Editing Cross-cultural studies

{{short description|Specialization in anthropology and sister sciences}}
{{Cross-cultural studies}}
{{Anthropology |theories}}

'''Cross-cultural studies''', sometimes called '''holocultural studies''' or '''comparative studies''', is a specialization in [[anthropology]] and sister sciences such as [[sociology]], [[psychology]], [[economics]], [[political science]] that uses field data from many [[Society|societies]] through [[comparative research]] to examine the scope of [[human behavior]] and test hypotheses about human behavior and culture.

Cross-cultural studies is the third form of cross-cultural comparisons. The first is comparison of case studies, the second is controlled comparison among variants of a common derivation, and the third is comparison within a sample of cases.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=van de Vijver|first=Fons J. R.|date=2009-03-01|title=Types of Comparative Studies in Cross-Cultural Psychology|journal=Online Readings in Psychology and Culture|volume=2|issue=2|doi=10.9707/2307-0919.1017|issn=2307-0919|doi-access=free}}</ref> Unlike comparative studies, which examines similar characteristics of a few societies, cross-cultural studies uses a sufficiently large sample so that statistical analysis can be made to show relationships or lack of relationships between the traits in question.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brislin|first=Richard W.|date=January 1976|title=Comparative Research Methodology: Cross-Cultural Studies|journal=International Journal of Psychology|volume=11|issue=3|pages=215–229|doi=10.1080/00207597608247359|issn=0020-7594|doi-access=free}}</ref> These studies are surveys of [[ethnography|ethnographic]] data, or involve qualitative data collection.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sha |first=Mandy |editor-first1=Mandy |editor-last1=Sha |url=https://www.rti.org/rti-press-publication/language-survey-research |title=Cross-Cultural Comparison of Focus Groups as a Research Method (Chapter 8) in The Essential Role of Language in Survey Research |date=2020-04-30 |publisher=RTI Press |isbn=978-1-934831-24-3 |pages=151–179 |doi=10.3768/rtipress.bk.0023.2004 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Cross-cultural studies are applied widely in the [[social science]]s, particularly in [[cultural anthropology]] and [[psychology]].

==History==
The first cross-cultural studies were carried out by 19th-century anthropologists such as [[Edward Burnett Tylor]] and [[Lewis H. Morgan]]. One of Edward Tylor's first studies gave rise to the central statistical issue of cross-cultural studies: [[phylogenetic autocorrelation]] also known as ''Galton's problem''.<ref>{{Citation|chapter=Galton Difference Problem|date=2004-07-15|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|isbn=0471667196|doi=10.1002/0471667196.ess0843|title=Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences}}</ref> In the recent decades{{when|date=August 2020}} historians and particularly historians of science started looking at the mechanism and networks by which knowledge, ideas, skills, instruments and books moved across cultures, generating new and fresh concepts concerning the order of things in nature. In ''Cross-Cultural Scientific Exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean 1560–1660'' [[Avner Ben-Zaken]] has argued that cross-cultural exchanges take place at a cultural hazy locus where the margins of one culture overlaps the other, creating a "mutually embraced zone" where exchanges take place on mundane ways. From such a stimulating zone, ideas, styles, instruments and practices move onward to the cultural centers, urging them to renew and update cultural notions.<ref>Avner Ben-Zaken, "From "Incommensurability of Cultures" to Mutually Embraced Zones" in ''Cross-Cultural Scientific Exchanges In the Eastern Mediterranean 1560–1660'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010)], pp. 163–167. {{ISBN|9780801894763}}</ref>

==Modern era==

The modern era of cross-cultural studies began with [[George Murdock]] (1949),<ref>Whiting (1986:305)</ref> who set up a number of foundational data sets, including the [[Human Relations Area Files]], and the ''Ethnographic Atlas.'' Together with [[Douglas R. White]], he developed the widely-used [[Standard Cross-Cultural Sample]], which is currently maintained by the [[open access (publishing)|open access]] electronic journal World Cultures.

[[Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory]] is a framework for [[cross-cultural communication]], developed by [[Geert Hofstede]] in the 1970s. It describes the effects of a society's [[culture]] on the [[value (personal and cultural)|values]] of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure derived from [[factor analysis]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Adeoye|first1=Blessing|last2=Tomei|first2=Lawrence|title=Effects of information capitalism and globalisation on teaching and learning|date=2014|publisher=Information Science Reference|location=Pennsylvania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ap5_BAAAQBAJ&q=Geert+Hofstede.+It+describes+the+effects+of+a+society%27s+culture+on+the+values+of+its+members,+and+how+these+values+relate+to+behavior,+using+a+structure+derived+from+factor+analysis.&pg=PA6|access-date=2015-10-21|isbn=9781466661639}}</ref> The original theory proposed four dimensions along which cultural values could be analyzed: [[individualism]]-[[Collectivism and individualism|collectivism]]; [[uncertainty avoidance]]; [[power distance]] (strength of social hierarchy) and masculinity-femininity (task-orientation versus person-orientation). It has been refined several times since then.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hofstede|first=Geert|date=2011-12-01|title=Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context|journal=Online Readings in Psychology and Culture|volume=2|issue=1|doi=10.9707/2307-0919.1014|issn=2307-0919|doi-access=free}}</ref>

