This phrase is very useful when discussing issues involving topics like religion and culture. For those of you that are unaware, a cultural imperative is a belief or belief system that is unconsciously imposed on a group or individual by the greater society.
Here are a few common examples:
- Belief in various Gods and/or Goddesses
- Belief in the afterlife
- Concepts of 'good' and 'evil'
Each society has default "answers", if you will, for these different concepts. If for instance, you grew up in a place like Japan it would be likely that you would by default belief in reincarnation, whereas an America's default afterlife concept would be the Judeo-Christian heaven. This phenomenon goes generally unnoticed from the general public because it has become such an integrated part of their thinking. These imperatives can even cause mild trauma to individuals if they refuse to accept that which is so commonly accepted. In indigenous societies, you will see it is incredibly rare that a member of the society will question the existence of the supernatural. It is incomprehensible.
Personally I find this phenomenon quite intriguing. It is a testament to the complexity of human social behavior and the power that social norms and mores exert on the individual. Imagine a society where no one was ever told that Santa Claus was not a real person. What a blissfully ignorant society would that be!
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Comments: 6
I do not believe "atheism" as you put it is imposed at all. There are movements for seperation of church and state, but that is far from a social imperative at this point. Its quite the opposite. Most of America believes in the Judeo-Christian God. Who's the minority here? If there is a belief system that threatens "spirituality", it's not atheism but staunch materialism.
One of our newest cultural imperatives (Dual Income Family) will swing the gates wide for some radical societal shifts.
The financial pressures of maintaining the current socially accepted lifestyles have been pulling both parents out to places of labor for long hours, leaving the newest generations growing-up day-cared and latch-keyed.
In the pre-daycare, pre-electronic realities of sixty years ago, one adult or the other was almost always at the home. Children played in the yard, or in their rooms, or with friends. They also, often helped with household stuff.
The baby-boomer generation had a babysitter called television. These folk exhibit cultural imperatives not gained not from family, friends or community members, but from exposure to television' shows.
I get light-headed thinking of the cultural imperatives that will exist fifty years from now as a result of our video games.
Dane T. - End the oppression of religion. Let the Rastafarian smoke his ganja with impunity.
Daniel - I'd have to say that Atheism does qualify as a belief system. It is, after all, what the person believes. It's just not a religion; and a person does not have to be religious in order to hold or practice the philosophies you've cited.