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EUROPEAN COMMISSION
CULTURAL DYNAMICS
A NEST PATHFINDER INITIATIVE
2007
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ISBN 92-79-03852-4
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EVOLVING CULTURE:
FROM TRANSMISSION AND CHANGE TO INNOVATION
C
ulture is prevalent in all facets of human life. Its development is undoubtedly an important
achievement of mankind. Understanding culture, its continuities and discontinuities,
should therefore be a major concern of science analyses. The central issues facing societies
everywhere regarding quality of life (such as poverty, global change, education, criminality and
terrorism, immigration and urban regeneration) have a significant cultural dimension.
As levels of affluence rise, economy and business depend increasingly on developments
and/or factors that are essentially cultural in nature. Knowledge about the ways in which culture
and cultural traits are transmitted, as well as the possibilities these processes allow for in
influencing cultural developments and change, make for critical components of strategies to
address these issues.
There are also increasingly strong interactions between culture and technology. Developments
in technology not only bring new cultural phenomena or opportunities that can bring huge
challenges to society, but also increase the speed of development of cultural forms.
The Cultural Dynamics initiative is intended to promote research aimed at bringing together
the different fields of science, technology and the humanities, along with concepts, data and
analytical methods, to promote a better understanding and predictive capacity relating to
transmission, change and innovation in human culture.
The initiative states that projects should address specific questions by bringing different
disciplines and levels of analysis to bear in novel combinations. These questions should have
high scientific interest in the context of the quest for an integrated understanding of how
cultural environments impact individual minds, and how individual minds impact cultural
environments.
Research projects supported address questions which involve a conceptual negotiation
across disciplinary boundaries at the current state of the art, which are potentially tractable
and bring the possibility of high impact. The research may focus on specific issues across a
broad range (such as organisational culture, social questions and cultural basis of terrorism)
but not be solely empirical.
Cultural Dynamics projects aim to make conceptual and analytical advances which have the
potential for generalisation in relation to broader questions, including why certain cultures are
successful and others are not, how culture influences or determines beliefs of individuals and
groups, how power is exercised or controlled through culture, and what role technology and
the media (in particular the Internet) play in cultural dynamics.
3
PROJECTS
ATACD: Understanding the dynamics of culture
6
CID: Innovation and growth: for many, but not for all?
8
CULTAPTATION: How culture evolves
10
CURE: Matching the company to the region
12
EXREL: Where do religious thoughts come from?
14
ISBP: Integration matrix
16
NEST
Pathfinder
UNDERSTANDING
THE DYNAMICS OF CULTURE
ATAC D
The only thing certain about
culture is that it changes. Drawing
inspiration from mathematical
theories of topology, networks
and complexity, the ATACD
project will create a new way
of looking at social change that
emphasises links, driving forces
and modes of change – common
factors in all cultures – rather than
cataloguing different types
of culture, as previous work has
n the mathematical discipline of topology,
tended to do. With participants
a coffee cup has the same form as a ring
ranging from physicists to artists,
doughnut. The defining feature of each
ATACD will explore not so much
shape is its single hole; in the case of the cup,
it’s the handle. Since a cup made from soft
what a culture is as what it can
clay can be shaped into a doughnut without
become.
I
closing up the hole or creating a second
one, topologists say that the two shapes are
equivalent.
That may sound obscure, but the ability to
distil the essential shapes of objects gives
topology many practical applications. Networks,
for example, tend to have similar shapes
whether they describe relationships
between people, roads, computer systems
or species. As a result, topology has become
important in many areas outside mathematics,
including geography and the social sciences.
treated culture as a static thing to be
described and classified, and ignored the
fact that cultures are always changing.
ATACD’s topological approach will look at
how this change happens – the cultural
equivalent of morphing a cup into a doughnut.
They aim to describe not what a particular
culture is, but what it could become.
A new field with origins in many
According to the ATACD partners, topology
is useful in the study of cultural dynamics
because it captures almost every facet of what
we understand by continuity.
A topological description of a network
concentrates on the links between the
nodes rather than on detailed descriptions of
the nodes themselves. In the same way,
The ATACD project draws on the principles of the topological approach to cultural dynamics
studies not the substantive elements of culture
topology to address the dynamics of culture.
Previous studies, say the project partners, have but their links, relations and transformations.
© European Commission, 2007
The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever
whith regard to the information presented in this document.
6
Ring
“It aims to create cross-disciplinary techniques
and patterns of thought that can transform
our approach to the study of cultural change.”
