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208,https://antipodean-antinuclearism.org/items/show/208,"Box 103, Item 1: Correspondence and drafts of Culture and the roots of political divergence: a South Pacific perspective with emphasis on the Australian/American contrast","Printout of various drafts with handwritten emendations, and handwritten notes, undated. Includes correspondence from Alan? (Department of Philosophy, University of Alberta) to Richard Sylvan, 9 June 1988 (typescript, 4 pages) re feedback on paper; Richard Sylvan to Alan, 13 July 1988 (handwritten, 2 pages) re: feedback on paper; Alastair (University of Waikato) to Richard Sylvan, 17 April 1985 (handwritten, 4 pages (2 leaves)) re feedback on paper; Tom (Philosophy Department, Massey University) to Richard Sylvan, 10 Jul 1985 (handwritten, 3 pages (2 leaves)) re feedback on paper.","Letters redacted from access file (PDF) due to copyright restrictions. Unnumbered paper from collection, item number assigned by library staff.","Richard Sylvan","The University of Queensland's Richard Sylvan Papers UQFL291, Box 103, Item 1","Antipodean Antinuclearism: (Re)constructing Richard Routley/Sylvan's Nuclear Philosophy",,"This item was identified for digitisation at the request of The University of Queensland's 2020 Fryer Library Fellow, Dr. N.A.J. Taylor.","For all enquiries about this work, please contact the Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.",,"[157] leaves. 357.51 MB. ",,"Manuscript ","https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:fbf70d1",,"7t?
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patterns not emulated
(and
mostly not wanted) in North America.
It has been suggested, but on slender grounds and by Americans, that such
as
action
green
undesirable
legal
heritage.
And
environmental or other.
important
redressing
for
like those concerning constitutional rights, in a
Mhile
the
in
difference
of
channels
action is,
to
access
Mithout
the
from
the
courts
doubt,
an
American
and
Australia and in NeM Zealand,
that
it cannot account for the differences.
the approved channels sufficient,
in
as many American failures make
many important cases,
to
extremely
difference betMeen the environmental situation in USA and
end,
Mith
The sources of this evidently
and constitutional inheritance
history
politically-approved
approach,
class action cannot be brought in the public interest
situation lie,
different
the
But the most that rings true in this is that,
minor recent exception,
to prevent vandalism,
of
militancy
and
strength
be accounted for by the relative weakness of 1ega1 means
environmental vandalism.
the
the
Mith
movement in Australia and its often confrontational
environmental
can
along
bans,
in
Nor are
in
plain:
there is no alternative but recourse
to
direct action, to the streets and forests.
Like
most
of the Australian unions and universities,
both Morkers
greenies (those active in environmental movements) remain influenced
sometimes inspired
by,
and
certainly linked by,
socialist
by,
ideals.
and
and
The=e
influences, overt in Australia, have largely been Miped out oygone underground
in USA,
being incompatible Mith advanced capitalism,
the American establishment.
as communistic inspired,
the
communist
politicians
can
folloMing
confusion of communism,
Indeed socialist themes are commonly disposed of
or as,
has been
and seen as inimical by
Mhat they are not, ..iust communism.
kicked,
regularly,
and
hard,
by
leads and encouragement from North America,
state socialism,
Although
Australian
a
simple
democratic socialism, and so on has
been made in Australia in the Midespread and crude May that has occurred
in
North America.
Socialism and a Mel fare state approach Mere adopted
long
ago in NeM Zealand (about the beginning of the Century) and only shortly later
whereas there is little sign of their gaining much ground
in Australia,
no^.'
in North America.
even
Socialist principles are regarded w i t h suspicion even
except for a small minority.
bv more educated North Americans,
Right-leaning
attitudes have a prominence in US that they (rightly) do not enjoy
81
Australia.
In several respects, then, Reagan and his substitutes are
political
in
representative of the mass of America people.
The
double
(Christianity vs.
standards we have
seen
exhibited
American
in
economism) and foreign policy (rights vs.
religion
domination)
and
could have been displayed in trade policy (free enterprise abroad vs. American
82
subsidies and protection) and elsewhere
— contradictions engendered not by
mere
between
practice
and
ideologies
— extend
to^much acclaimed Amt erican
conflict
incompatib 1 e
pragmatism.
ideology
but
threaten ideological fundamentals are not tolerated;
""dangerous""
elements
of
p1ur a 1ism
and
These operate in an unambivalent way only in a narrow ran%e where
ideological fundamentals are not seriously threatened.
to
through
viens are often excluded,
more difficult times at least,
toleration is hardly remarkable,
Thus parties
thought
and foreigners
nith
while natives nith such views are,
83
suppressed.
While the Australian record
in
on
and the society was until recently mu<-h more
uniform in character than American,
the room for political variety and spread
of political parties is greater.
81.
They are reflected in such small things as. the form of anarchist
movements - always strongly individualistic in North America, but mostly
pluralistic and socialistic, and sometimes communistic in Australia.
Even Alternative American remains staunchly individualistic; only in the
quite minor US commune movement do the contrasts begin to break down a
bit.
The differences are important in political philosophy and theory,
where Americans and Antipodeans tend to operate on different wavelength?.
32.
Thus, for
instance, the
policy, which combines a
substantial subsidies and
produce.
83.
See again Goldstei,
for example.
narrow pluralism of capitalist
chapter of 00.
doubl/ standards of American agricultural
free enterprise image with allowance for
discounts #4, American, but not foreign,
Worthwhile proposals for widening the
democracy may be found in the final
extent of toleration noM evident in Australia is not simply a result
The
of a strong British heritage (from an England that Mas) but OMes something
appear
markedly
multiple
the level of personal
features as Mell:- Firstly,
indigenous
roots,
in
is
in the industrial North
than
egalitarianism,
and
the
encouraged
by
a strong
to
tendency
of vieMS (an infuriating feature for
relativisation
(a
dielike
in the educational structure,
people,
overassertive
toleration
loMer
assertiveness
that
has
overbearing
and
feature
of
to
and so on).
personal
secondly,
in-group
or
teachers).
Ideological
argument and competition is avoided not so much by general pluralism of vieMS,
but by personal relativisation of positions (Mhich looks foolish at first Mith
questions such as God's existence, though not Mith matters of religious belief
and
political opinion).
action is not required.
as
lonq
But it noM looks (Mith
increasing
reorientation of the society and belated introduction of
cultural
methods into social discussion) as if
other
and
this sort of strategy succeeds only so
To be sure,
advance
to
an
- if
consensual
can
relativism
Australian
intellectually respectable pluralism
multi
Northern
control
perfni ts.
*F.
Leisure time activities, eating, drinking, sport and gambling.
retailing
and consumerism,
culture,
that
Australia is
the
it is here,
Americanisation
of
Apart from
in surface elements of more
significant
features
of
popular
life
in
most conspicuous, especially in food and entertainment, but also
in sport.
Take food, for example. American impact and control occurs primarily Mith
fast
foods (Mhere most of the larger chains are American) and in prepared and
highly
processed foods (Mhere many of the companies involved,
larger
biscuit
and snack food companies,
concerns having been bought out.)
ready
are
ultimately
e.g.
all
American,
Significant features of these products
the
local
are
or immediate gratification from largely already-made or -prepared mass-
produced items,
Mith consumer attractiveness achieved through a high level of
The technology involved is imported from USA (though
fancy packaging.
may
the patents are American,
be some minor local adaptions),
so
involved,
are
skills
local
cheap
adolescent)
(often
there
and feM or no
labour
can
be
exploited.
This pattern applies of course to American penetration of the food
industry,
and tourist industry, in many countries other than Australia; it is
part
incorporation of the ""free Morld"" into
the
of
the
flagging
American
^'or Id-system, the American imperium as it is sometimes called.
features are involved in the American influence on entertainment
Similar
again designed to Min acceptance by a mass market,
and sport,
immediate gratification,
or
term
action
(or
bright
or
professionalisation.
containing
Take
the
short
achieved for instance in the form of
violence) for passive audiences,
colourful
namely
and
effect
skilful packaging
many
changes
much
by
achieved
set,
of
and
on Australian cricket - formerly
a
very leisurely and, for spectators, often boring game - of American infusions,
dra'A'n
especially
uniforms
The
baseball.
has
game
become
substantially
there are many one day matches, Mhere the players appear in
professionalised,
gaudy
from
and lots of safety gear (noM necessary Mith the
increase
of
pace and stop-start action), and the game proceeds at a much greater pace Mith
lots of croMd pleasing action.
There
is
an American overlay also to more recent forms of
slot machine gambling and,
Australia,
more important,
overlay exhibits the same surface features,
as
in
sport
gratification
and
food
- and underlying these,
casino gambling.
designed to appeal to
action,
- colour,
gambling
professional
commercialism,
in
The
consumers,
quick
polish,
professional
control,
multinational organisation, and repatriation of profits to the North.
But
plausibly
the
in
each of these cases,
especially sport and gambling,
argued that the American influence is superficial - a
single bricks Mall of the Californian brick veneer,
appearance
of
masonry solidity to Mooden houses,
it can
veneer
be
like
designed to give the
a style noM ubiquitous
in
building
that is on to a
but grafted onto a ecualypt Mood frame structure,
Australia,
evolved,
that
though
antecedents
Mith
Northern
In the building industry (as to some extent in the
in Australia.
influences,
Northern
from
food industry) the distinctively Australian basic house structure is beginning
to
in
disappear
plantation-groMn
places like Canberra Mith the replacement
pine,
Honterey
of
by
hardMOod
the adoption (again from America) uf
light
timber framing codes, and so on.
It
indeed
is
in the spraMling suburbs of Australia that
veneer is most strikingly exhibited,
American
the
and
not just in the housing and streets
styles of automobiles (all local manufacturing companies being American,
a Japanese exception,
Mith
and the predominantly Japanese imports largely American
copies), but in the shopping centres, their supermarkets (American in style of
and
retailing
lots.
parking
increasingly in oMnership or control) and petrol stations
Nonetheless
Davidson is deliberately
and
Mhen
exaggerating
he
Mrites (Mhile ruminating on the film and entertainment situation) that
... Me need all the cultural consciousness Me can muster to delay - if
only
by
the tactic of infinite postponement
- our
complete
incorporation into the American Mgfld-systenr (p.21).
For
merely is there evidence t^fjt the American imperium has
not
i t-
pa = =ed
zenith, but again the American encroachment and influence is superficial.
Despite
the overlay,
the main structures of institutions such as
and gambling remain basically Australian,
of
Australian
forms.
history,
from European,
local adaptions, evolved
and particularly British and
Iri=h,
=o it
so it is Mith home '-ooking.
These
institutions
Mould
and club gambling;
remain substantially intact even if recent
other overlays Mere entirely removed.
Nhat is more,
and
quality of life not readily available,
The
community
afford good examples.
American
these institutions
and Mith further local adaption could to a much greater extent,
America.
over much
So it is Mith the main forms of football, Mith amateur cricket;
is Mith pub drinking,
style
sport
or available
and club structures of much gambling
and
can,
provide for a
at
and
all,
in
drinking
cA,
g in
mith such content requirements has been that there is insufficient
But
materia!.
rise
the
tota!
reduced.
domination
other
of the Australian and
there is nom much more regiona! materia!;
industries,
former
mith
and,
of Australian cinemas by American
Australian
regions!
as a result, the
has
films
the variety of television material nom available from
Given
an end to American domination of local television programs,
sources,
fi!m
been
morld
and
of
this part of Australian leisure culture, could also be achieved.
and gambling form a mutually supporting trio of immense
drinking
Sport,
importance in the popular culture of Australasia,
the
to grasp or explain.
outsider
('Much American sociological
gambling deals mith it as a deviant activity"":
historical
on-going
influence
population is of Irish descent).
brought
and
activities,
writing
A
p.421.)
in Australia is undoubtedly Irish
(in
on
main
early
nomaday about 17X of
the
Nith their blanketing Catholicism, the Irish
propagated rather successfully a religion liberal
masculine
in
but exceedingly narrom in intersexual
such as those of the trio,
enterprises.
mas out;
Caldmell 77,
one quarter of the population mas Irish;
Australia
for
to an extent difficult
Drinking mas in, contraception mas out; gambling mas in, divorce
sport mas in,
lomer-church
homosexuality mas out ...
Catholicism
and
more
Catholicism mostly men in Australia,
purjit/nical
.
In the play-off betmeen
forms
o^
Protestantism,
mhereas in eastern USA more
puritanica!
forces prevailed, and these mere subsequently reinforced by Judaism.
is a central part of Australian social life and so of
Drinking
(Nhile it is important in Nem Zealand also,
social
momen.
life.)
For
it is a less dominant feature
of
It bears on the connected issues of mateship and attitudes
to
matesh ip
relationship,
and
is
mateship
often based upon,
is
(cobbers) mhich excludes momen.
North
culture.
America,
that to his mife.
or groms
characteristically a
Indeed,
out
of,
relation
a
drinking
betmeen
men
in contrast to the apparent norm in
a man's relations to his mates,
or mate,
may be closer than
The
mateship
mates, first and foremost, through thick and thin.
A first corollary is a
or less rigorously some ambivalence about, social and career
limitation upon,
because
mobility,
may involve leaving one's mates
any transfer or promotion
or distancing from them.
A related corollary is a restriction on competition
because one does not compete seriously Mith one's mates.
similarly
also
mateship engenders,
The mateship
ethos
because mates are treated
requires local egalitarianism,
Thus
equals.
his
Mith
ethos strict!;/ requires that a man should stick
especially given a
little
as
transitivity,
egalitarian and non-competitive features, also encouraged by other elements of
Accompanying aspects of mateship are that
mainstream culture.
the
identity
success are sought,
and
concerns such as a job or career,
serious
and
energy
in leisure,
Mhere they are,
personal
not in
more
and that often a greater level
interest is di rec ted at leisure ac t iv i t i es and pas t imes
than
Excellence in serious things tends to be deflated or denigrated.
Mork.
of Antipodean socialism.
at
Hates
however are supported, and so by extension are those Mho Mould be mates.
mateship is one of the props
of
Thus
A less expected aspect
of mateship, Mhich is after all a communitarian relation of an important type,
is
diminished involvement Mith social (and also sometimes political)
is because mates afford a secure social framework Mhich
this
Perhaps
issues.
unnecessary to look beyond.
it
is
Hates naturally get together frequently, commonly
for sport, gambling or drinking.
