Cultural Transmission
Psychological, Developmental, Social, and Methodological Aspects

Source book explaining how cultural information is transferred from one generation to the next within a family.

Ute Schönpflug (Edited by)

9780521880435, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 November 2008

512 pages, 35 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm, 0.8 kg

“Ute Schönpflug, an astute observer and chronicler of cultural transmission, has put together a book that provides an array of perspectives on the internationalization of psychology. Its 20 chapters cover evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives on cultural transmission as well as a collage of intracultural variations. Those who consult this book will be treated to a rich assortment of ways to consider cultural transmission. Without exception, the authors who contributed chapters to this book are experts in areas that together form the corpus of research, theory, and methodology in the study of cultural transmission. The book will instantly become a major reference and an authoritative source of information for future research and perspectives in the area.”
—Walter J. Lonner, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Western Washington University

Cultural Transmission covers psychological, developmental, social, and methodological research on how cultural information is socially transmitted from one generation to the next within families. Studying processes of cultural transmission may help analyze the continuity or change of cultures, including those that have to cope with migration or the collapse of a political system. An evolutionary perspective is elaborated in the first part of the book; the second takes a cross-cultural perspective by presenting international research on development and intergenerational relations in the family; the third provides intra-cultural analyses of mechanisms and methodological aspects of cultural transmission. Made up of contributions by experts in the field, this source book is intended for anyone with interests in cultural issues – especially researchers and teachers in disciplines such as psychology, social and behavioral sciences, and education – and for applied professionals in culture management and family counseling, as well as professionals dealing with migrants.

1. General introduction to cultural transmission: developmental psychological, social and methodological aspects Ute Schönpflug
2. Cultural transmission: a short history of research and theory Ute Schönpflug
Part I. Evolutionary Perspective: 3. Cultural transmission: a view from chimpanzees and human infants Michael Tomasello
4. Transmission, self-organization and the emergence of language: a dynamic systems point of view Paul van Geert
5. Relationship-specific intergenerational family ties: an evolutionary approach to the structure of cultural transmission Harald A. Euler, Sabine Hoier and Percy A. Rohde
Part II. Cross-Cultural Perspective: 6. An ecocultural perspective on cultural transmission: the family across cultures John W. Berry and James Georgas
7. Intergenerational relations and cultural transmission Gisela Trommsdorff
8. Intergenerational transmission, social capital and interethnic contact in immigrant families Bernhard Nauck
9. Developmental processes related to intergenerational transmission of culture: growing up with two cultures in the U.S.A. Amado M. Padilla
10. The transmission process: mechanisms and contexts Ute Schönpflug and Ludwig Bilz
11. Accounting for parent-child value congruence: theoretical considerations and empirical evidence Ariel Knafo and Shalom H. Schwartz
12. Culture, migration, and family value socialization: a theoretical model and empirical investigation with Russian immigrant youth in Israel Ariel Knafo, Avi Assor, Shalom H. Schwartz and Limor David
13. Immigrant parents' age expectations for the development of their adolescent offspring: transmission effects and changes after immigration Eva Schmitt-Rodermund and Rainer K. Silberseisen
Part III. Intracultural Variations: 14. Intergenerational transmission of moral capital across the family life course Merril Silverstein and Stephen J. Conroy
15. Similarity of life goals in the family: a three-generations study Alexander Grob and Wibke Weisheit
16. The intergenerational transmission of xenophobia and rightism in East Germany Bernd Six, Kristina Geppert and Ute Schönpflug
17. Intergenerational transmission of violence Haci-Halil Uslucan and Urs Fuhrer
18. 'Don't trust anyone over 25': youth centrism, intergenerational transmission of political orientations and cultural change Tom ter Bogt, Wim Meeus, Quinten Raaijmakers, Frits van Wel and Wilma Vollebergh
19. Value transmission and Zeitgeist revisited Klaus Boehnke, Andreas Hadjar and Dirk Baier
20. Epilogue: towards a model of cultural transmission Ute Schönpflug.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Anthropology [JHM]