Mesh
Line
Star
Fully Connected
Tree
Bus
AT A GLANCE
Every aspect of culture is subject to forces of
change and, even when a particular culture
remains static for a time, this is best understood
as a special case of change.
with the help of colloquia and residencies,
culminating in a conference that will also
raise the public profile of this new area
of study.
Official Title
A Topological Approach to Cultural Dynamics
Some elements of topological thinking have
already been used in the study of social
change, but only in a limited way and within
the confines of individual disciplines.
The ATACD project is much broader; it aims
to create cross-disciplinary techniques and
patterns of thought that can transform our
approach to the study of cultural change.
As befits such an ambitious aim, ATACD has
secured the involvement of 20 partner
organisations across nine countries.
The work of ATACD falls under four headings,
each of which is the responsibility of several
consortium members: markets and innovation;
space, transition and migration;
new technologies, including the Internet;
and mind, memory and language. All these
areas are considered to be important for the
successful management of cultural change
at national and local government levels,
as well as within industry.
Partners
• V2 Organisation (The Netherlands)
• University of Basle (Switzerland)
• University of Napoli (Italy)
• Piet Zwart Institute (The Netherlands)
• University of Bologna (Italy)
• University of Utrecht (The Netherlands)
• Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)
• Sony France SA (France)
• Panteion University (Greece)
• Assoc. Recherche MINES (France)
• University College London (United Kingdom)
• Loughborough University (United Kingdom)
• The Passiy Hilendarski University of Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
• London School of Economics (United Kingdom)
• University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
• University of Barcelona (Spain)
• University of Aarhus (Denmark)
• Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
• Università degli Studi ‘La Sapienza’ (Italy)
Much of the project partners’ work will focus
Academic disciplines represented include
on learning from one another and sharing
sociology, psychology, women’s studies,
existing techniques. There will be a series of
post-colonial studies, art and media,
colloquia and nine residencies that will allow
management, politics, complexity and
researchers to visit partner institutions to
information theory, neuroscience, web-based learn and share their knowledge of how to
information systems, mathematics and artificial use topological techniques.
intelligence. As well as universities, the institutional partners include Sony France and V2
Towards the end of the project, a three-day
Organisation, a Dutch electronic arts
conference will bring together everything
foundation. Individual participants range
the project participants have learned during
from internationally renowned professors to the previous three years. As well as presenting
talented young researchers at the cutting
research results, the conference will also
edge of their fields.
show industrialists and policymakers what
the new techniques can do and how they
relate to other ways of studying culture.
Learning from one another
Bringing together such a diversity of disciplines
is not without its own unique challenge.
Even among researchers who study it,
defining ‘culture’ is the subject of vigorous
discussion. The work carried out during the
project will therefore concentrate on
fostering and maintaining collaborative
relationships between the participants
The study of networks has revolutionised our
understanding of many fields of science,
including human relationships. ATACD will
take this to a whole new level by revealing
the topological basis of culture. In a world
that is in a state of constant change, it will
help us cope better by understanding how
cultures evolve.
Coordinator
Goldsmiths, University of London (United Kingdom)
Further Information
Prof Celia Lury
Goldsmiths, University of London
Department of Sociology
Lewisham Way, New Cross
GB-SE14 6NW London
United Kingdom
email: [email protected]
fax: +44 020 7919 7185
Project cost
€ 643 797
EU funding
€ 643 797
Project reference
Contract No 043415 (NEST)
Since topology analyses the qualitative
properties of figures, it may be able to make
meaningful statements about the culture
of their realities as well.
7
NEST
Pathfinder
INNOVATION AND GROWTH:
FOR MANY, BUT NOT FOR ALL?
CID
Innovation is a fundamental
engine of growth, prosperity and
wellbeing. Yet it is evident that
the benefits of new ideas and new
technologies are very unevenly
distributed – both geographically
and across different types of
organisations. Addressing this
imbalance is especially important
in the current context of the
newly enlarged EU. CID is seeking
to identify underlying cultural
hile some countries are enjoying
reasons for its existence, as a step
unprecedented affluence and quality
towards the definition of policies
of life, others remain mired in poverty
to promote greater equality and and disease. Similarly, whereas some sectors
and organisations prosper from a ready grasp
entrepreneurship through
of new technologies, others lag behind and
cross-cultural interaction.
W
stagnate. And great strides in some areas
of medical research are matched by
discouragingly slow development in others.
Today, the widening boundaries of the EU
pose a tremendous opportunity to foster the
spread of innovation, learning, and eventual
wealth creation through diversity. But the
processes of cultural dynamics remain poorly
understood, and difficult to manage.