The
main
setting
uncomfortable
and
for
drinking
is
pub
the
degenerate form of the English pub.
important public setting for drinking is the clubs,
as the Australian barbeque.
- though
some
city
The hotel Mas,
pubs
have
occasionally invaded by groups of Momen.
the
development
serves,
not
_urious!y
hotel,
a
But an
increasingly
Mhich also commonly cater
Among private group settings, for drinking are such institutions
for gambling.
haunt
or
only
and remains,
been
liberalised,
essentially a male
and
others
are
Thus the hotel is a main setting for
and continuation of mateship.
to reinforce male chauvinism,
The hotel
has
served,
but also to foster
and
racism.
Until very recently,
and still in some places,
hotels excluded or segregated
and perhaps other groups such as Orientals uho fall towards
Aboriginals,
the
bottom of the caste ladder.
do the places of drinking differ in significant respects
only
Not
those in USA;
extent it is in USA,
and is not a major form for the drinking bout;
nor are
Beer is the mainstay of
is the main alcoholic drink consumed.
and
hotels,
is not consumed to anyuhere near the
given the same prominence as in USA.
cocktails
Hard liquor,
so do the styles of drinking and uhat is drunk.
uh 1 ch is nou heavily taxed in Australia,
from
drinking
But Australian
patterns have changed markedly in the last twenty years;
the
and nine has become
an everyday drink in the clubs and often for lunch.
the feu older clubs can be exclusive in their membership
Nhile
American country clubs carry exorbitant fees,
or
the neu clubs have very
like
modest
joining fees and represent an improvement on the hotels in many respects;
for
they are not aluays, predominantly drinking establishments and dominantly male
but they are more sociable and comfortable, and they carry a range
preserves,
including commonly gambling (on uhich their
of other programs and activities,
depends)
financing
nonprofit associations)
sort
importance,
and
consumer
greatly
Hales).
golf);
but
there
notably returned servicemen's clubs,
and ethnic clubs,
religious
These
interests.
of the
are several
clubs
(community
types
other
catering
for
uhich function in all respects like
are a major post-Har social
country touns,
of
minority
phenomenon,
uhich
altered leisure patterns in parts of Australia (especially Neu
'In
one
political and labour clubs,
and there are many
neu registered clubs,
cooperatives,
registered
are indeed sporting clubs in origin (football of
bouls,
another,
of
Hany
sport.
and
have
South
clubs have replaced churches as the centres for
sociability and recreation; in the metropolitan areas, they have decentralised
leisure facilities providing nightclub, restaurant, gambling and entertainment
outlets
in
leisure
sophistication'*.
the
suburbs;
and in the coastal touns they
And
in these
very
successful
have
brought
some
gambling-financed
cooperatives,
'sport,
gambling
and
drinking
of
- the pillars
Australian
leisure culture - have found common ground' (Caldwell 77, pp.424, 425).
Sport is the opiate of the masses in Australasia, a main leisure activity
and entertainment form, a major (male) topic of conversation both socially and
and it takes up a significant chunk of the ""news""^newspaper coverage
at work,
it is now relegated to the back pages^with local politics occupying
(but
front
It
pages).
is also a major reservoir of chauvinism,
with
'Sport
competitiveness.
its
long traditions may
the
and
conformism
more
m^ifest
male
chauvinism than many other forms of popular Australian culture' (Caldwell
p.41'7');
racial and cultural.
as
such
j^-also manifests and often encourages other forms of
it
Even in sport reevaluation is
77,
chauvinism
place,
taking
including reassessment of the competitive principle, and there is a shift away
from
bureaucratic
Fortunately,
sport,
controls
however,
to
freer
environmentally
forms,
damaging
especially
sports.
vertigo
machine-dependent forms
have not caught on to the same extent as in America;
or art,
nor
of
do
forms such as hunting enjoy a% similar following or so little criticism.
important component of Antipodean newspaper sport,
An
racing
anima!
distinct
as
""sport"",
especially,
from
professional,
predominantly
gambling purposes.
integrally tied to gambling.
is
the
type
younger
people
In the participant sports there is,
other
and
This
participate
and now essentially designed for
North, a heavy outdoor emphasis.
but
horse
form
of
in,
is
spectator
and
in contrast with the
This emphasis is partly a New Norld feature,
partly a matter of extensive open space and a favourable outdoor climate.
Explaining
the
separating
sport
sheer extent of sport is a complex matter, best approached by
into
its
different components
looking
and
at
what
is
distinctive in the new world, and what in the Antipodes (at the same time this
reveals
e.g.
the
that
ritualised
limited applicability of psychological substitutibility
sport,
national
substitute
sport
for war).
especially,
is
a
socially
claims,
acceptable
And one thing that is distinctive
is
the
and
amount
style of gambling-linked sport.
Explaining that is
inseparable
from explaining gambling itself.
have been several attempts to explain the extent and diversity
There
in Australia as compared Mith that in the North,
gambling
smoothly into the culture.
it
according
Morld,
various
and to incorporate
Australians are the heaviest gamblers in the
88
surveys.
Some of the main explanations
to combine the following elements:
try
suggested
to
of
the
of
influence
Irish
Latholicism in overriding the restrictive puritanism, the comparative Meekness
the
of
ethic
Mork
bother?""),
the
the drive to accumulate
and
entrenched
belief
in
gambling
a
strand
form
of
(Mith
as
a
positional
improvement (Mhich appears to date back, like distinctive Australian
games
as 2!-up,
such
together,
to convict times).
gambling
Not all these elements sit
easily
not all of them, such as the Mork ethic, are relevant on their oMn.
The Mork ethic becomes relevant because it Mas Midely believed by
that gambling damagingly undercut Mork,
improvement,
positional
to Meal th,
Mork
""Mhy
of
Protestants
both because of the popular legend of
that gambling offered an alternative route than hard
and because gambling Mas an absorbing leisure-time
activity
Mhich competed successfully Mith (often alienating) Mork.
Moreover,
acommodated.
gambling,
there
are
some
important
complicating
factors
to
be
One is that Mhat is more extensive in Australia is smaller-scale
social
gambling,
entrepreneurial gambling.
not
heavy
punting,
professional
gambling
or
Australians are, by and large, very security minded
and are not large-scale risk takers: hence one of the reasons for the shortage
8'?
of venture capital in Australia .
Despite the risk-taking image, there is
then a strong emphasis on security,
- the
suburban
both in the (home) OMnership expectations
a-cnd—a-s— hegsr-de--
------------------------ 88. Thus e.g. R/deen.
On the extent of Australian gambling, see also
CaldMell 74. Like drinking, gambling is less extensive in NeM Zealand.
8'?.
The extent of gambling in Australia contrasts sharply Mith risk-taking in
investment.
'Risk aversion seems to be endemic in Australia at least as
far as investment in innovative products is concerned'* (S. Macdonald).
block, the private home, the car, and as regards defence (whence the appeal of
an
American
second
6
gambling.
Australian
complication
concerns
the
'is marked by a heavy reliance on
It
character
of
and
so
chance
But Caldwell's attempt to explain
on skill'* (Caldwell/^ p.20).
little
this
features of the Australian character which deemphasize excellence
through
less
shield).
partly
satisfactory,
than
from sport,
differently
where,
because
it
as he admits,
involves
treating
'excellence ...
is
gambling
is
[almost]
fact the preferred explanations of the characterisatics and
puzzling
always approved of'*.
In
aspects of Australian gambling are unsatisfactory. In several places, Caldwell
has
appealed
in possible explanation'* 'to features of Australian
specifical 1y
to egalitarianism,
concen trates
on
r e1qu i s i t e
trying
to
what these are,
Fatalism,
explaining.
fatal i sm/
mateship and a sense of
say
for example,
character,
not on
how
they
But
he
do
the
apathy,
is said to involve
putting up with unfavourable conditions, and accepting the outcomes of fortune
but with good fortune attributed to luck,
hardly a fatalistic theme,
fatalism might explain a certain dourness or resignation,
Australian,
unclear
with
along
some more typical Australian
Caldwell
since
really
the
extent
makes no difference to
in
disclose
success
that
by luck.
marginally
what
for
this
the bulk of Australian gambling is social
better
than
fatalism
it
remains
i^
Hhat
fated.
that things
surveys
suggestion,
gambling
in
And mateship and egalitarianism only
in
will
but a ^^rious (nonmarket) optimism, a
Unfortunately
do not expect to succeed.
especially
rather than little
seems to be appealing to is not fatalism,
happen as they are already fated to do,
people
features,
how it is supposed to explain extensive gambling,
gambling,
belief
neither
klhile
their
intended
explanatory
which
fare
roles;
egalitarianism does, as will appear, have a minor role.
8^.
(From previous page) The extent of gambling in Australia contrasts
sharply with risk-taking in investment.
'Risk aversion seems to be
endemic in Australia at least as far as investment in innovative products
is concerned* (8. Macdonald).
^^7
/s*
By contrast,
Inglis attempts an historical explanation,
he sees as the social sources of gambling.
He claims to uncover the following
speculative character of business in a neM country (but unless
the
factors:
looking to Mhat
specially
difficult and distinctive character of the neM country is also
the
invoked
does not distinguish Australia from the rest of the neM
this
that life Mas a gamble in early Australia (but this does
including USA);
explain Mhy social gambling took off,
Irish
heritage
subsequent
mining
persistence
the
and does not account for
the
of
the
of social gambling in Australia);
the role
Mith heightened discovery and rapid riches (but
again
this
to California Mhere gambling practices are different, and are
e.g.,
not concentrated on social gambling).
particular
not
or the augmentation of gambling);
(but this applied also to USA,
industry
applies,
Morld,
These sorts of factors may explain
inherited forms of gambling in Australia,
for instance the
the
Irish
contribution no doubt helps account for the prominence of horse-racing and its
egalitarian betting patterns in Australia (though horse-racing is as important
in
NeM Zealand Mhich had no comparable influx of Irish catholics).
But they
do not explain the persistence and styles of gambling in Australia, as opposed
to
USA.
to
delegated
the
to
extent that it Mas in Australia,
the
Inglis
favours,
hoM Mas it that gambling Mas integrated into
emerges:
question
order,
up in the historical fashion
set
Nhen
rather
commercial and criminal sector as in
than
USA?
a
the
major
social
substantially
question
The
fetches its OMn complex ansMer - in terms of the differing religious pressures
for
the
suppression
and regulation of gambling,
the
respective
gambling and their possible exploitation by capitalistic methods,
types
of
illegal
or
legate and the comparative commitment to market and commercial methods
- once
the features of Australian gambling are explained.
In trying to explain Australian gambling and its distinctive features, it
is
most
important^first to divide gambling into types.
Australian
pursuit
gambling is social,
of Meal th.
A salient feature is that
for ""fun"", as opposed for
instance
But professional and heavy (and plunge) gambling
to
appear
be greater in Australia than elsewhere (and
to
not
gambling
than
less
are
in USA,
investment
the
reflecting again
of non-social
Bayesian theory (i.e.
gambling
be
can
gambling can be explained in the
people).
improvement
remains
it
given a largely psychological explanation,
positional
an undoubted consideration in such forms as lottery
is
to
social gambling.
For example-substantial
A
through
Since compulsive
subjective expected utility theory).
here some divi = i'*sn of types helps.
These
May
standard
explain Mhat _i_s distinctive in the Australian scene, broadly
Even
venture
security-
supposed
mindedness of Australians and the timidity of their business
types
and
art
and
union gambling but not in poker machine gambling.
main
The
forms
of
social
such
gambling,
club
as
rather undemanding leisure-time-fillers of
unintellectual
gambling,
acceptable
More ordinary Australians have a good deal of leisure time to fill;
are
types.
and given
the prevailing relatively uncompetitive ethos and general anti-intellectualism
of
the society,
activities
(e.g.
intellectual
or
this time is not often occupied by additional Mork or
for
positional improvement of one sort or another)
higher cultural activities,
But
by
gregarious
television Matching has to some extent substituted in recent
years.
or
direct
television
does
not
the same
offer
stimulation that gambling affords.
established,
socially
acceptable,
activities (like pip? smoking),
and
neMspapers^,
setting;
offering
iKti.
it
social
opportunities
Still, Mhy gambling rather than other time
It is not simply that it Mas and remains an
fillers and entertainment forms?
social
undemanding
or
For both of these more passive and
activities, such as drinking and gambling.
solitary
but by
hobby
form,
Mell
surrounded
Mith
associated
such as ^11 ec ting .snd reading^ + orm guidey
social
contacts and opportunities or at
also^afforde^
uncompetitive?^ form of stimulation, aec
a/, approved
least
funintellectual
a
and
Mhere^excitement could be directly
exper i encecL
tends
to
be extraverted;
leisure time activity
in
Australia
and Mhen it is not directed toMards the
notorious
the gambling situation reveals,
As
trie,
it is usually practical or- material,
mainstream Australian culture is,
not educational or artistic.
The
to understate matters, neither cultured nor
intel 1ectual,
communication,
Education,
the intellectual
patterns in Australasia are Northern,
England and Scotland,
imported almost entirely,
from
mainly
As a result
very recently, some local adaption.
significant surface educational differences between Australia
are
(though the differences do not touch the
America
North
Mith,
The
life and practicality.
underlying
and so are not of great ideological depth?.
social paradigm,
and
Northern
surface
These
differences bear directly on the continuation of the cultural traditions.
Austral ia
countries.
t^or st
the
has
There
educational record of any
for example,
are,
the
of
three times as many people going on to
higher science studies proportionally in USA as in Australia.
23
to
this
recorded.
