion, sociocultural processes, and self-construals. The research demonstrates how complementary sociocultural, psychological, and biological processes influence the emergence of divergent cultural products, worldviews, and identities. Here, evidence is presented that religiosity played a critical role in the emergence of human collectives, and religiosity is viewed as involving sociocultural, psychological, and thus biological components. The question of why religiosity, spirituality, and culture are universal raises questions about the functional significance of human culture, the answers to which can be found in part in human history, culture, and evolution. Consideration is given to the bidirectional influence of sociocultural, biological, and psychological processes on human beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and societies.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
The Value of Culture and the Demand of Change
KEYWORDS
Cultural Evolution, Societal Change, Religion, Secular Society, Evolutionary Biology, Psychology
