Data and Universality

Question 1

naturalistic fallacy

Answer 1

the logical fallacy of inferring what ought to be true from what is true

• example: most small scale societies were polygynous, therefore we ought to be polygynous
• must separate natural from moral!!!

Question 2

the ethnographic record

Answer 2

the total record of all ethnographies, journal articles, and similar historical accounts of different cultures

• allows us to see prevalence of various societal characteristics

Question 3

george peter murdock

Answer 3

led an attempt to create an exhaustive directory of known world cultures (as of the 60s) called the ethnographic atlas

-1,264 cultures
- includes “coded” data for some societal variables

Question 4

coding

Answer 4

systematically extracting information from ethnographies in a way that allows them to be compared to one another

• can correspond to just about anything:
• marriage systems, frequency of warfare, sexual taboos

Question 5

unit of analysis problem

Answer 5

• most cultures are just named groups of like-minded individuals living in proximity to one another
• we do not have a rigorous definition of “society” or “culture” that would allow us to non-arbitrarily count these groupings

Question 6

standard cross cultural sample

Answer 6

attempt to create a smaller, purposefully select subset of the ethnographic atlas
- includes lots of coded data
- 186 cultures

Question 7

HRAF probability sample

Answer 7

attempt to create a randomly selected set of well-described societies
- includes some coded data
-60

Question 8

robert lowie (1936)

Answer 8

“there is only one cultural reality that is not artificial, to wit: the culture of all humanity at all periods and in all places”