Australia.)
better
including 50 per cent
level,
(There
is
up the ladder,
doubt
to
and
different.
similar
ethnic
of
the
blacks,
differentiation
students at more average American
different,
attitudes
to
lowest
in
Not only
educational
segment
education
universities
reflecting the
but are generally nor-se in quality,
the more generous intake of students.
styles
In USA however 83 percent go
than their Australian counterparts,
drive
levels
a
University
motivated
5
In Australia about 20 per cent leave school at 15, and only
3'? percent proceed to higher school certificate.
on
Nhereas in UbA
in Australia only
percent of science students eventually obtain Ph.Ds,
per cent do, etc.
developed
oning in
are
in
are
social
part
no
educational
institutions
are
In North America universities are much more business, and there is
The details of general intellectual life,
differ material 1y.
extent of reading,
etc., al so
It is in intellectual and educational life, especially in the extent of
book reading, that Ne'.-j Zealand culture differs, perhaps most strikingly,
from Australian.
The anti-intelleptu_al charges regularly hurled at
Australians are not often directed at Neu Zealanders, t^h^je traditions
remain much more British.
not
the
degree
separation of the university
of
business
commun i t i es
evident in Australia.
Education in Australia encounters, and has to combat, the practicality of
the mass of people, the widespread impatience with theory and ideas, and anti
The impatience with theory,
intellectualism.
theory into action,
blue
the demand for translation
the concentration on the practical,
collar (working-class) people,
of
appear not only with
for instance in adult education
but in groups drawn from virtually all strata of the society,
and
groups,
even,
and
perhaps or especially, in groups concerned with changing social consciousness.
The
anti-intellectualism
feature,
striking
locals.
Thu
to
of
Australia is a
widely
cultural
European visitors^and admitted or even insisted on
'sheep-culture,
agriculture,
by
physical culture have reached
standards in Australia but intellectual culture has
high
remarked
been
neglected* .
'Especially important in affecting the output of govenments and the quality of
our political life ...
[is] a suspicion of debate and reason, combined with a
profound anti-intellectualism'.
13
Rnti-intellectualism has however two levels (like anti-theism):
or,
differently, hostility to things intellectual.
though
the
Both appear in Australia,
neglect is far more widespread than hostility (which
restricted
neglect
appears
to a few older class-differentiated cultural groupings),
vast and amorphous middle class vaguely approving of things
largely
most
of
educational.
Note also the role of private schools in Australia, as in USR, as opposed
to New Zealand, where quality secondary eduction is not so privatised.
The whole style of ranking educational institutions in fact differs from
culture to culture.
Stephenson^s ""words ring as true as they did the^' 30
writes Dunlevy (Canberra Times l'?84).
years
ago,
so
The other two 'characteristics [which] infect our public life'*, and also
stand in the way of 'a better society in this country"", listed by Aitkin
in his cynical and pessimistic conclusion (p.28) are worth recording
also,
namely
widespread authoritarianism and
majoritarianism
in
government, and primary group loyalty (and therewith partisan and even
confrontational practices) in public affairs, i.e. narrow non-pluralistic
matesh i p.
this
In
does
Australia
neglect,
not differ
from
situation may be Morse in rural USA than it is in rural
the
highly
other
Indeed there are grounds for supposing
materialist cultures, such as the USA.
that
markedly
Australia,
Mhere people commonly have access to public libraries and a variety of
public
c ommun i c a t i on ne tMorks,
terms
In
furnished
America
relative
of
population
Australia
corresponds
perhaps
is
to community radio stations like Canberra's
could Mell adapt, is different.
better
Nothing in
cultural communication netMorks than USA.
Mith
2XX
North
to
or
The US PSS arrangments, Mhich Australia
ethnic radio in most state capitals.
by
size
For Mhat it is Morth (for they are controlled
capitalist right and carry a heavy Northern ideological message)
the
the
main Australian neMspapers also compare favourably Mith American neMspapers
at least on a circulation-size basis
Many
Americans
have
'America's
for
conservatism'
(p.345).
Mhich,
Australia,
remarked,
in a similar
parochialism,
The
though
- and tend to be less parochial.
fashion
to
anti-intellectualism
Merrill,
sc i en t i sm
ano
smoothly
for
same ingredients do not blend so
certainly
instantiating that
on
initially^_starting
coupling of scientism Mith an t i - i n t e 1 1 ec t u a 1 i sm^s^^Can d n a t i on a 1 i sm)^ i s neither
so
conservative
(especially
politically) nor nearly
as
parochial
(perhaps because much further from the centre of things than USA).
there is some significant overlap,
are,
like
Moreover,
of
'P%.
though
because both mainstream cultures are male-
dominated Mith a heavy practical get-things-done orientation.
Australasian
USA
Nor do the
of Australian anti-intellectualism look the same as American,
sources
as
For example, in
male preserves it is still considered that intellectual pursuits
artistic
endeavours,
for practical men,
unmasculine
and
effeminate
(""sissy"").
ideas and intellectual activity, except as part
a narroM practically-directed result-oriented science,
are an impediment,
Looked at differently things are not so good.
Australia's capital, for
example, hardly turns out, in the form of the Canberra Times, a product
Mhich compares favourably Mith the Nashing ton Post
an effete luxury.
in
that
Inhere Australian culturet&e3±±s^diverges from American
anti-intellectualism,
culture and thought, ^deriv
the
connected mediocre standards
and
opportunities
various
furthermore,
to
higher
from egalitarian and levelling down elements
culture (for intellectual activities,
serious
of
to
and
excel,
like high culture,
surpass
is
in
offer too many
There
mates).
are,
connected mediocre-maintaining mechanisms in Australian
for example ''social penalisation of deviance from certain ""middling""
society,
intellectual
other
norms'* (Ely),
a lopping off
cultures
do share is a
heavy
and
of
intellectual
tall
poppies.
the
Nhat
as
misrepresented
Americans,
a
practical
practical
utilitarianism.
and unlike most Europeans,
orientation,
Australians
are,
often
like
practical do-it-yourself people, proud
But for the most part,
of their fix-it make-do and improvisational abilities.
Australians have strong group loyalties and do not treat those outside primary
groups
with
sense;
nor
aiming
at
sufficient impartiality to count as utilitarians in
they,
in appropriate utilitarianism
greatest
happiness of the greatest
are
'the
societal maximum.
educational
and
or
number'
strict
maximizers,
any
other
They are utilitarian only in the vulgar sense of utility-
focussed and practical,
experimental
fashion,
any
in the sense that theory,
statistical
work,
gets
and research institutes (as e.g.
a low
as opposed to practice and
even
in
higher
the Research School
of
Social
ranking,
Sciences, Australian National University).
The
practical
capabilities of Australians are by no means
directed but include group and social organisation.
individually
Particularly significant
The utilitarian theme was a hare-meleased by Hancock, in his attempt to
reconcile Australian 'individualism with ... reliance upon Government'
(p.55).
In fact utilitarianism is inessential to the style
of
reconciliation Hancock attempts, several sorts of accounts of collective
poster at the service of integrated individual interests serving as well or better in the Australian case.
Even in the academies utilitarianism
hardly predominates;
and it has had little historical importance in
Australian philosophy, though it has regrettably become a position to be
reckoned with in recent years.
By contrast, pragmatism has almost no
foil owing.
is
australian
'the
organisations
zest for starting,
joining
of all kinds' (aitkin p.26).
and
maintaining
voluntary
This has proved important for
a
long time in the provision of Melfare services in australis, and more recently
40?% n
in the case of the environment.
The pattern of Melfare^in australia, for long
self-provisioning (as distinct from provided by local
largely
elseMhere
),
a ""Mel fare partnership"" Mith government
into
merged
espec i al 1 y in brick-and mortar- grants and the like,
and
other
organisations.
environmental
a
The
concerns.
government
similar
pattern
funding,
for voluntary,
is
re! igious
as
emerging
as
regards
size of the nongovernmental Melfare sector
in
Rustralia,
an important part of the informal economy, remains extremely large
(est ima ted
9. S
p.26^/
for
equivalent in unpaid mages alone to 1.5'< of GDP,
de t ai 1s);
the informal economy bound up
and
see
Mith
aitkin,
environmental
issues is no longer negligible though governmental assistance is
siight.
But the success of nongovernmental organisation and the informal
economy
up a latent paradox concerning political organisation in australia
throMS
for Mhat i s
paradoxes tied to the already noticed authoritarianism paradox;
afxa poMer+ul authoritarian government doing in self-reliant communities?)
the
one
hand,
there
political culture',
is
'an important self-reliant
in
strain
(a
On
australian
Mith do-it-themselves groups Mhich substituted for
local
government; it is 'a political culture in Mhich voluntary organistions have an
honoured place' (aitkin,
apathy,
though
populace
Mhich
p.26).
But, on the other hand, there is a political
are not as marked as formerly or as- in the USa;
has
by
and
large 'not sought
profound
there
changes
in
is
problems
a
reliance on government to provide and
(this in complete contrast Mith
america)
to
deal
.
a
Mith
and
political
difference-in-size
In contrast Mith USa, for instance, local government Mas
development in australia, and remains Meak: see aitkin, p.23ff.
?7-
a
their
political or social structure for several generations noM"" (aitkin p.23);
there
is
a
late
""So australians faced Mith a political problem learned to respond Mith
""Mhat Mill they (= the government) do about it?"", Mhereas americans in a
similar situation could be heard to say ""Hhat Mill Me do about it?'""
(aitkin, p.23).
ar
^6
theory,
both lessons for Australian political decentralisation and^some
Mith
expI anatory
0! son' s
Mould appear to resolve the paradox (a theory
pOMer,
individuals,
action,
collective
of
bogie
but
Mhich
initial
the
groups or factions to Mhom
primary
within Mhich mateship^ bonds operate).
in
but Mith
elements
not
attach
and
loyalties
Nhat holds for the smaller local group
individual is directly involved does not
the
resembling
to
transfer
larger
political arrangements? tsri on the contrary, local loyalties act against larger
groups struggle and compete for their OMn
organisation^
enter ^nto a-v^ricty""'of partisan and rent-seeking behaviour.
Australians
political
are
self- or
problems
they
hardly
and
Similarly Mhile
problems,
group-reliant Mith smaller
appeal to government,
interests
larger
for
surprisingly^ to
authoritarian government (for though authoritarianism is not essential,
an
it is
likely in the circumstances).
.The
1
open
times may be changing Mith the serious attempt to apply
""
methods
secretive
to
large group decision making,
games,
numbers
instead
of
group
'a perversion of the majority principle
old
Mhich
in
HoMever the
of more satisfactory and rational decision making methods into large
organisation and choice practices have a long May to go
political
the
simply
getting the numbers is a surrogate for persuasion'* (Aitkin p.28).
adoption
consensual,
J
life,
in
Australian
in such less anti-intellectual (but still often
even
anti
theory) cloisters as the universities and other educational institutions.
Approaches
to the environment.
the frequent presentation of USA as the heartland
An t i podes, despi te
environmental
movement.
proportionately,
the Morld.
of
There
are,
as
Australian
for
example,
more
paid-up
the
of
members,
environmental groups in Australia than anyMhere else
in
Apparently blest Germany, Northern homeland of green politics, noM
comes second in this sort of statistic,
Mell
Ecological aMareness is greater in the
easily ahead of USA and
Canada.
a quantitative difference there is a qualitative difference
and Northern environmentalism.
The Australian movement
As
betMeen
is
much
A
and
active
more
ecological
auareness
communities.
The
involved.
not
mi th
permeated
Antipodean culture is
encountered in North America
in
except
an
isolated
These are subjective impressions from informants, but there are
some more objective matters to back them up, such as
The
P
issue
Tasmanian
dam issue,
uhich could not have figured as
election
an
in the same sort of uay in North America (though perhaps it could
have
in Noruay);
level of political commitment on such environmental matters
neu
The
9
the preservation of rainforest in NSH.
as
(For details, and other examples, see
Dunphy).
?
for example,
Responses to questionnaires on rainforest and uoodchipping,
uhich indicate uide community concern in Australia on these issues.
impressions
The
quantitative
can,
uay,
by
moreover,
be
backed
up to some
dividing environmental groups into
(conservative) and neuer (post l'?65, more radical).
extent
in
tuo
types:
more
a
older
The overwhelming majority
of people involved in environmental groups in England, for instance, belong to
organisations of the former type,
National
mostly founded last century, especially the
Trust (see Loue and Goyder).
By contrast the
consists predominantly of more recently formed groups.
Australian
The Australian groups
differ in character from those in USA in important uays;
also
for
and less inclined to compromise. For instance, there has never been a
action,
(such
deal
as
as the Sierra Club
made)
uith. organisations
supporting
there has never been a uorking alliance uith shooters or
pouer,
nuclear
clubs
they are,
more active, more radical, more left-leaning, more inclined to
the most part,
major
movement
is commonplace in USA,
or an easy alliance uith
off-road
gun
vehicle
c1ubs.
USA
can
Emerging),
much
in
be
very
roughly seen,
as dividing into tuo parts,
the
uilderness),
uay
as Callenbach
sees
(in
Ecotopi a
Eastern part, uithout
the Old Norld,
of deeper ecological concerns (or
it
of
national
parks
or
and a Neuer Norld, Nestern part, uhich is much more ecologically
There
concerned.
is
little
doubt however that
the
metropolitan
eastern
industrial part of USA (the Boston-Neu York-Hashington conglomeration) is Mell
and truly in control of things.
in
the
places
uhere
again roughly,
The division gets reflected,
environmental philosophy or
features in university programs,
equivalent
an
seriously
not at the
namely the south and uest,
more
richly-endoued higher-ranked universities in the east.
Jeuish prominence in eastern American universities has something
The
to
There is a significant Jewish element in
do Mith this educational situation.
contemporary US thinking and philosophy, but not to any extent in Australian
American.
The
evident Jewish influence on American economic and political life extends
into
except
insofar as it (increasingly) serves as a Meak copy of
philosophy
and
Nalzer
political theory,
in
elements.
ideology:
This
long
the Mork of Nozick
for instance,
Mhich is overtly infused
influence
exploitation-disrupted
the
Consider,
has
a
substantial
Mith
Jeuish
effect,
Jeuish record is exceedingly disappointing,
Hebraic
especially
arenas like peace and the natural environment
both in
and
in
- Mhere
practice
and
theory (occasional rebels excepted).
