Personality and the cultural construction of society : papers in honor of Melford E. Spiro

A collection of 16 essays, this book examines the theories of Melford E.Spiro and considers various questions, including whether a social act can have functions and what sort of relationship exists between religion and personality. Melford Spiro And The Scientific Study Of Culture / Kevin Avruch -- Natural Objects And Substitutive Acts : The Symbolic Process In The Anthropologies Of Durkheim And Freud / Michael E. Meeker -- Culturally Constituted Defenses And The Theory Of Collective Motivation / Gananath Obeyesekere -- Eufunctions, Dysfunctions, And Oracles : Literary Miracle Making In Taiwan / David K. Jordan -- Aggressive Speech, Status, And Cultural Distribution Among The Swahili Of Mombasa / Marc J. Swartz -- Culture And Personality : A False Dichotomy / Roy G. D'andrade -- On The Petticoat Government Of The Eighteenth-century Cherokee / Raymond D. Fogelson -- Male And Female In Four Changing Cultures / George And Louise Spindler -- Cloths Of Heaven : Freud, Language, And The Negation In Pitjantjatjara Dreams / Aram Yengoyan -- From Empathy To Alienation : Problems In Human Belonging / George De Vos -- Religion Beyond The Functionalist Frontier / Manning Nash -- Recruitment To Monasticism Among The Sherpas / Robert A. Paul -- Ritual Trance And Catharsis : A Psychobiological And Evolutionary Perspective / William Wedenoja -- Human Nature As Deep Structure : Implications For Comparative Study / Erika Bourguignon -- Aggression, Social Skill, And Strategy In Daily Life : A Baboon Case History / Shirley C. Strum -- Whatever Happened To The Other Eye? / F. G. Bailey. Edited By David K. Jordan And Marc J. Swartz. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 359-389. Pyschological anthropology is a vital area of contemporary social science, and one of the field's most important and innovative thinkers is Melford E. Spiro. This volume brings together sixteen essays that review Spiro's theoretical insights and extend them into new areas. The essays center on several general problems: In what ways is it meaningful to speak of a social act as having ""functions""? What elements and processes of human personality are universal, and why? What is the relationship between religion and personality? Why? What are the psychological underpinnings of social man