Existential Functions of Culture: The Monumental Immortality Project

CULTURAL PROCESSES: A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, pp. 96-110, A. Leung, C.-Y. Chiu, and Y.-Y. Hong, eds., Oxford University Press, 2011

23 Pages Posted: 6 Mar 2011

See all articles by Pelin Kesebir

Pelin Kesebir

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Center for Investigating Healthy Minds

Date Written: March 5, 2011

Abstract

The chapter focuses on the existential functions of culture; more specifically, on how cultures help their constituents to deal with the ultimate questions of existence, such as how to live a meaningful life in the face of inevitable death. Individuals are strongly motivated to deny their basic creatureliness and to try to outshine death and decay; and it is through participating in and contributing to culture that they attempt to become eligible for immortality – be it literal or symbolic. The chapter starts with the question of why the human craving to transcend death is so potent, and then moves on to the various ways in which culture permits to satisfy this craving.

Keywords: Culture, Terror Management Theory, Existential Psychology

Suggested Citation

Kesebir, Pelin, Existential Functions of Culture: The Monumental Immortality Project (March 5, 2011). CULTURAL PROCESSES: A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, pp. 96-110, A. Leung, C.-Y. Chiu, and Y.-Y. Hong, eds., Oxford University Press, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1778222

Pelin Kesebir (Contact Author)

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Center for Investigating Healthy Minds ( email )

1500 Highland Avenue, Suite S119
Waisman Center
Madison, WI 53705-2280
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
253
Abstract Views
1,657
Rank
219,894
PlumX Metrics