The
features
strength of Australian environmentalism arises from a combination of
of
the
land
and
the culture:
the
presence
pouer
and
of
the
surrounding natural Morld, the conspicuousness and the resilience of many more
familiar
Mhich
close,
parts of the environment,
together
the outdoor barbeque-and-beach lifestyle,
Mith a variety of outdoor activities brings
the secular earthiness of the culture,
the
its naturalism,
environment
the
doMn-to-
earth practical character of the people, the do-it-yourself approach to things
like
housing,
repairs
and
so
forth
Mhich
often
frustrating, details of the natural Morld close again.
brings
the
messy,
if
Nhile Hestern American A.
9^.
There are hoMever some European emigres, Mith right-leaning or even
reactionary political vieMS, Mho have an influence on political thinking
in Australia, especially as regards defence and communism.
NeM Zealand
is, by contrast, relatively free of such immigrants.
%?.
Nain reasons Mhy are in fact nicely explained in SchMarzschild.
these things it does not share all of
of
many
shares
them
by
means,
any
in particular not the areligious character or the style of naturalism.
Despite Australia's frequent inclusion as an industrialised nation, it is
not
industrialised,
highly
mining,
and
agriculture
and
of
much
the
export
in their different Mays quarrying
both
Other Antipodean countries are even less industrialised.
there
the level of Old Norld
yet
isn't
transformation
industrial
land.
the
the
The
European
still
environment
even in most parts of the largest
reaches through conspicuously,
from
And in the Antipodes
control,
the total inhabitable landscape.
of
comes
wealth
cities.
survey of cultural media such as films Mould shoM this clearly enough.
a
rare
(or NeM Zealand) film that doesn't include
Australian
bushdrop,
many
Mhereas
US
exclude
productions
the
some
A
It is
natural
environment
natural
entirely, and even Mhen sequences are shot outside it's often all concrete and
and
glass,
neon
lights and automobiles and
pools
sMimming
- metropolitan
""cu1ture"".
Certainly these sorts of urban effects, taken from noMhere in particular,
could
be achieved in parts of the older Australia state capitals,
becoming
(less
very
freeMay
cities in the American-influenced
much
systems hoMever),
Melbourne,
noisy
and
As a result,
older
mode
structures
the largest, Sydney and
are not .just sprauling and mostly unplanned but heavily congested,
polluted,
Mith
nature blotted out in many of
despite
its impressive monuments,
the
inner
poorer
In this they resemble Hashington,
suburbs by red brick and Mires and asphalt.
Mhich
are
free-enterprise
overlaying and expanding
copied from British provincial cities.
Mhich
has only little
planning,
and
is
mostly the American adaption of the European city - an adaption Mhere the city
is
treated as if at first space didn't matter,
structures,
fortunate
al) being,
to have,
so to say,
by contrast,
nor any unity of
better integrated into and less imposed upon,
(the
Australia is
isolated individual ones).
in Canberra a much more
style
holistic
capita),
/
the environment.
Moreover it
is
hard
not to see and to some extent appreciate the natural environment
on the hills,
especially
Canberra,
neatly planned and in places so green,
between,
lands
even if the flatter
in
so
exhibit (though as cities normally do)
so much artifice.
The
prospects for the environment look rather brighter in Australia than
in USA,
and
for several reasons,
some physical and structural,
much
smaller proportion firmly
population,
and
agriculture
or to industrialist activities.
matter
possibilities
technological
and
a
of good luck than good management;
America
much
For a similar land area Australia has a
cultural.
have been lacking.
some ideological
human
smaller
committed
to
intensive
In large measure this is more a
for both the time and physical and
for a such colossal business
investment
as
in
But cultural reasons have also made a difference
Mill likely become increasingly important:
contrasts
cultural
already
observed, that is.
In
had
Australians came increasingly godless to a land God
the first place,
supposedly forgotten about;
for them there Mas no mandate or
such as the Americans operated under,
in
Australian
life
not merely to multiply and be fruitful,
and exploit it to their oMn ends.
but to dominate the land,
and
approaches
directive
to
the
environment
Nor is there noM
the
extent
of
religiously-reinforced human chauvinism that operates in the industrial North,
and
Mhich
sciences.
informs
the
Secondly,
precedent-bound
foundations
American adulation of,
of
Northern
social
and ideological commitment
. (From previous page) So it is to be hoped that Griffin's environmental
vision, from Mhich Canberra took shape, can be sustained. H.B. Griffin a naturalised Australian Mho greM up in USA - has a significant place in
the groMth of environmentalism in Australia. His role in this regard has
been largely neglected;
for he is usually portrayed .just as an
arch i tec t.
/P/ . On the May in Mhich human chauvinism is Mritten deep into mainline social
sciences, see EE, pp.183-'?.
About the social theory involved, many
Australians are fortunately sceptical - those that bother Mith theory,
that is.
/%%. The practice of government**assisted capitalism of
differs of course from the ideology.
advanced
capitalism
to,
market arrangements and market-based minimally-regulated
profit-directed
competition is not shared in Australia,
American commitment to the Big,
and,
to big business,
to put it all more theoretically,
capitalism,
controlled
is substantially opposed.
but
to tall poppies, to genius,
to maximization.
extraordinarily bad neMS for the environment.
general
and
documented,
reasons for their damaging effects are sufficiently
theoretical
the
understood.)
such commitments and themes, though influential enough and
In Australia,
and advertised daily through the commercial media,
pushed
in
are
(The damaging effects of these
in practice are quite evident enough and Mell
3-Bad-lTs
But such minimally-
maximization,
and
markets,
So is
do
not
dominate.
For there is a different mainstream ideology Mith a different agenda - such as
social
social
regulation,
and
intervention,
so
arbitration,
consensus,
group
government
The land and the people are not open
forth.
American-style markets in the same '.jay (though there are increasing
ill-considered
pressures
forces"",
dairy
market,
e.g.
expose
farmers
in a subsidized and
also
Morks
in favour of
the
environment.
natural
and
are
entitled to fair treatment,
oppressed or poor Australians,
rather
to a ""fair go"" and assistance.
growing reluctance to see local environments,
especially
and,
by foreign companies.
Fourthly,
Australian environmental movement itself,
Morld
Australian
Thirdly,
are to an increasing extent considered as honorary or even
Australians,
""market
heavily-controlled
markets).
the
and often
to
population
sectors of the
adolescents in over-supplied labour
egalitarianism
animals
to
to
Native
exemplary
like
other
And there is a
like small people,
ripped off,
there is the live and expanding
some of it manifest in
Alternative
Australia.
5.
Formulating and takinq different directions
The
distinctive
features of Australian culture both point
change and supply main parts of an engine for change.
is,
houever,
the
May
to
The standard complaint
that proposals for radical change noM lack,
Mith the demise of
revolutionary aspirations in the oppressed c 1 asses, any engine for change.
In
more friendly form, the complainfis elaborated along the foliating lines:-
It is easy enough to formulate different directions for the South Pacific
it is far harder to see how such an appropriately different course
countries;
It is not merely that the main countries in the
can be adopted and followed.
region,
European
transformed
descent.
by Europeans,
There
are
are much influenced by people
inevitably,
then,
strong
recent
of
pressures
for
conformity, for similarity to the North, and for cultural anonymity, and there
is much pressure for increased assimilation within the !JS6 sphere of influence
These Northern pressures comprise a familiar package, notably
and control.
*
Domination
popular
media
Northern,
of main forms of communication and education - especially the
such as T'-.J,
especially
books
- by
features
and
missionaries of Northern culture
and
but also intellectual media such
American
but
also
British,
programs,
as
products.
*
Cultural
propaganda.
travelling
ambassadors,
Surprisingly, these people are almost invariably welcomed, their
loaded messages eagerly sought.
reinforce the missionaries.
from,
On a lesser scale,
North
tourists from the
They see the North, generally the areas they come
as ^zi.tmg the standards,
as providing the sort of cultural ideals the
backward Antipodes should be seeking to attain.
*
Top-down
directives
from
aligned with Northern interests.
local
both
private and public
companies,
metropolitan skylines).
which
are
These include not merely the manaoements of
branches of multinational companies,
insurance
sources
and so on (roughly,
but those of a variety of
banks,
those whose buildings now dominate
Etc.
103
Even the most powerful and populous states in the South Pacific region
are
becoming
increasingly
locked into a dual system
of
Northern
control,
namely through
103. Those which operate their own limited imperialism in lesser states of the
region, e.g., Australia in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand in Samoa.
The
1.
organisation
American
104
The most important of these arrangements in Australia's case
is
hegemony.
of industrialised capitalist states,
under
perhaps the Pacific rim strategy, masterminded by the USA Mith assistance from
and fitting within the world arrangements envisaged by the
Japan,
Trilateral
Commission.
2.
of the economy by
penetration
The
many of them ultimately American controlled.
Northern,
mostly
corporations,
transnational
of
(For the effects
this framework of control in Australia's case, see Crough and Wheelwright.).
A very significant net result is that local economic control is diminishing or
and therewith,
being lost altogether,
local
control
political
in these economically-dominated times,
is diminishing.
National
economies
increasingly
respond, and are seen as obliged to respond, to so-called international forces
""international market"" forces in state-rigged markets with
(or
and highly concentrated participants).
effort,
of
much
(unmarketable)
it
intentional,
At the same time there is a concerted
to
reduce
and
remain,
remove
substantially
cultural differences in the contemporary world,
mass consumer society and worldwide markets.
differences
unequal
very
a
to produce
Notwithstanding, major cultural
even in the more industrialised
With
countries.
some
A
care, some fostering, the differences cou1be accentuated in worthwhile ways,
though
the
especially in the industrial
trend,
main
nations,
in
is
the
opposite direction, to almost complete cultural convergence.
On the other side,
forces,
mainly
local,
there are in the South Pacific some
in
counterbalancing
favour of some distancing of Australian
and
New
Zealand cultures from the USA, and of looser relations, especially, presently,
in
matters of (nuclear) defence.
If change is to occur,
it is important to
encourage worthwhile components of these forces,
particularly those
in regional culture
interconnected ways, through
ideas
that regional
and
action.
grounded
cultures
104. For Third World southern countries, financial arrangements through
US-dominated INF and World Bank loom much larger.
and
the
their
do
conventionalism
and
important.
shape
a
are
There
culture,
undoubted!;/
pragmatism
as
American lifestyle or Australian naturalism
(and
and
Sydney
However what
Russell
that culture determines the shape of the dominant philosophy,
to think,
qualification.
major
philosophy;
dominant
are
and realism a main strand of Australian.
materialism)
requires
reflect
that
philosophies
came
elements
philosophical
but
Certainly,
conversely,
105
culture affects
philosophical
and
constrains
input
can
affect, or even alter, culture.
Genuine
differences
implementation
(as
of
a few very simple
ideas
could
make
major
the 1884-5 stand of the New Zealand government on visits
of
namely that significant principles (of morality)
or
nuclear ships reveals);
features of local culture or regional environments are not sacrificed,
in
jeopardy,
such things as trading advantages or
for
distributed economic benefits.
economism
narrowly
There is a powerful basis for defeating
in Australian and Antipodean cultures,
egalitarian approaches;
short-term
or put
such
in the shape of anti-market
and these and other complementary cultural features
could serve more widely to halt or subvert Northern incursions.
The
South
uncritical
Pacific
Enlightenment
and
for
uncontrolled extension of European culture
take one lesser instance of
that
world-wide
to
spread
and disease) has been very damaging both to indigenous
the lands and seas,
extinction.
mistakes.
(to
and
the
of
peoples
even pushing some of the former inhabitants
to
Nodern people are supposed to learn, if from anything, from their
Among
mistakes of civilizations,
environmental mistakes
are
as
105. Russell 'connecttsl'* philosophies with the social environments of the
philosophers concerned' p.824). Elsewhere, however, Russell only claims
social influences, not determination (e.g., p.827). His working example
is the connection of Dewey's philosophy 'with American enterprise;
in
particular there is the belief in human power, and an unwillingness to
admit ""stubborn facts"".'*
'His philosophy is a power philosophy.
Russell then proceeded to consider the very real dangers of human power.
Dewey, for his part, contested the connections Russell alleged, as well
as the dangers.
There is much more, however, to the interrelations of
dominant philosophies with cultures and their environments than Russell
unear thed.
conspicuous as any (sea e.g,
hanger
no
though
beyond
Hatt) .
the reach of a Northern Mar - to
of Northern civilizations,
mistakes
Thors is sti 1 1 time for* the Antipodes
avoid
the
beginning Mith human overpopulation
many
and
environmental impoverishment (as differently illustrated by Italy and Lhina).
There
that
grounded in regional
are various different directions,
a country or place can attempt to take.
There are,
for
features,
example,
tMO
extremal economic directions a contemporary state or region may try to pursue,
as illustra ted:-
other reliance, e.g. upon
i n ternat i onal economic
forces
al ternative
fort-jard May
present
se 1 freli ance
At
the
one
end
lies local self-reliance
and
control,
substantially excluded Mhen it comes to essentials;
(as Mith the Meather of an island),
regulation
largely controlled from elseMhere,
(but
direction.
dominated)
by
the
is
It
or directed through some
toMards- the
dashed arroM,
points
this
direction
general
economy
and control Mith the
for instance at the mercy of international
Northern dominated) economic forces,
shoMn
outside
the
at the other lies outside
patron (as Mith Australia's, defence or Tibet's economy).
that
Mith
that
poMerful
A typical direction,
latter
(backMards)
international
(American
financial institutions such as the INF and the Horld Bank
try
to
impose on client states.
Unfortunately
bent
on
indicate
Mritten
pursuing
given
all likely governments in countries like Australia
the Mrong direction.
the May poMer,
The reasons are
privilege and influence
into the control of societies - lie.
not
appear
difficult
- Northern
to
features
But it does not have to be
or
stay that way.
difficulty for all suggestions for extensile
major
A
normal governmental procedures,
through
effect
constraint
for change.
is a
change,
severe
For governmental procedures are st on,
put
into
apparent
time
piecemeal
and
whichever
usually reactive (this is even how successful governmental methods,
these are,
vastly
sages
successful)
and
(among
But time is running out for the present (.not
are supposed to be) .
human experiment it is now everywhere
sound men and women of common sense,
from
crackpots
will
1'lhatever is done for change may have to be done with more rapidity
is customary in grander human affairs,
except with war itself (which is
of the main prob 1ems and a likely outcome of
one
as
from
whose numbers are those most confident that present arrangements
persist).
than
as well
said,
heard
socio-economic
catastrophe
ensuing from other problems).