Cultural basis for variation
© European Commission, 2007
The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever
whith regard to the information presented in this document.
8
they are framed and solved, and how their
solutions are implemented and diffused.
Cultural assumptions can be defined as the
predominating values, beliefs, attitudes and
behaviours that are shared by the members
of a society, and which shape the functioning
of individuals, groups and organisations
within that society.
A variety of partial theories has been
advanced to explain the variations in ability
to cope with problems, find solutions and
reap their benefits, but no clear common
thread has emerged. One prime reason for
this is that many explanations focus solely on
the specific contexts (cultures, industries,
etc.) within which they were developed.
Another is that prior contributions have
largely remained focused on a particular level
of analysis: micro – the individuals; meso –
projects, products and organisations; and
macro – cultures and society at large.
The CID project’s aim is to lay the foundation
for a more integrated understanding of the
phenomena causing this uneven evolution
and spread of scientific and technological
knowledge. Its approach to the issue is based
on the premise that cultural assumptions
The CID consortium led by Italy’s Bocconi
play a focal role in determining why and
University is therefore pursuing a strategy that
how problems are selected for solution, how is both multicultural and multi-level,
“Cultural assumptions play a focal role
in determining why and how problems are selected
for solution, how they are framed and solved.”
AT A GLANCE
spanning all three levels and a number of
countries. The collaboration between partners
builds upon a range of disciplinary backgrounds: economics, history of technologies,
cognitive sciences, organisation theory,
innovation management and network analysis
– with physics and biology providing tools to
model and conceptualise the complexities
of cultural evolutionary processes in
abstract terms.
Complex relationships
A key objective will be to explain the
unevenness by analysis of the interplay
between cultural assumptions and variables
at the different levels. To avoid over-simplification, phenomena will be investigated at
the appropriate levels, rather than being
aggregated (for example, studying individuals'
attitudes at the national level) or disaggregated
(for example, studying national cultural
assumptions at the organisational level).
Recognising that these levels are not
independent of each other, but rather highly
interrelated, critical cross-level relationships
will also be specified.
Parallel cross-contextual analyses will explore
the interaction between culture and the
evolution of different types of knowledge.
For example, medical, managerial and technical
knowledge differ in several respects: generality
versus specificity, abstractness versus
contextuality, and tacitness versus codification. Likewise, the processes of knowledge
evolution and innovation in industries,
such as fashion pharmaceuticals and transport,
have little in common.
Real-life studies
Separate workpackages will gather data in
a number of real-life case studies. One particularly appropriate example is an investigation
of how the Accession Countries – having
adopted an institutional framework broadly
similar to that of Western Europe – are coping
with the challenge of adapting behaviours
and attitudes to it.
Another case study looks at the university
system and its evolution in terms of functions,
such as technology transfer and entrepreneurship. Here, too, the lessons learned could be
of instructive value to the Accession Countries.
A third focuses on AIDS vaccine development
in a bid to discover how success rates for
such charity-mediated development projects
could be made to match those of the
pharmaceutical industry. Further packages
explore organisational identity and leadership
behaviour in multinational companies,
partnerships and culturally diverse
innovation teams.
Integration of the findings will provide a set
of tools, measures and conceptual categories
to form a platform for on-going research.
This wide-ranging project is expected to deliver
significant policy-relevant results in several
areas: by facilitating more rapid diffusion of
existing technologies, independently of their
origin; by showing how the management of
diversity can boost innovation in intra-and
inter-organisational cooperation; and by
defining a more efficient process for institutional change in the education system and
other culturally influential value-setting sectors.
Official Title
Cultural and Innovation Dynamics: Explaining
the Uneven Evolution of Human Knowledge
Coordinator
Bocconi University (Italy)
Partners
• University of Witten/Herdecke (Germany)
• Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany)
• University of St Gallen (Switzerland)
• Open University (United Kingdom)
• Eindhoven Technical University (The Netherlands)
• University of Economics (Czech Republic)
Further Information
Prof Stefano Brusoni
Bocconi University
Centro di ricerca sui processi di innovazione
e internazionalizzazione
Via Sarfatti 25
20136 Milan
Italy
email: [email protected]
fax: +39 02 5836 3399
Project cost
€ 1 990 848
EU funding
€ 1 699 924
Project reference
Contract No 043345 (NEST)
Rapid advances in some areas of human
knowledge have not been matched by similar
conquests in others.
Taking account of such differences will provide
fresh insights into how cultural assumptions
interact with knowledge evolution, as well as
with innovation and diffusion.
