Culture and social psychology

Conceptions of culture, collective memory, ethnic identity and cultural exp lanations are reviewed and criticized. Subjective culture is conceived off as shared denotative. connotative and pragmatic knowledge. Culture is conce ptualized as fluid tension systems in which there is a coexistence of heter ogeneous and contradictory aspects. Cultural values designed what is desira ble in societies and are related to five basic themes of social coordinatio n, like the relation with authority; the relationship between the person an d society; the concept of masculinity and femininity, conflicts and their r esolution and the conception of time. Cultural explanations posits that a s ocial behavior in accord with a widely shared moral attitude occurs in spit e the situation may offer different opportunities. A cultural explanation s hould be tested against situational and socio-structural explanations. Dire ct assessment of the norm and values are necessary to avoid tautological re asoning in cultural explanations. Culture is also a set of regular situatio nal contingencies or collective and practices and subjects learn to define situations and practices in cultural perspective. A cultural explanation sh ould pit "desirable institutional arrangements,, against non-volitional sit uational contingencies or socio-structural characteristics that are the eff ects of non desired historical changes. Culturalist explanation assume that culture arise in an dependent manner of situational forces. like peasantry life style and the representations of limited good, social life in slums a nd culture of poverty, or herding economies, state weakness and dominance o f cavalry as social career anti honour culture. Nonobstant values and norms have a life apart from the situations and endure beyond thr demise of orig inal situations, as shows the culture of honour case. However, most of data on culture and socioeconomic development shows that individualism and prot estant work ethic's (PWE) beliefs are a result and not a cause Of economica l growth. Contrary to sober's ideas the PWE were mure strongly endorsed in poorer, collectivistie and high power distance societies . Finally. some da ta suggest that culture can act as independent variable, like is the case o f social capital and economic development.