With the widespread access of people to the Internet and the high influence of [[social networking service|online social networks]] on daily life, users behavior in these websites have become a new resource to perform cross-cultural and comparative studies. A study on Twitter examined the usage of [[emoticon]]s from users of 78 countries and found a positive correlation between individualism-collectivism dimension of Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory and people's use of mouth-oriented emoticons.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Park|first1=Jaram|last2=Baek|first2=Young Min|last3=Cha|first3=Meeyoung|author-link3=Cha Meeyoung |date=2014-03-19|title=Cross-Cultural Comparison of Nonverbal Cues in Emoticons on Twitter: Evidence from Big Data Analysis|journal=Journal of Communication|volume=64|issue=2|pages=333–354|doi=10.1111/jcom.12086|issn=0021-9916}}</ref> Another [[user experience]] study on the usage of [[Smiley|smileys]] from users of 12 countries showed that [[emoji]]-based scales may ease the challenges related to translation and implementation for brief cross-cultural surveys.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sedley |first1=Aaron |url=https://www.rti.org/rti-press-publication/language-survey-research |title=Scaling the Smileys: A Multicountry Investigation in The Essential Role of Language in Survey Research |last2=Yang |first2=Yongwei |date=2020-04-30 |publisher=RTI Press |isbn=978-1-934831-24-3 |editor-last=Sha |editor-first=Mandy |doi=10.3768/rtipress.bk.0023.2004 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 

==See also==
*[[Comparative cultural studies]]
*[[Cross-cultural]]
*[[Cross-cultural capital]]
*[[Cross-cultural communication]]
*[[Cross-cultural psychiatry]]
*[[Cross-cultural psychology]]
*[[Cultural bias]]
*[[Cultural relativism]]
*[[Ethnocentrism]]
*[[Human Relations Area Files]]
*[[Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's values orientation theory]]
*[[Standard cross-cultural sample]]
*[[Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Ember, Carol R., and [[Melvin Ember]]. 1998. Cross-Cultural Research. ''Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology'' / Ed. by H. R. Bernard, pp.&nbsp;647–90. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
* Ember, Carol R., and [[Melvin Ember]]. 2001. ''Cross-Cultural Research Methods''. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
* [[Andrey Korotayev|Korotayev, Andrey]], [https://www.academia.edu/37305025/World_Religions_and_Social_Evolution_of_the_Old_World_Oikumene_Civilizations_A_Cross-Cultural_Perspective_full_version_ ''World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-Cultural Perspective'']. Lewiston, NY: [[Edwin Mellen Press]]. {{ISBN|0-7734-6310-0}}
* Franco, F.M., and D. Narasimhan. 2009. Plant names and uses as indicators of [[traditional knowledge]]. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. [http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/6289]
* Franco, F.M., D. Narasimhan and W. Stanley. 2008. Relationship between four tribal communities and their natural resources in the Koraput region.  Ethnobotany Research and Applications, Vol. 6. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130615112402/http://lib-ojs3.lib.sfu.ca:8114/index.php/era/article/view/199]
* Levinson, David, and Martin J. Malone. 1980. ''Toward Explaining Human Culture: A Critical Review of the Findings of Worldwide Cross-Cultural Research''. New Haven, CT: [[Human Relations Area Files|HRAF]] Press.
* [[Alan Macfarlane|Macfarlane, Alan]]. 2004. [http://repositories.cdlib.org/imbs/socdyn/wp/20060815/ To Contrast and Compare], pp.&nbsp;94–111, in ''Methodology and Fieldwork,'' edited by Vinay Kumar Srivastava. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
* de Munck V. [https://www.scribd.com/doc/19980040/MunckKorotayev2000Ethnology Cultural Units in Cross-Cultural Research] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722102142/http://www.scribd.com/doc/19980040/MunckKorotayev2000Ethnology |date=2013-07-22 }} // Ethnology 39/4 (2000): 335–348.
* Murdock, George P. 1949. ''Social Structure''. New York: Macmillan.
* [[George Murdock|Murdock, George P.]] 1967. ''Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary''. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Prsrtjh sdxthgn fdty a45tesjtukcn bess.
* Murdock, George P. 1970. Kin Term Patterns and their Distribution. ''Ethnology'' 9: 165–207.
* Murdock, George P. 1981. ''Atlas of World Cultures''. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press.
* Murdock, George P., and [[Douglas R. White]]. 1969. [http://repositories.cdlib.org/imbs/socdyn/wp/Standard_Cross-Cultural_Sample/ Standard Cross-Cultural Sample.] ''Ethnology'' 8:329–369.
* Whiting, John W.M. 1986. [https://archive.today/20130105055338/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122424831/abstract ''George Peter Murdock, (1897–1985)'']. ''American Anthropologist''. 88(3): 682–686.

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Body Ritual among the Nacirema}}

===Journals===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110902104537/http://ccr.sagepub.com/ Cross-Cultural Research ]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070616170547/http://www.iaccp.org/jccp/ Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology ]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060211003825/http://worldcultures.org/ World Cultures]
*[[Structure and Dynamics: eJournal of the Anthropological and Related Sciences]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161026045851/http://www.transtexts.net/ Transtext(e)sTranscultures: Trilingual Journal of Global Cultural Studies ]
*[[Social Evolution & History]]

===Associations===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081210184422/http://www.sccr.org/description.html Society for Cross-Cultural Research]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180216203957/http://www.iett.eu/ Institut d'études Transtextuelles et Transculturelles (IETT)], Institute for Transtextual and Transcultural Studies, Lyons, France.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross-Cultural Studies}}
[[Category:Cross-cultural studies| ]]
[[Category:Social anthropology]]
[[Category:Subfields of political science]]