tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post7356873518239064118..comments2023-06-20T02:25:36.578-07:00Comments on The Scholar's Stage: Is a Science of Cultural Change Possible?T. Greerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-20995673924643193312015-08-07T09:02:47.511-07:002015-08-07T09:02:47.511-07:00The problem is that there is an incredible variati...The problem is that there is an incredible variation <i>within</i> selection models. One take away from books like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521716039/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0521716039&linkCode=as2&tag=theschssta-20&linkId=WUQCBYRDMEXIDCB4" rel="nofollow">The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings</a> T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-85782416756524728682015-08-03T21:03:11.891-07:002015-08-03T21:03:11.891-07:00The spanking to grounding shift is easily explaine...The spanking to grounding shift is easily explained by r/K population dynamics. In an r-selection setting, the number of offspring is large and parental investment in each child is low. Therefore to most direct and expedient methods to assure the compliance of offspring are used - force. In a K-selection setting, just the opposite. The number of offspring is low and parental investment per child Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362383602206679287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-84370701100129534522015-07-30T12:16:03.855-07:002015-07-30T12:16:03.855-07:00I disagree djolds, and do so strongly. You can des...I disagree djolds, and do so strongly. You can describe a family system in purely demographic terms, but one would be silly to do so. It rather misses the point of this entire piece--the proper response to an angry child, for example, has changed drastically, from beatings to spankings to grounding them from the computer. These changes are real. Their tangible. A science of culture will remain T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-30262683783428905842015-07-30T06:17:55.670-07:002015-07-30T06:17:55.670-07:00You're overthinking it. Saying that "many...You're overthinking it. Saying that "many cultural values and meanings at play here are too nuanced to be coded or quantified" is reminiscent of scientists before Lavosier trying to imagine how to describe gasses systematically, becoming enraptured with the minutiae of each individual particle following its own independent and largely random course, and declaring "nothing can Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05362383602206679287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-62416848059841753222015-07-28T18:56:23.025-07:002015-07-28T18:56:23.025-07:00The comments about dumbing down are interesting. H...The comments about dumbing down are interesting. However, the evidence is that the dumbing down, at least in the field of literature, began long ago (www.michaeldalvean.com). What we are seeing now is the further dumbing down of dumbed down culture. It is difficult to know where this will lead us. I shudder to think how educationally challenged the populace will be 100 years hence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-63166924133193331192015-07-20T19:42:40.017-07:002015-07-20T19:42:40.017-07:00What types of marriage exited outside the Puritan ...What types of marriage exited outside the Puritan areas, in the South, the Mid-Atlantic states or on the frontier for example?<br /><br />I wonder what the demographic effect of the soul mate marriage will be. To be blunt about it, in the future will there be enough young men to fill the ranks of the poor bloody infantry? If not, that marriage model will disappear along with the polity that Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18098002587682814140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-90883881078441768612015-07-17T12:23:18.004-07:002015-07-17T12:23:18.004-07:00You write: “Yet despite the great variety of famil...You write: “Yet despite the great variety of family regimes history has given us to examine, we have not been able to create a compelling theory that explains why certain family practices and attitudes persist or change over time.” <br /><br />The framework I’d like to see developed about social evolution claims that people have generated four cardinal forms of organization — tribes, (David Ronfeldthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06488855410947866567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-11462544334516134332015-07-17T08:19:36.472-07:002015-07-17T08:19:36.472-07:00This is really an excellent article. Thank you for...This is really an excellent article. Thank you for writing and posting it, T. Greer. The challenge you pose, in particular the way social constructs like the interplay of values and institutions, have been difficult to code and analyze as changing patterns in time.<br /><br />I am trained in cognitive linguistics (one of my mentors is George Lakoff at UC-Berkeley) and have for many years now beenUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09427626175036863733noreply@blogger.com