The Human Career

In "The Human Career", Walter Goldschmidt presents a challenge to conventional views of human social behaviour. He argues that change rather than equilibrium is the natural condition of society, that humans must be seen as motivated actors rather than as passive recipients of cultural roles and that emotions, rather than intellect, are the crucial element in the formulation of culture. These three elements, combined with established theory form a dynamic model of human sociality. Tool-using hominids existed for three million years before they gave evidence that they had surrounded themselves with a cultural universe. To turn this corner they had not only to share understanding of the world but also to share their imagination and their sentiments. The former they did with language, the latter with ritual to which they harnessed the arts. Henceforward humanity has had to dwell in a dual universe - the physical reality and the symbolic world of its own creation.