In the present conditions of uncertainty,
a
strategy relevant to both outcomes,
concentrating
upon
imme^d^ate
paths
it would seem wise to plot out
catastrophic breakdown or
to
change
aimed
avoiding
at
while
not,
socio-
env i r onmen t a 1 break down.
Both the deeper American environmentalists and leading German Greens,
unlike
many
thinkers and leaders take the problems with deadly
hope
for a way out of present massive socio-environmental
main
nuclear impasse particularly,
change will take the form of a
This
spread
like a religious revival,
by way of democratic channels.
the
through a mass change
seriousness,
difficulties,
of
spiritual
who
and
consciousness.
conversion,
and
to alter political decisions and directions
These ideas,
while by no means ridiculous in
fashion of new-born Christians' views about their individualistic
escape
from nuclear Armageddon,
and while offering a clear ray of hope, leave most
106
Australians who have encountered them duly sceptical.
That type of massive
change
a
of consciousness (which may not be politically effective) will require
miracle,
and
miracles are not credible.
More important,
that
sort
of
conversion i_s ruled out culturally in Australia,
spiritual
according to
the
prev i ous ar gumen t.
A drastic and massive change of consciousness,
or religious
is neither likely nor necessary (nor Mould it be sufficient).
Antipodes,
the
someMhat
Mith
isolated
favourable location in
its
Fortunately in
Southern
the
conversion,
Hemisphere,
there are different and
from the belligerent North,
more
These are social Mays
promising routes to change and regional nuclear escape.
and locally self-reliant Mays deeply rooted in the culture. Instead of seeking
to
change
consciousness,
then,
the
and through elements of,
the culture.
lines of religious conversion,
picture
through
of change.
in
But
many
and
those
involves
rather
is
as amended;
straightforwardness,
aMay
than
from
dominant
It encourages many
so to say).
for example those
as interfering Mith crucial features of
running counter to enterprise,
orderliness,
change
not
re-conditioning
counter-cultural,
deplored features of Australian culture,
culture,
of,
Mhat is being offered is a very different
this
respects the route
acquisitive capitalist virtues.
the
in the form
a
The route is thus cultural, not in this respect counter-cultural.
considered
been
Mith
Instead of the picture of change along
Northern paradigms (counter-Northern-culture,
often
Mork
to
is
The main path to change is through culture,
consciousness;
conversion.
idea
that is already there or in the background,
""consciousness""
the
leading
market
that
capitalism,
selfishness and the
initiative,
have
other
It encourages instead traditional virtues of
for instance Midened
generosity,
egalitarianism,
permissiveness,
pluralism,
unsubtlety,
spontaneity,
authenticity, sociaSbility, reliability, anti-authoritarianism,
group-reli^ance, resourcefulness, moderation, leisure!iness.
The main environmental route aMay from Northern social paradigms has been
10^. (From previous page) Host, but of course, not all.
The change-ofconscicusness idea has its adherents, e.g. Cairns, some in Alternative
Australia. Naturally it is not being denied that change-^f-consciousness
(e.g. in the form of ecological conversion) does occur^aac^is an important h
happening. Hhat is at issue is the likely scale of such change.
and Mhat it involves indicated (e.g. in RP).
t-lhat is
the extent to Mhich elements of mainstream Australian
culture
reconnoitred elsewhere,
is
remarkable
Indeed in Australasian culture there
fit with that divergence from the North.
is
at
best
dominant
social
There is already in the cultures
paradigm.
for a marked SMing aMay from the dominant Northern
basis
vieMpoint,
demagogic
of
ambivalent subscription to major facets
only
is
it
mainly a matter of tipping
Northern
the
a
substantial
paradigm.
an
From
already
a
poised
balance aMay from Nor them-influenced control.
break-aMay
This
involve
first
control has tMO political facets
arrangements
part
Mhich
of
part
relevant
is breaking free from Northern hegemony, control,
alignment
of
The
and
from the influence of foreign states and the grips of transnational
Some
companies.
recovering
Mays
connected
of the Mays this can be accomplished have
local control of media output and messages,
are knoMn,
e.g.
escheMing a false internationalism,
and,
into line Mith
both
so that political arrangements reflect these parts of culture.
reliance,
e.g.
political
bringing
culture,
from
sMeepingly,
more
dropping
moving to greater
regional
been
indicated,
and many
other
self-reliance,
modifying limited liability of companies,
out
of the
international
abandoning the race to keep up Mith the Singaporian
rat-race
Jones and the
(e.g.
E/i^shoMas,
Host of these Mays could
107
The second
designed to strike resounding chords in mainstream culture.
in demolishinq their oMn and others'* environments).
be
rtA""' ccbLt
subsidizing
transnationals,
A.?
providing
hand-outs and undue
shelter
to
big
business or monopolistic professions, cutting assistance to the disadvantaged,
exposing
local small-actor sectors (in difficulty) to the icy Minds of
Morld
107. And Mhere not it is a matter of removing false beliefs, such as that
Australia is currently threatened militarily by hostile states.
These
sorts of beliefs could be altered, at least for many Mho hold them, by
appropriate
persuasion by credible popular figures on mass media
channels. In fact it has suited both government and opposition, hitherto
committed to an essentially bipartisan defence policy, to let false
beliefs about defence, for instance, stand, or even to encourage and
reinforce them.
market forces, and so on.
such
Tipping the balance involves both positive measures
promoting the valid features in
as
as^
such
measures,
counteracting
freely flowing in from the North,
Australian
culture,
counter-
and
images
and removing damaging impacts and
e.g.
by cutting doMn the floM,
making
it
more expensive, and introducing rivals.
Governments cannot be relied upon
even
Mhere
motivated to do so (e.g. as Mith defence they may
support, because of false beliefs).
rolehas
never
to make requisite changes on their OMn,
been active
in
lack
popular
Apparently, and surprisingly, the State's
Australia,
but
a 1 Mays
reactive.
State
intervention and regulation is and has alMays been in reaction to Mhat
108
happens.
Since governments can not be relied upon to initiate action, it
is important to move for change,
for
such
possible,
change
early
and Mhere possible to obtain popular support
10?
on in movements.
It is important also, Mhere
to bypass government,
building alternative social arrangements and
enlarging the informal economy (see e.g. Nartin).
There is further a component to be exploited in tipping the balance
from the
mainstream
dominant
Northern paradigm, apart from the
Australian
authoritarianism,
culture
(as
e.g.
components
egalitarianism,
of
anti
anti-marketism, satisization, environmentalism, and so on).
That is anti-Americanism.
There
developed
leading
aMay
The attitude in the Antipodes to USA is ambivalent.
is a love-hate relationship in Australia (e.g.
mutual admiration
from
perceived cultural similarities, gratitude from older Australians for American
108. This major theme is advanced, illustrated, and defended in Gilbert,
p.?ff. One important example concerns squatting, other aspects of social
Melfare.
But the theme is liable to be contested, e.g. by Aitkin, Mho
sees 'nearly tMo centuries of reliance on ... omnicompetent initiating
goverment behind us'
(p.27).
HoMever Gilbert seems to be correct;
Australian governments are hardly omnicompetent or 'omnipresent'*, and
they rarely appear to initiate.
10?. That support may be enlisted from culturally unexpected sources, e.g.
Momen in the case of the peace movement, as opinion polls clearly reveal.
The peace movement has not undertaken sufficient political foot-uork,
e.g. grass roots activity such as door knocks, in increasing and
mobilizing this potential support.
in Morld Mar II;
action
ugly American abroad).
dislike of American blustering,
the Antipodes.
independence,
trying
to
The distaste for being visibly pushed around is strong in
A striking feature of established Antipodean peoples is their
elements
or to be
unwillingness to put up with nonsense,
their
manipulated^ especially by foreigners.
cultural
There is now much anti-US-
in New Zealand since USA made the tactical error of
New Zealand.
bully
the
There is much anti-Americanism in Australia as well as
widespread opposition to the American government.
governmentism
opposition to
as
pushed*
Ao
Of course, the tactic of appeal ingj^such
practices
opposition to the American political
is
a
dangerous one, owing in part to politicians' dishonest penchant for conflating
opposition to a foreign government with opposition to people that goverment is
supposed
to represent (or perhaps on rare occasions does),
easy
the
by
above).
neutralised.
practice
ambiguity of terms like anti-American (an ambiguity
The tactic opens the way to charges of racism,
and the like.
a
But the charges,
For
it
is
on
national chauvinism,
if they can be got at, are straightforwardly
largely a matter of removing
institutions (and cultures) to their individual members,
institutions devolves,
traded
made
fallaciously, into criticism of
crude
reduction
of
so that criticism of
each and every one of
the members.
no
Richard Sylvan
110. This paper had a long and difficult gestation and growth period, before
ye'idling a result that still leaves its author uneasy most days.
He
cehtainly hopes that those who commented on the paper or assisted on the
labour in its earlier days now only dimly recognise it.
Among those to
be thanked are Brian Hartin, Jean Norman, Louise Syvlan (who was
responsible for the monster in the first place), David Bennett, ... .
On the notion of culture and cultural pluralism
APPENDIX 1:
unfortunately, with very few exceptions,
Definitions of culture abound;
Hany are too narrow,
are bad.
all
for example chauvinistically restricting
culture to human groups (as Kamenka's appalling motto, 'nothing human is alien
p.7.); some are too broad, for example making any sort of organisation
to me',
as a trade union or a local brass band.) a culture.
such
serve
to
connect
problems:- High
redefinitions
of
cu1ture
with [a peoples'] artistic achievement or, even more
111
with (their) literature.
This is h1 on culture, at least insofar
culture
LaJ
narrowly,
as
the types of
indicate
Pt fen examples will
what is included is class restricted,
to certain class-approved
products
and performances (e.g. opera, ballet, drama as opposed to reggae, punk, etc.).
Hhile high redefinitions let in too little,
So
is with the definition of culture as 'the transfer of
it
behavioural means,
(Bonner
with
low redefinitions admit too much.
p.ltj),
culture.
information
most particularly by the process of teaching and learning*
because that includes much that has nothing especially to
For
by
example,
number of bricks on a site,
relaying a weather forecast or passing on
transfers information by behavioural
means,
do
the
but
information of no particular cultural relevance.
By
contrast,
culture.
For
Herskovits:
most definitions mark out something which roughly overlaps
example,
culture
Awa
'settletsJ
for
the
offered
definition
is ""the man-made part of the environment""
...'
by
(p.2'?).
Not only is this inadmissibly anthropocentric, excluding animal cultures (such
as
Bonner
writers
studies)
imagine);
and extraterrestrial cultures (such
but
worse,
as
science-fiction
this twisted definition appears to
render
a
ill. Thus, for example, Stephenson
throughout his iconoclastic book on
Australian culture.
The equation, with literary texts, like that of a
paradigm
with central texts,
is useful in offering a
materia!
representation of a culture. For there is something solid that can be
grasped and presented.
Similary, money, newspapers and motor cars,
afford material artefacts and museum exhibits of wider popular cultures.
deserted
town or ancient ruins a culture (rather
mining
of
manifestation
a
past culture) while excluding a system
physics!
the
than
and
beliefs
of
values as a culture (.unless an erroneous theory of systems of propositions
In
invoked).
is
latching onto the physical exemplification it is moreover like
Kuhn' s identification of a text-book with a paradigm.
there is much m common between the notion of culture and
Indeed
libera! extension of the notion of paradigm,
one of uh 1 ch gained currency
&ng!o-ffmerican thought about a hundred years Later than the other.
have
in
Both terms
been used to cover an apparently diverse range of things (and criticised
dismissed for doing just that),
or
Kuhn's
and both do this in rather simitar
because both attempt to capture types of conceptual schema.
parallels
suggest
- certainly once the usefu! notion of a
widely adopted in sociology,
Mays,
Nhat is more the
paradigm,
soc1 a 1
been encountered and worked Mith - a common
has
notion.
Mith but little reflection,
from
advantage of this definition,
involved
and
para!tel
in
a rather different account of culture
the run of anthropologies! definitions straightaway emerges:- P) cu!ture,
or more exact!y a pure culture,
BP)
then,
P great
is that the hard
and part of its appeal,
thus
does not have to be repeated;
the
supplied
a
logical sense;
generous
by
but
the
c!ean-up
Mould
that is,
an elaborate interpretation
relational
structure.
it
is
function
Naturally it is
a
contrast
to
a scientific paradigm,
propositional structure delivered,
is
many
that of a social group.
sketched
take
theoretical
on
a
required
f aithfu1 to Mhat (the social forms, activities and so on) it models.
in
in
Recall that a paradigm is explicated as a model,
form for culture.
system, i.e. on
paradigm,
Mork
in rectifying the notion of paradigm has already been done (e.g.
precisely
structure
is a comprehensive socia! paradigm.
is a paradigm
genera!
to
be
6 social
where
the
the political themes and value judgements,
Group cohesiveness in fact is guaranteed in
examples of such social paradigms (several reproduced
in
the
RP)
because actual groups with distinctive cultures are taken; but the theoretical
explanation
goes
structure.
The
and
deeper
depends on features of
the
of propositions! structure delivered
types
mode!
underlying
in
shoMn,
are
capsule form, in the first table of this paper contrasting parts of mainstream
American and Philippine cultures;
other more detailed examples are reproduced
in theoretical Mork on social paradigms (e.g. RP, CPE, Cotgrove and references
cited therein).
dust
the
as
of
explication
May
by
paradigm
of
enabled
models
a
clarification and unification job to be done on the giant conceptual mess that
the
of paradigm had become,
notion
facilitates a pleasing and simplifying synthesis.
the
hc""-j
complains
diffusion by pointing to the
about
complaint
his
Consider,
about,
in
definitions of culture to similes and metaphors,
desperation,
as
...
a
map,
as a sieve,
resort
cu1ture
illustrate,
to
Kluckholn
Geertz Minds
but in anthropology more generally, can be reduced.
especially,
up
Geertz
diffusion'
'theoretical
of
so the parallel explication
in
attempted
to the analogies 'perhaps in
and as a matrix',
before a
mere
paragraph later, offering his OMn metaphor of culture as a. Meb of significance
or interpretation (and mode 1 too,
its
in metaphor),
roots
though here an exact technical notion,
Prs it happens,
Geertz's account is not too
has
bad
a
picture of the sort of logical model involved, that is of a system, a Meb**l ike
structure, Mith an interpretation
matrix
The other similes are hoMever more exact:
on it.
imposed,
can
function, supplying significance or meaning
models (though not
as
function
usually
both a map and a
social
ones),
a
map
typically modelling a landscape.
take up Kluckholn's elaboration on culture (not
to
Furthermore,
really
^definitions' as Geertz suggests), a model is indeed '(4) ""an abstraction from
Mhich,
behaviour""',
feeling
thinking,
hoMever
is
not
prescript i v e 1 y
Mhere
and
it is a social paradigm,
believing""'* in terms of items
merely descriptive,
as,
supplies
'('?)
