A cultural universal (see George Murdock, Claude Levi-Strauss, Donald Brown) is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all human cultures on the planet. Examples of elements that may be considered cultural universals are gender roles, the incest taboo, religious and healing ritual, mythology, marriage, language, art, music, cooking, games, and jokes. It should be noted that some anthropological and sociological theorists of an extreme cultural relativism perspective may deny, or minimize the importance of, the existence of cultural universals. The "nature versus nurture" argument has been going on for generations and is likely to continue. These universals are sometimes referred to as "empty universals" since merely remarking on their presence in a particular culture doesn't actually show anything unique or significant about that culture. The principal cultural universals are:
- Food
- Water
- Clothing
- Shelter
- Social organisation
- Family
- Communication
- Recreation
- Arts
- Environment
- History
- Trance
- Spirituality
Bibliography
- Erika Bourginon (1973) Diversity and Homogeneity in World Societies. New Haven, Connecticut: HRAF Press
- Donald Brown (1991) Human Universals. Philadelphia, Temple University Press.
- Joseph H. Greenberg, et al. (1978) Universals of Human Language, 4 vols. Stanford University Press
- Charles D. Laughlin and Eugene G. d'Aquili (1974) Biogenetic Structuralism. New York: Columbia University Press
- Claude Levi-Strauss (1966) The Savage Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press [first published in French in 1962]
- Charles E. Osgood, William S May, and Murray S Miron (1975) Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press
- Steven Pinker (2002), The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, New York: Penguin Putnam
- Rik Pinxten (1976) "Epistemic Universals: A Contribution to Cognitive Anthropology" in Universalism Versus Relativism in Language and Thought, R. Pinxten (ed.). The Hague: Mouton.