9
NEST
HOW CULTURE EVOLVES
Pathfinder
C U LTA P TAT I O N
Sugary and fatty foods helped our
ancestors survive the lean times,
but for 21st century Europeans
they have become a health
hazard. Human culture, in other
words, does not always evolve in
step with genetics. The
CULTAPTATION project is
a pioneering study of the
processes that shape cultural
change, as seen through
evolutionary mechanisms. It will
help us to understand history.
It will also shed light on pressing
current problems, such as conflict
and obesity, and why cultural
change is not always for the
better.
© European Commission, 2007
The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever
whith regard to the information presented in this document.
10
H
uman culture – such as our beliefs,
social structures, art and technology –
is cumulative; it grows and changes
through many generations. This growth and
change has parallels with genetic evolution,
so the study of culture using methods
developed for evolution should tell us useful
things about how cultures are likely to arise,
grow, change and wither.
to improve our lives; compared to genetic
evolution, it sometimes does a better job of
promoting survival. On the other hand, cultural
forces can also harm us, by causing wars, for
instance, or by reinforcing dietary habits that
have lost their former relevance.
The aim of the CULTAPTATION project is to
model cumulative culture with methods
inspired by theories used in the study of genetic
But the parallel with evolution is not straight- evolution. Previous research into cultural
forward. Some animals such as monkeys,
change has suffered from fragmentation
for example, have ‘simple’ cultures that pass
among disciplines, lack of unifying concepts
from one generation to the next, but scarce- and mathematical models, and has focused
ly develop over time. Compared to biological on simple, not cumulative, culture.
evolution, the development of human culture
has been extremely rapid. And, of course,
Preparing the theoretical ground
we can acquire cultural traits from anyone
CULTAPTATION will take a multidisciplinary
we choose, since we are not confined to
approach to cultural evolution, illuminating
inheriting them from our parents.
the past and making useful predictions for
Another difference between genetic evolution the future. As well as theoretical work and the
development of new mathematical models,
and cultural change is that the same traits
the project will undertake experiments with
are not always favoured. Our capacity for
cumulative culture gives us unique potential both animals and humans.
“A better understanding of the cultural issues
surrounding food could help us tackle the huge health
and environmental issues associated with current eating habits.”
AT A GLANCE
The key questions for the researchers
include: what exactly is cumulative culture;
what individual capacities make cumulative
culture possible; how does cumulative culture
evolve; and to what extent do cultural changes
cause short- and long-term adaptations in
individuals, groups and societies?
Towards a culture of eating less
Much of the project’s work will be theoretical,
using mathematical models calibrated using
published data. Several of the work packages,
however, will be based on experiments. One
of these involves capuchin monkeys, whose
culture can adapt to new tasks but is not
cumulative. Explaining why this is so, may shed
The project coordinator, Stockholm University, light on why human cultures do not always
will provide historical and archaeological
evolve in positive ways.
knowledge, as well as laboratory resources.
Mälardalen University will contribute expertise Archaeological studies will examine dietary
habits in a way that may be relevant to modern
in discrete mathematics and stochastic
processes, in addition to laboratory resources times. Eating habits, phobias or taboos can
for human behaviour experiments. St Andrews mean that people fail to take advantage of
a useful food resource, or persist in using
University will contribute work on social
food that is harmful or time-consuming to
learning and animal studies. The fourth
produce. An example is our fondness for sugar
partner, the University of Bologna, will
contribute its expertise in statistical mechanics. and fat, which is valuable in a subsistence
economy but damaging in a prosperous
Once the partners have defined their terms, modern culture. A better understanding of the
they will develop mathematical tools for
cultural issues surrounding food could help us
describing and modelling cultural change.
tackle the huge health and environmental
Existing mathematical tools deal only with
issues associated with current eating habits.
simple culture, which can be treated much
like genetic evolution. Models of cumulative Other empirical work will study the development of beliefs, moral codes, laws and social
culture will be more complex, and the plan
is to develop two kinds: macroscopic, focusing contracts. In relation to the latter, this will
involve watching volunteers play computer
on whole populations; and microscopic,
games which simulate aspects of the real
in which individuals are identified.
world. Participants may, for instance, be
With the mathematics in place, the team will asked to perform virtual work and pay virtual
be able to study how cultural change actual- taxes in return for rewards, with punishments
ly happens. The kinds of questions to be
for shirking.
answered at this point include who copies
Understanding how and why cultures evolve
whom, to what extent, and how this is
is a good starting point for preserving the
influenced by the type of society involved.
cultural characteristics we like and avoiding
those we don’t. By pioneering a new
approach to the study of cultural change,
CULTAPTATION will provide some of the tools
we need to make the world a better place.