""a
validated.
but Mill be applied
mechanism
for
the
(3) ""a May of
and
normative
can
The
model
be
regulation
read
of
(ID? ""a set of techniques for adjusting both to the externa!
and
behaviour""'
environment and to other men""'. Such a mode!, which does correspond to '(5) ""a
the part of the anthropologist about the '..'jay in which a
on
theory
peop!e in fact behave""' and their view of the wor!d,
orientations,
Since the social paradigm evolves over time,
'(11) ""a precipitate of history'"",
of
certainly affords '(6) a
structure of pooled learning""' and '(7.) ""a set of standardized
to recurrent problems"" .
group
it is
and it does record '(2) ""the social legacy
the individual [in the society] acquires from his group""'.
three parts or levels of a culture that Conga!ton and David
The
*--P*22 ff.) are similar to those Kuhn includes within a paradigm,
readi1y
supplied
by
a model.
They
are,
first,
the
discern
and likewise
genera!
rules
and
procedures characterising and controlling the behaviour of adherents; secondly
the ideas and vatues.behind these beliefs and procedures; thirdly the products
materia!
and
exemplars
resulting,
e.g.
textbooks,
interpretation function validates both themes and ru!es;
domains
as wel! it
including values and ideas (on both see
of objects,
connection with exemplars and artefacts is less direct,
The
The
newspapers.
RP,
delivers
pp.12-16).
and of more than
textbook may present a paradigm or, more likely, part of one; or
112
it may, like an artefact, supply or be a partial modelling of the paradigm.
one kind.
remaining
The
to
order
culture
reflect
has
life-forms
done.
Ihus
to
of
qualifying term comprehensive is
some of the slackness of the
deliberately
notion
of
Abraham,
styles
there are varying degrees to which this
for one,
can
112.
and
be
explains various inclusive levels of culture
(PP* 12-13) before opting for the most inclusive, under which 'culture is
113
common life of the people
and 'includes the whole of the knowledge,
arts,
in
Hhile
culture.
cover a sufficiently comprehensive part of life
a community,
vague
th<=
the
science, technology, religions, morality, ritual, politics, literature,
theory normally has many models, some exact and canonical, some of
which bring out al! that holds in the theory but not only what holds
there;
and, more sweepmgly still, it has partial models, which
accurately depict part of the theory.
etiquette
even
compr eh ensi ve,
includes
use of t he.t erm hot'je ver
mastery
a
sculpture,
.
of
a
seventeenth
(p. 12) 114
...""
-fashions
Under
a
all
of
process
literature,
Abraham
(p.13).
of
and could knoM (p.13).
history,
culture!,
music,
pauperisation of Mhat
the
culture
and
painting
conjectures that this use evolved
and eighteenth centuries,
! ess
narroMer,
cu 1 ture i s limited to Mhat are called
In this use [that again of ""higher""
of the mind.
things
result
and
educated
the age of enlightenment,
man
'as
in
a
the
stood for',
Such a person could reflect the Mhole culture in
the
more comprehensive use.
The European vieM of culture, Mhich tends to concentrate on high culture,
is insufficiently comprehensive,
leaving out a crucial aspect of culture,
so
it has been argued, namely attitudes to and approaches to the environment, and
so natural environments largely devoid of man-made features and influences
particular.
in
fuller picture of environmentally-sensitive culture looks like
this:113. (From previous page) See p.21.
Accounts of culture of this very
inclusive, but still unnecessarily anthropic, form are common in the
literature.
Thus, for example, Harris: 'f) culture is the total socially
acquired life-May or life-style of a group of people'
(p.144), their
patterns of behaviour and thought.
Thus, Mith even less qualification,
the first of Kluckholn'-s eleven definitions of culture (as listed in
Geertz pp.4-5), 'the total May of life of of a people', a definition
repeated in Conga)ton and David, p.22.
The intended model accordingly
provides a complete representation of life-Mays of members of the
c u 1 t u r e.
114. H fuller and better account Mhich gets very close to the model-theoretic
analysis, is Kumer's analogous definition of culture:
The
shared
symbolic system Mhich gives meaning
to
human
interactions in a society.
It refers to a society's May of
perceiving, interpreting and expressing things ... it includes
knoMledqe, belief-systems, values, norms and ideologies Mhich
enable the members of a society to perceive, organise and interpret
reality ... reality is alMays perceived Mi thin an evaluative
frameMork.
Similar too is Tylor's definition of 'culture' in terms of a structure
again: 'Culture or Civilization ... that complex Mhole Mhich includes
knoMledge, belief, art, morals, la.M, customs, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of society'. (Primitive Culture
vol. 7, p.7).
So all human societies have a culture, a generalised
paradigm.
It is better to separate out civi1ization, hoMever, and link
it to its 'root meaning of living in cities'.
PRIMARY CULTURE DlnGFWl
sense
'culture',
of
and
intellectual
sociology,
in
Mhere
order
culture.
artistic
the
practice
dictionaries,
takes up the primary
namely
Con c i se En q1i sh D i c t i on ary),
consists
in
put]
of
and as presented
culture of a society is said to comprise
a given culture,
state
'the
as it is
lor development,
of
a
in
shared
'the
It is important to separate off -
in
or people Mith,
and the education-derived sense,
the training or discipline in or
group-
particular, the
in Mhich the culture comprises the community,
leading
in Mhich the
to
Evidently the explication, Mhich makes the product primary
a
given
reverses
the culture. like agriculture, viticulture, and
115
Mas first and foremost a process
, a ""cultivation"" of intellect and
the historical order,
so on,
in
to set aside - some derivative senses,
sharing,
culture
offered
values and beliefs' of the society.
derived sense,
or
as
or people' (cf.
community
norms,
through social paradigms,
explication so far,
The
Mhere
115. Pts Hilliams explains, the ear 1 y meaning of 'culture' Mas as a process;
and the 'culture of the mind' Mas vieMed as a process rather than a
product or achieved state.
In (early) modern use 'culture' became, like
'civilized', a condition. Only Mith the 'fourth modern development did
culture appear as ' the Mho 1e May of life, material, intellectual and
spiritual of a given society' (p.273), i.e., as a comprehensive social
paradigm. The other forms, the first three developments, Mere restricted
versions of this, to respectively the individual, intellectual and moral
parts, and arts and intellectual areas.
To invert the ahistorical explanatory patte^,
so to say, the inherited cu1tures of science?
scientific paradigms are,
However the reversal makes it easier to qet some grip on
art and technology.
the very rich process-product complex that a culture comprises.
example, goes astray in settling for a process definition of
Bonner,
for
'culture'* allied
to the education-derived sense: 'By culture I mean the transfer of information
by
most
means,
behavioural
by the process
particularly
of
teaching
and
Hhile the definition certainly achieves its intended objective of
learning*.
including animal culture^,
it is, as already remarked, a quite excessively low
redefinition,
such
accounting
things as semaphoring between boy
scouts
as
c u 1 t u r e.
There is a further dimension of complexity so far largely omitted through
restriction
pure
most contemporary states are far from culturally pure, comprising a
cultures,
mixture
1-lhile tribal groups may have relatively
to pure cultures.
of peoples.and cultures.
represented
More generally,
an n-cultural society
by a system of n paradigms adhered to in the society.
6
multi
6
multi
cultural
society
is thus an n-cultural society where n is
cultural
society
may
simply
Australia,
not
include
however be
very
many.
it
pluralistic;
may,
groups of people from different cultures
under some dominant culture which controls
in one region
together
is
as
in
brought
the
main
Much depends then on the type of system of paradigms
political institutions.
involved, on how the paradigms are themselves interrelated and structured.
Ft
society
nil!
function
(cf.
Abraham,
p.lbff.,
incompatible with extreme individualism').
a variety of subcultures.
Mhich
is
not
Characteristically
and
commonly
For culture is the glue of a group;
competing cultures.
integrative
always have a culture,
several
perhaps
it has an important
who remarks that 'culture
is
Ft society wi 1 1 also typically have
f) subculture is a paradigm, included in a culture,
sufficiently
subcultures
comprehensive
to
rank
as
a
share norms and assumptions with some
culture.
larger
culture except where they diverge.
The
dominant
cultures
in countries like Australia and America
can
be
as having tree structures.
represented
a
is
there
Subcultures
mainstream
century
gentry
Protestant
many
subcultural
long played significant parts in
have
last
example,
Mi th
culture,
differences
the
terms,
116
tributaries.
Transposing to river-network
between
Catholic,
extensive immigration program,
substantial social tolerance,
with
and
chai 1enged.
Alternative
critical
important
an
As a result
assumptions
along
and
that is, the cultural streams remain
of the
mainstream
culture
are
not
those
of
Australia) do however is to criticise and challenge themes of the
accommodate,
These
within
too a pluralistic (a plural paradigm) society
provided the social paradigms present
limits,
no
can
real
to overarching socio-political arrangements and the prevailing type of
threat
structure (if they should however things would have to give or
power
of
complex
permit the relatively easy formation
rival and al ternative social paradigms (such as
Hhat
culture.
dominant
and
Australia now boasts a much more
persistence of subcultures - so long as,
subcu1tures
Protestant
Flexible multi-cultural arrangements,
of ethnic subcultures.
pattern
for
of Australian colonial culture had
streams
bearing on leisure activities such as gambling (see Inglis).
its
history;
Australian
change;
rival river networks are bound to alter the cultural landscape).
like
Cultures,
explaining
illustrated
that
and
paradigms,
social
inducing social change.
explanatory roles.
repudiation
nature',
important
role
on
the
that is,
For example,
in RP).
It is worth
that
it
noticing
to
Philp criticises for Foucault
prevents
him
from
consistent
explaining
in
and
human
culture can replace nature
of the human subject and the denial of a
ground
both
So much has already been shown
as regards social paradigms (e.g.
nature have been supposed mandatory;
'his
an
can also afford explanatory roles in cases where appeal
they
social
have
in
for
human
directed
116. A subculture of a given culture is itself a culture (i.e. a comprehensive
social paradigm) applying to a subgroup of the given wider culture,
which agrees with the wider culture on characterising (paradigmatic)
features but which may diverge, and typically does, by virtue of further
cultural features, i.e. features in its paradigm.
A subculture stands
then technically to a culture as a subalgebra stands to an algebra, etc.
4^
resistance or social struggle for the better.
explain
a
and justify such resistance 'requires that Me make some commitment to
conception
of the human good and this usually rests on some vieM of
nature and human subjectivity'*.
the
to
social
good
as
human
a.May;
The modifier 'usually' gives the game
route can circuit through culture.
justificatory
directed
Accordingly to Philp t.p.17.!, to
discerned
under
a
The struggle
regional
can
paradigm;
be
the
commitments can be cultural.
The
main real Mork of this paper,
descriptive
some
attempt
of relevant features of the different cultures
at
explanation
has
been
contrasted,
Mith
like much Mork on culture,
of more unexpected features
of
the
cultures,
concerned, some criticism, and some attempt to explain some cultural traits in
terms of others.
enterprise,
cultures
only
This, like the modelling account, points to a more difficult
broached:
investigated,
namely,
the
task of providing theories of
and so perhaps explaining Mhat pulls
them
the
together,
makes them tick, gives them their distinctive shape and grip, and so on.
APPENDIX 2:
Contemporary scientific redeployment of human nature
attempts of this sort are based on the modern evolutionary synthesis, and
in
appear
extreme
most
form
in
sociobiology.
t'jas
it
However
quickly
recognised that (opportunistic) sociobioligical attempts, such as Nilson's, to
to rule out significant political
117
narrow social alternatives fail.
redeploy
nature
human
underlying characterisation of human nature is
Nilson's
from the main socio-political tradition.
the
[is!
of
set
full
behavioural
possibilities
innate
Li.e.
very
and
different
'In the broader sense, human nature
genetic
or
genetically-determined]
predispositions that characterise the human species;
and in
the
narrower sense, those predispositions that affect social behaviour' t.pp.217-8,
mith
It is not constant or static,
rearrangement).
It is certainly ahistorical,
(sub)species
read
disease
patterns
conjunctively
however the ambiguity in the characterisation of
is resolved.
nature - hardly a set,
disjunctively it
only
n'ill include the full
humans
since genes may mutate.
are liable to
set
suffer;
For if the definition
of
if
is
genetically-determined
read,
those every (normal) human is bound to
less
undergo
plausibly,
at
some
stage.
In any event, such sets are remote from Enlightenment political concerns,
thouph, like health and disease more generally, socially relevant enough;
they
hardly
alternatives.
appear
to
Moreover,
impose
they
significant
offer
constraints
on
no bulwark against racial or
and
political
cultural
and since by no means
118
everything is determined genetically e.g. languages of some cultures.
relativity,
since
races have separate gene subpools,
117. f^s this is a commonplace vie^j,
Singer and especially Pigden.
there is no need to labour it:
see Ruse,
determinism is simply one, and perhaps even the weakest, of
forms of determinism intended to vastly reduce
cultural
variability.
Nilson does not rely on that form exclusively, but helps
himself to other incompatible forms of determinism as suit^: see p.207.
118. Genetic
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in
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and 'J. Routley, 'Human chauvinism and environmental ethics' in Hannison;
referred to as EE.
