Culture As Embodiment The Social Tuning of Behavior

Utilizing the most recent insights in psychology, cognitive, and affective science, Culture as Embodiment reveals the true cultural patterning of behavior in group-related practices. Refuting longstanding notions that culture alone is responsible for group behavior, cultural psychology experts Voestermans and Verheggen cogently argue that behavioral science must first specify precisely what the notion of culture consists of, in terms of concrete empirical evidence. The authors proceed to lay out a coherent set of perspectives on the social tuning of the body, behaviour, feeling, and cognition to reveal that we call culture is actually an embodied affair, to be observed in recognizable practices among group members. Their conclusions are supported through lengthy analyses of key domains of human behavior, including gender and male-female power relations, class and age differences, ethnicity, and religious faith. Thought-provoking and timely, Culture as Embodiment offers original and indispensable insights into our understanding of the forces that shape behavior in the 21st-century globalized world.

“Voestermans and Verheggen provide a thorough critique of superficial views that treat culture as an invisible determinant of human behavior – analogous to the way magnetism determines the behavior of iron filings. Their perspective is integrative, seeking to link the biological and social levels, as well as interactionist, focusing on the ways that members of primary groups relate to each other. This book will be invaluable to researchers in academic disciplines such as anthropology, organizational behavior, psychology, and sociology as well as to those who are vitally interested in the ways that cultural influences shape the development and constrain the application of a wide variety of public policies.”
Professor Michael K. Lindell, Texas A&M University

“Yet another book on culture? If the reader thinks he or she has read too many already, think again! Readers interested in the subject, whatever their perspectives or backgrounds, will find a fresh look at the subject with much to stimulate their thinking and emotions. The book views it through the unique prism of behavioral patterns embedded in specific social categories – including gender, status, age, ethnicity, and religion. Its breadth and scope, variety of theoretical terrains and illustrative examples explored, and the stark nature of the argument provide a fascinating paradigm for understanding globalization and its cultural discontents.”
Khaled Adham, Associate Professor, United Arab Emirates University

“This book, written in a fascinating and powerful style, off ers a revolutionary perspective on what culture is, how it is formed, and how it shapes behavior. It should be read by everyone who takes culture seriously.”
Professor Zeynep Kiziltepe, Boðaziçi University, Istanbul

Culture as Embodiment utilizes recent insights in psychology, cognitive, and affective science to reveal the cultural patterning of behavior in group-related practices.

• Applies the best of the behavioural sciences to contemporary issues of behavioural cross-fertilization in global exchange
• Presents an original theory to be used in the gender and integration debates, about what the acceptance of newcomers from different cultural backgrounds really entails
• Presents a theory that is also applicable to youth culture and the split in modern society between underclass, modal class, and the elite
• Contains an original approach to the persistence of religion, and relates religious thought to the cognitive capacity of generic belief