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
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
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