U. and R. Routley, 'Social
problems', in Hannison.
theor i es,
self
management
R. Routley and N. Griffin, 'Unravelling the meanings of
Papers in Environmental Philosophy # 3,
Research
//y
and
environmental
1i f e ?', Discussion
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Schoo! of Social Sciences,
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referred to as PPP.
R. Sylvan, 'Culture, philosophy, and approaches to the natural environment an Australian perspective'', in Ethics, Environment, Ecology (.ed. D.
Bennett), Australian National University, 1985; referred to as CPE.
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Veblen, An inquiry into the Nature of Peace, Viking, New fork, 1945.
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D.R.
H i1d
R.
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of
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P. Edwards), Macmillan, London, 1967, vol. 2, pp.273-362.
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Nass.,
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1982,
1
On the notion of culture and cultural pluralism
APPENDIX 1:
Definitions of culture abound;
all
unfortunately, with very few exceptions,
Many are too narrow,
are bad.
for example chauvmistica! ly restricting
culture to human groups (as Kamenka's appalling motto, 'nothing human is alien
p.7); some are too broad, for example making any sort of organisation
to me' ,
as a trade union or a local brass band) a culture,
such
to
serve
connect
problems:- High
redefinitions
of
cu1ture
with [a peoples'] artistic achievement or, even more
lil
with (their) literature.
This is nion culture, at least insofar
culture
EaJ
narrowly,
as
the types of
indicate
A few examples w 11 1
what is included is class restricted,
to certain class-approved
products
and performances (e.g. opera, ballet, drama as opposed to reggae, punk, etc.).
Mhile high redefinitions let in too little,
So
is with the definition of culture as 'the transfer of
it
behavioural means,
(Bonner
Mi th
low redefinitions admit too much.
p.l'J),
culture.
information
most particularly by the process of teaching and learning'
because that includes much that has nothing especially to
For
by
example,
number of bricks on a site,
relaying a weather forecast or passing on
transfers information by behavioural
means,
do
the
but
information of no particular cultural relevance. .
By
contrast,
For
culture.
Herskovits:
most definitions mark out something which roughly overlaps
example,
culture
Awa
settleEsJ
for
the
definition
is ""the man-made part of the environment""
offered
...'
by
(p.2'?).
Not only is this inadmissibly anthropocentric, excluding animal cultures (such
as
Bonner
writers
studies)
imagine);
and extraterrestrial cultures (such
but
worse,
as
science-fiction
this twisted definition appears to
render
a
ill. Thus, for example, Stephenson
throughout his iconoclastic book on
Australian culture.
The equation, with literary texts, like that of a
paradigm
with central texts,
is useful in offering a
material
representation of a culture. 'For there is something solid that can be
grasped and presented.
Similary, money, newspapers and motor cars,
afford material artefacts and museum exhibits of wider popular cultures.
deserted
toMn or ancient rums a culture (rather
mining
of
manifestation
a
than
past culture) Mhile excluding a system
the
of
physical
and
beliefs
values as a culture (unless an erroneous theory of systems of propositions
invoked).
In
is
latching onto the physical exemplification it is moreover like
Kuhn's identification of a text-book Mith a paradigm.
there is much in common between the notion of culture and
Indeed
liberal extension of the notion of paradigm,
one of Mhich gamed currency
^nglo-Psmerican thought about a hundred years later than the other.
have
in
Both terms
been used to cover an apparently diverse range of things (and criticised
dismissed for doing just that),
or
Kuhn's
and both do this m rather similar
because both attempt to capture types of conceptual schema.
parallels
suggest
- certainly once the useful notion of a
Midely adopted m sociology,
Mays,
Nhat is more the
social
paradigm,
been encountered and Morked Mith - a common
has
notion.
Nith but little reflection,
from
then,
a rather different account of culture
the run of anthropological definitions straightaMay emerges:- & culture,
or more exactly a pure culture,
advantage of this definition,
is a comprehensive socia! paradigm.
and part of its appeal,
R great
is that the hard
Mork
involved
in rectifying the notion of paradigm has already been done (e.g.
RP)
thus
and
parallel
m
the
supplied
system, i.e. on
a
logical sense;
generous
by
but
the
clean-up
Mould
that is,
an elaborate interpretation
relational
structure.
it
is
function
Naturally it is
a
theoretical
on
a
required
fai thfu1 to Mhat (the social forms, activities and so on) it models.
paradigm,
m
contrast
to
a scientific paradigm,
propositional structure delivered,
is
many
that of a social group.
sketched
take
Recall that a paradigm is explicated as a mode!.
form for culture.
precisely
structure
does not have to be repeated;
m
is a paradigm
general
to
be
Ps social
Mhere
the
the political themes and value judgements,
Group cohesiveness in fact is guaranteed in
examples of such social paradigms (several reproduced
in
the
RP)
because actual groups Mith distinctive cultures are taken; but the theoretical
explanation
goes
structure.
The
deeper
and
depends on features of
underlying
the
of propositional structure delivered
types
are
model
in
shoMn,
capsule form, in the first table of this paper contrasting parts of mainstream
other more detailed examples are reproduced
American and Philippine cultures;
in theoretical Mork
social paradigms (e.g. PP, CPE, Cotgrove and references
cited therein).
Just
expl 1 cat ion
the
as
of
paradigm
of
May
by
models
enabled
a
clarification and unification .job to be done on the giant conceptual mess that
the
of paradigm had become,
notion
facilitates a pleasing and simplifying synthesis.
how
complaint
his
Geertz
to
Consider,
about,
complains
diffusion by pointing to the
about
in
definitions of culture to similes and metaphors,
desperation,
as
...
map,
a
resort
Kluckholn
Geertz Minds
in
attempted
to the analogies ''perhaps in
mere
before a
and as a matrix'*,
as a sieve,
cu1ture
illustrate,
but in anthropology more generally, can be reduced.
especially,
up
diffusion'*
'theoretical
the
of
so the parallel explication
paragraph later, offering his OMn metaphor of culture as a web of significance
or interpretation (and model too,
its
in metaphor).
roots
though here an exact technical notion,
Rs it happens,
Geertz""'s account is not too
has
bad
a
picture of the sort of logical model involved, that is of a system, a Meb-like
structure, Mith an interpretation
imposed,
matrix
both a map and a
The other similes are hoMever more exact:
on it.
function
can
function, supplying significance or meaning
as
models (though not
usually
social
ones),
map
a
typically modelling a landscape.
Furthermore,
take up Kluckholn'* s elaboration on culture (not
to
really
'definitions' as Geertz suggests), a model is indeed '(4) ""an abstraction from
behaviour'""',
thinking,
hoMever
Mhich,
and
feeling
is
not
prescriptively
Mhere
believing'"" in terms of items
merely descriptive,
as,
supplies '(3) ""a May of
it is a social paradigm,
'*('?)
""a
validated.
but Mill be applied
mechanism
for
the
and
normative
can
The
model
be
regulation
read
of
and ""(10) ""a set of techniques -tor- adjusting both to the externa!
behaviour'""'
environment and to other men""''. Such a mode!, which does correspond to '(5) ""a
theory
the part of the anthropologist about the way in which a
on
peop!e m fact behave'""' and their view of the world,
orientations,
it is
. Since the social paradigm evolves over time,
'(11) ""a precipitate of history'""',
of
certainly affords '(6) a
""structure of pooled learning'""' and '(7) ""a set of standardized
to recurrent problems'"".
group
and it does record '(2) ""the social legacy
the individual Ein the society! acquires from his group""'.
three parts or levels of a culture that Conga!ton and David
The
(p.22 ff.) are similar to those Kuhn includes within a paradigm,
by
supplied
readily
a model.
They
are,
first,
the
discern
and likewise
general
rules
and
procedures characterising and controlling the behaviour of adherents; secondly
the ideas and values behind these beliefs and procedures; thirdly the products
and
exemplars
material
resulting,
e.g.
interpretation function validates both themes and rules;
of objects,
domains
The
The
newspapers.
textbooks,
as well it
including values and ideas (on both see
connection with exemplars and artefacts is less direct,
RP,
delivers
pp.12-16).
and of more than
Pt textbook may present a paradigm or, more likely, part of one; or
112
it may, like an artefact, supply or be a partial mode!ling of the paradigm.
one kind.
The
order
culture
remaining
reflect
to
has
life-forms
done.
Thus
to
of
qualifying term comprehensive is
some of the slackness of the
notion
of
culture.
cover a sufficiently comprehensive part of life
a community,
Abraham,
vague
deliberately
for one,
klhile
styles
there are varying degrees to which this
can
and
be
explains various inclusive levels of culture
(pp.12-13) before opting for the most inclusive, under which 'culture is
113
common life of the people'*
and 'includes the whole of the knowledge,
arts,
in
the
the
science, technology, religions, morality, ritual, politics, literature,
112. 6 theory normally has many models, some exact and canonical, some of
which bring out all that holds m the theory but not only what holds
there;
and, more sweepingly still, it has partial models, which
accurately depict part of the theory.
even
etiquette
and
of the mind.
includes
le
narroMer,
In this use [that again of ""higher""
mastery
a
'*
scu1pture,
a
seventeenth
a
Under
use of the term however ''culture is limited to Mhat are called
comprehensive,
things
(p.12)114
'
-fashions
Abraham
(p.13).
process
of
conjectures that this use evolved
pauperisation of Mhat
and eighteenth centuries,
and could knoM (p.13).
the
educated
the age of enlightenment,
man
'as
in
a
the
stood for',
Such a person could reflect the Mhole culture in
the
more comprehensive use.
The European vieM of culture, Mhich tends to concentrate on high culture,
is insufficiently comprehensive,
leaving out a crucial aspect of culture,
so
it has been argued, namely attitudes to and approaches to the environment, and
so natural environments largely devoid of man-made features and influences
particular.
in
& fuller picture of environmentally-sensitive culture looks like
this:-
113. (From previous page) See p.21.
Accounts of culture of this very
inclusive, but still unnecessarily anthropic, form are common in the
literature.
Thus, for example, Harris: ''Ft culture is the total socially
acquired life-May or life-style of a group of people
(p.144), their
patterns of behaviour and thought.
Thus, Mith even less qualification,
the first of Kluckholn's eleven definitions of culture (as listed in
Geertz pp.4-5), 'the total May of life of of a people', a definition
repeated in Congalton and David, p.22.
The intended model accordingly
provides a complete representation of life-Mays of members of the
culture.
114. Ft fuller and better account Mhich gets very close to the model-theoretic
analysis, is Kumer's analogous definition of culture:
The
shared
symbolic system Mhich gives meaning
to
human
interactions in a society.
It refers to a society's May of
perceiving, interpreting and expressing things ... it includes
knoMledge, belief-systems, values, norms and ideologies Mhich
enable the members of a society to perceive, organise and interpret
reality ... reality is alMays perceived Mithin an evaluative
frameMork.
Similar too is Tylor's definition of 'culture' in terms of a structure
again: 'Culture or Civilization ... that complex Mhole Mhich includes
knoMledge, belief, art, morals, laM, customs, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of society'. (Primitive Culture
vol. 7, p.7).
So all human societies have a culture, a generalised
paradigm.
It is better to separate out civiliza11on, hoMever, and link
it to its 'root meaning of living in cities'.
PRIORY CULTURE DIRGRRH
sense
of
""culture""',
and
intellectual
where
sociology,
in
order
culture.
artistic
the
practice
takes up the grimary
namely
dictionaries,
Concise English Dictionary),
consists
in
putJ
of
and as presented
culture of a society is said to comprise
a given culture,
state
the
as it is
tor development,
' the
of
a
in
shared
It is important to separate off *
particular, the
in
in which the culture comprises the community,
and the educa11on-der1ved sense,
the training or discipline in or
groun
or people with,
leading
in which the
to
Evidently the explication, which makes the product primary
the historical order,
so on,
in
to set aside - some derivative senses,
sharing,
culture
offered
values and beliefs' of the society.
der ived sense,
or
as
or people' (cf.
community
norms,
through social paradigms,
explication so -far,
The
a
given
reverses
the culture, like agriculture, viticulture, and
115
was first and foremost a process
, a ""cultivation"" of intellect and
where
115. Rs Williams explains, the early meaning of 'culture'' was as a process;
and the ''culture of the mind' was viewed as a process rather than a
product or achieved state.
In (early) modern use 'culture' became, like
'civilized'', a condition. Only with the 'fourth modern development did
culture appear as 'the whole way of life, material, intellectual and
spiritual of a given society* (p.273), i.e., as a comprehensive social
paradigm. The other forms, the first three developments, were restricted
versions of this, to respectively the individual, intellectual and moral
parts, and arts and intellectual areas.
To invert the ahistorical explanatory patten^
so to say, the inherited cu1tures of science.
scientific paradigms are,
art and technology.
However the reversal makes it easier to get some grip on
the very rich process-product complex that a culture comprises.
example, goes astray in settling for a process definition of
Bonner,
for
allied
'culture
to the education-derived senses ''By culture I mean the transfer of information
by
behavioural
particularly
most
means,
of
by the process
teaching
and
Nhile the definition certainly achieves its intended objective of
learning*',
it is, as already remarked, a quite excessively low
including animal culture^
accounting
redefinition,
such
things as semaphoring between boy
scouts
as
culture.
There is a further dimension of complexity so far largely omitted through
restriction
pure
most contemporary states are far from culturally pure, comprising a
cultures,
mixture
Mhile tribal groups may have relatively
to pure cultures.
More generally,
of peoples and cultures.
represented
an n-cultural society
by a system of n paradigms adhered to in the society.
&
multi
ft
multi
cultural
society
is thus an n-cultural society where n is
cultural
society
may
simply
Australia,
not
include
however be
very
many.
pluralistic;
it
as
may,
groups of people from different cultures
under some dominant culture which controls
in one region
together
is
in
brought
main
the
Much depends then on the type of system of paradigms
poli tical institutions.
involved, on how the paradigms are themselves interrelated and structured.
Ps
society
will
function
(cf.
Abraham,
p.lbff.,
incompatible with extreme individualism').
a variety of subcultures.
which
is
not
Characteristically
and
commonly
For culture is the glue of a group;
competing cultures.
integrative
always have a culture,
several
perhaps
it has an important
who remarks that
culture
is
society will also typically have
R subculture is a paradigm, included in a culture,
sufficiently
subcultures
comprehensive
to
rank
as
a
share norms and assumptions with some
culture.
larger
culture except where they diverge.
The
dominant
cultures
in countries like Australia and America
can
be
is
there
Subcultures
with
many
century
gentry
the
differences
terms,
11.S
tributaries.
subculture!
hong played significant parts in
have
last
Protestant
culture,
mainstream
a
example,
Transposing to river-network
as having tree structures.
reoresented
between
Catholic,
extensive immigration program,
pattern
of ethnic subcultures.
important
As a result
complex
accommodate,
and
that is, the cultural streams remain
of the
mainstream
culture
are
not
those
of
These
within
too a pluralistic (a plural paradigm) society
provided the social paradigms present
limits,
can
no
real
to overarching socio-political arrangements and the prevailing type of
threat
structure (if they should however things would have to give or
power
along
permit the relatively easy formation
assumptions
of
Australia) do however is to criticise and challenge themes of the
culture.
dominant
an
rival and alternative social paradigms (such as
k-lhat
chai 1enged.
Al ternative
critical
and
and
Australia now boasts a much more
persistence of subcultures - so long as,
subcultures
Protestant
Flexible multi-cultural arrangements,
substantial social tolerance,
with
for
of Australian colonial culture had
streams
bearing on leisure activities such as gambling (see Inglis),
its
history;
lustra!ian
change;
rival river networks are bound to alter the r*.;Xural landscape).
Cultures,
explaining
and
illustrated
that
like
paradigms,
social
inducing social change.
explanatory roles.
repudiation
nature"",
important
role
on
the
that is,
For example,
in RP).
It is worth
that
it
noticing
to
Philp criticises for Foucault
prevents
him
from
consistent
explaining
in
and
human
culture can replace nature
of the human subject and the denial of a
ground
both
So much has already been shown
as regards social paradigms (e.g.
nature have been supposed mandatory;
'his
an
can also afford explanatory roles in cases where appeal
they
social
have
in
for
human
directed
IIS, A subculture of a given culture is itself a culture (i.e. a comprehensive
social paradigm) applying to a subgroup of the given wider culture,
which agrees with the wider culture on characterising (paradigmatic)
features but which may diverge, and typically does, by virtue of further
cultural features, i.e. features in its paradigm.
A subculture stands
then technically to a culture as a subalgebra stands to an algebra, etc.
resistance or social struggle tor the better,
explain
a
and justify such resistance 'requires that ^e make some commitment to
conception
of the human good and this usually rests on some vie^j of
human
The modifier 'usually* gives the game
a^ay;
nature and human subjectivity'*.
the
route can circuit through culture.
justificatory
directed
accordingly to Philp (p.17), to
to
social
good
as
under
discerned
a
The struggle
can
paradigm^
regional
be
the
c ommitmen t s c an be cultural.
The
main real ^ork of this paper,
descriptive
some
attempt
like much Mork on culture,
of relevant features of the different cultures
at
explanation
of more unexpected features
has
been
contrasted,
^ith
of
the
cultures
concerned, some criticism, and some attempt to explain some cultural traits in
terms of others.
enterprise,
cultures
only
This, like the modelling account, points to a more difficult
broached:
investigated,
namely,
the
task of providing theories of
and so perhaps explaining ^hat pulls
them
the
together,
makes them tick, gives them their distinctive shape and grip, and so on.
Contemporary scientific redeployment of human nature
APPENDIX 2:
attempts of this sort are based on the modern evolutionary synthesis, and
most
in
appear
extreme
form
in
sociobiology.
However
it
Mas
quickly
recognised that (opportunistic) sociobiol^gical attempts, such as Nilson's, to
nature
human
to rule out significant political
117
narroM social alternatives fail.
redeploy
underlying characterisation of human nature is
Nilson's
from the main socio-political tradition.
[is]
of
set
full
the
possibilities
[i.e,
innate
very
different
'In the broader sense, human nature
genetic
genetically-determinedJ
or
predispositions that characterise the human species;
behavioural
and
and in
the
narrower sense, those predispositions that affect social behaviour'* (pp.217-8,
Mith
It is certainly ahistorical,
read
disjunctively it
disease
hoMever the ambiguity in the characterisation of
nature - hardly a set,
(sub)species
patterns
conjunctively
only
since genes may mutate.
It is not constant or static,
rearrangement).
Mill include the full
humans
For if the definition
is resolved.
are liable to
set
suffer;
of
if
is
genetically-determined
read,
those every (normal) human is bound to
less
undergo
plausibly,
at
some
stage.
In any event, such sets are remote from Enlightenment political concerns,
though, like health and disease more generally, socially relevant enough;
they
hardly
alternatives.
appear
to
Moreover,
impose
they
significant
offer
constraints
on
no bulMark against racial or
and
political
cultural
and since by no means
118
everything is determined genetically e.g. languages of some cultures.
relativity,
since
races have separate gene subpools,
117. Fss this is a commonplace vieM,
Singer^, and especially Pigden.
there is no need to labour it:
see Ruse,
118. Genetic determinism is simply one, and perhaps even the Meakest, of
several
forms of determinism intended to vastly reduce
cultural
variability.
Nilson does not rely on that form exclusively, but helps
himself to other incompatible forms of determinism as suit^: see p.207.
REFERENCES
W.E. Abraham, Ths Mind of Africa, University of lilinois
ess, Litica^o, i-S2.
D, A. Aitkin, ''Mhere does Australia stand?', in Withers, pp.18-31.
Pipers, Maori Myths and Tri ba' Legends, Longman Pau], Auckland, 1984.
N.E. Awa, '""Culture and credibility'"", Ceres 16 (5) (1983) 28-38,
E. Best, The Maori, Vol, 1, Tombs, Wellington, 1924,
R. Birrell, D. HiH
Sydney, 1984.
J.T. Bonner,
1980.
.^nd J,
Neville,
Populate and
Perish?,
Fontana/AFC,
The Evolution of Culture in animals, Princeton University Press,
B. Bonney and H.
1983.
Australia's Commercial Media, Macmillan, Melbourne,
Wilson,
8.J. Berry, Human, Hegel and Human Nature, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1982.
J. Cairns, The Quiet Revolution. Widescop^e.^Camberw.elJ^J-Jiotg^^a. 1975^.
8.T, jCald/wel.l., '""The gambling AustraTian.'L^_in Change in Australia (ed.
Edgar), Cheshire, Melbourne, 1974.
D.L.
G.T. Caldwell, '""Leisure', in Davies et.al., pp.410-439.
G.T. Caldwell, '""Some historical and sociological characteristics of Australian
gambling', in Caldwell et.al.
G.T. Caldwell, M. Dickerson, B. Haig and L.
Australia, Croom Helm, Sydney, 1985.
Sylvan (eds.),
Camb' ing—ijl
F. Capra and C. Spretnak, Green Poli tics, Hutchinson, London, 1984.
R.E. Caves and L.8. Krause, The Australian Economy:
George Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1984.
N. Chomsky and E. Herman,
Press, Boston, 1979.
A M1ew from the North,
The Political Economy of Human Rights,
South c.nd
P. Cock, Alternative Australia, Quartet Books, Melbourne, 19/9.
J. Cohen and J. Rogers, On Democracy, Penguin, New York, 1984.
David,
The Individual in the Making, Wiley, Sydney,
A.A.
Congalton andA.E.
1976.
R.W.
Connell, 'Images of Australia in Social Change in Australia
Edgar), Cheshire, Melbourne, 1974.
(ed.
R. W. Connell, Ruling fl ass, Ruling Culture,
S. Cotgrove, Catastrophe or Cornucopia, Wiley, New
knowledge, belief-systems, values, norms and ideologies Mhich
enable the members of a society to perceive, organise and interpret
reality ... reality is always perceived Mithin an evaluative
framework.
Similar too is Tylor's definition of 'culture' in terms of a structure
again: 'Culture or Civilization ... that complex MholeMhich includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, laM, customs, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of society'. (Primitive Culture
vol. 7, p.7).
So all human societies have a culture, a generalised
paradigm.
It is better to separate out civi1ization, however, and link
it to its 'root meaning of living in cities .
religions, morality, ritual, politics, literature, even etiquette and fashions
is
'culture
use
limited
to
Mhat
are called
things
of
mind.
the
In
this
[that
history,
con.jec tures
that
music,
this
painting and sculpture,/^..' (p.13),
use
evolved
'as
a
result
of
Rbraham^.
of
a / process
^7 /J
cen turles,
he age of enlightenment, stood for'', and could knoM (p.13).
Such
a per son could reflect the Mhole culture in the more comprehensive use.
The European vieM of culture, Mhich tends to concentrate on high culture,
is insufficiently comprehensive,
it
has been argued,
natural
environments
leaving out a crucial aspect of culture,
namely attitudes to and approaches to
the
largely devoid of man-made features and
so
environment,
influences
in
/Recounts of culture of this very inclusive form but still unnecessari
an thropic form, are common m the literature* ^hus^for example^Harris:
For the aLr o^ paradox derLves from competLng maximization crLterLa.
R good exampLe is provided bg NeMComb's paradox, Mhich is supposed to arise
in the foLLoMing situation^:
There are tMO boxes before gou: one transparent and one opaque. You
can see that there is $1,000 in the transparent box, and gou knoM that
there is either $1,000,000 or nothing in the opaque box. You must
choose betMeen the foLLoMing tMO acts: take the contents onig of the
opaque box or take the contents of both boxes. Furthermore, there is a
being in Mhose predictive poMers gou have enormous confidence, 3nd gou
knoM that he has aLreadg determined the contents of the opaque box
according to the foLLoMing ruLes: If he predicted that gou Mouid take
-9-
A
Take the list of characteristics Gilson considers for instance (Mhich forms in
a
curious May part of his attempt to rehabilitate a particular partisan
of humans on the strength of sociobiology:
p.22).
The list
has to be pruned
if""it is to cover the spread of knoMn human races and cultures,
vaguer
and less question-begging (e.g.
removed);
but
then
vieM
and
rendered
Mith reference to relations to numan-=>
it ceases to separate tribes of humans
from
tribes
primates or other nonhumans. [Detail and adjust.]
/f2'
7
o+
The NeM Zealand comparison:
APPENDIX 3.
Preliminary notes towards
or New
qualitative rating of mainstream New Zealand culture,
A
Zealand
data, as against an Australian (and sometimes other) goes as follows:but still high for Angloceltic world (presumably per capita
less,
Drinking:
patterns similar except for club phenomenon in Australia,
figures available);
and dry areas and prohibition proclivities in New Zealand.
Gambling:
significantly
but
less,
for
patterns similar except
important
matters of clubs and casinos.
Sport:
but less variety in New Zealand, owing to greater
similar addiction,
New Zealand emphasis on tramping,
uniformity of culture.
trail systems, not
matched in Oz.
Permissiveness:
variety.
less,
markedly
especially
concerning
sexual
issues
and
But Polynesian alternative increasingly influential in New Zealand.
Plural ism:
a
less,
more
uniform society,
with few ethnic
groupings
and
strata.
stronger, but still less so than UK.
Authori tarianism:
It is hypothesized by
Sinclair that older authority patterns in New Zealand arise from child rearing
especially
techniques,
in Oz.
counterpart
are,
the
famous
Plunkett
method,
The result was a rather up-tight
the suggestion is, more laid-back, easy-going.
which
no
had
product.
real
Australians
Vet the matter is not =o
simple, as the next items reveal.
Policing
and
opposition among the younger in New Zealand.
increasing
bushrangers,
cultural
Long-standing opposition to police
coercive methods:
etc.,
mythology.
in
New
Zealand,
in
Oz,
But no adulation of
and no Eureka Stockade
Violence perhaps less in New Zealand,
or
associated
though (at home)
neither society is very violent by American standards.
Egali tarianism:
slightly more in New Zealand, despite the Australian image.
In both Jack is as good as his master.
Pace of Life:
slower in New Zealand.
1
less in NeM
Poverty:
in NeM Zealand.
Distrust of markets
simi1 ar
less than Oz
Fraternity and mateship:
Hale chauvinism:
margina11y less (?)
Unionisation:
Mith
no
environmen tai actions.
Environmen t:
communi ties
mixed
Extensive
NeM Zealand to many i ssues
in
even
sympathy,
public
among
rural
the
An issue breakdoMn is
required
here:
better
Chemicals and Maste management:
Parks and reserves:
National ism:
(Inglis)
margina11y better,
excessively
in
Morse
both places
strong in both
It is taken as validating
consider the many memorials Mith 'they
their country' scattered around small toMns.
national ism
(or stateism)
as
a
means
and
Hi th
by political leaders).
It can be
Mar and sport
of social and national cohesion,
purpose (e.g.
died
It is sometimes suggested
is the neM secular religion
operation in those tMo related enterprises,
death
for
that
seen
in
Both have served
and have been
used
for
that
(Hars Mere a common method of obtaining
maintaining integration of large states,
improved
communications
perhaps fall into disuse)
and propaganda
netMorks,
that
method
Divisive national sport is interesting from
could
this
angle also.
Federalism
and
Australian
idea
federation:
of
adding
No experience in
NeM
NeM Zealand as a further
sympathetic consideration in NeM Zealand.
2
Zealand.
state
The
obtains
frequent
little
There Mas, and is, no loyalty to an
Australasian nation.
Communications:
Broadcasting less commercialised in Ne^j Zealand.
As a result
less H) violence, etc.
Reading:
more in Neu Zealand.
Education and Research:
opposition to theory.
(HoM much more?)
Little research done in Ne^ Zealand, but less
mixed.
Public school system better.
3
The following have been redacted from access file (PDF) due to copyright restrictions.
•
•
Letter, Alastair (University of Waikato) to Richard Sylvan, 17 April 1985 re feedback on
paper. (4 pages (2 leaves))
Letter, Tom (Philosophy Department, Massey University) to Richard Sylvan, 10 Jul 1985
re feedback on paper. (3 pages (2 leaves))
",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Box 103: Culture, Politics, Environment, Economics",https://antipodean-antinuclearism.org/files/original/74d46ccc038115c6bd0d20b0ef9d25e7.pdf,Text,"Draft Papers",1,0