Official Title
Dynamics and Adaptation in Human Cumulative
Culture
Coordinator
Stockholm University (Sweden)
Partners
• Mälardalen University (Sweden)
• University of St Andrews (United Kingdom)
• University of Bologna (Italy)
Further Information
Prof Magnus Enquist
Stockholm University
Wallenberg laboratory
S-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden
email: [email protected]
fax: +46 8 674 73 66
Project cost
€ 1 999 200
EU funding
€ 1 999 200
Project reference
Contract No 043434 (NEST)
11
NEST
Pathfinder
MATCHING THE COMPANY
TO THE REGION
CURE
Regional cultures are part of what
makes Europe great. But what
happens when a multinational
company, especially one from
another country or continent,
sets up shop in a region with its
own strong identity? And how do
pressures to conform and
homogenise affect regions and
companies alike? CURE will
investigate how companies
shape the cultures around them,
urope-wide prosperity and regional
and which regional cultures are
diversity are two cornerstones of the
best for which types of company.
European Union. Strong regional cultures,
The results will help business and, besides being valuable in their own right,
at the same time, allow regional can help to create conditions under which
innovation and prosperity can flourish.
diversity to flourish.
E
However, there is also potential for conflict
between prosperity and regional culture.
Globalisation can weaken the links between
large companies and their surrounding
regions. Some commentators even talk about
‘homeless companies’ – multinationals which,
with no loyalty to any particular region or
even country, build facilities in whichever
location is most convenient and close them
down as soon as a better opportunity arises.
© European Commission, 2007
The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever
whith regard to the information presented in this document.
12
will also look at how corporate and regional
cultures interact and influence each other.
CURE’s researchers come from a wide range
of backgrounds, including political science,
innovation and regional development,
management, human resources, sociology,
cultural science and philosophy.
The regions chosen for study include parts of
The Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria;
countries with strong traditions and a high
level of social capital. Hungary and the United
Kingdom provide examples of countries that
have recently undergone rapid cultural
changes and loss of social capital; Hungary
with the fall of communism, and the UK as a
consequence of the ‘rolling back of the state’
The CURE project will explore the relationship during the 1980s. The remaining participant
between regional and company cultures
country, Germany, lies somewhere in
through a multidisciplinary study spanning
between, with strong regional traditions in
several regions of Europe. CURE will investigate, the west and a rapidly-changing culture in
on the one hand, how company cultures
the formerly communist east.
influence regional commitment and, on the
other hand, which types of regional culture
suit which types of company. The researchers
“Companies who try to impose an unsympathetic
or alien culture on their surroundings
are not likely to do as well.”
AT A GLANCE
Mutual dependence
After an initial phase of agreement on the
No company can be truly ‘homeless’, points
questions to be asked as well as the terms
out the CURE consortium; at the very least,
and methodology to be used, the participants
a factory needs to get its workforce from
will start to look at the theoretical background
somewhere. Traditional skills, the local work
to corporate and regional cultures and the
ethic and the presence of innovation clusters interactions between them. They will then
are examples of cultural factors that can be
formulate hypotheses and test these
just as important as transport links or tax
through case studies and interviews in their
breaks in deciding where to build a business. respective locations, creating a typology of
cultures at the same time.
Many companies are extremely loyal to the
regions in which they operate, even when
The plan is to begin with 210 case studies.
they do not originate from the same country. The survey will concentrate on several
At the same time, however, companies are
different types of company: those that are
subject to the same processes of levelling and confined to a single region by market needs,
homogenisation that affect Europe as a whole. regulations or the presence of natural
Clearly, preserving and taking advantage of
resources; technology companies that
regional differences requires commitment.
started life in universities but now need to
become less local if they are to grow;
Corporate culture means different things to
companies with long-standing regional ties
different people, and previous researchers
which now operate globally, and branches
have developed three main areas of analysis. of global companies, classified by function
One, the institutional approach, concentrates (research and development sites, for instance,
on a company’s environment in terms of its
may have stronger regional ties than
suppliers, customers, competitors and
production sites).
regulators. The second approach focuses on
social capital, while the third is based on
These case studies will be backed up by 21,
corporate ethics. The project partners will
in-depth studies. Criteria for the regions to
explore how all these models relate to
be studied are likely to include a common
regional embedding, which until now has
administrative framework, the presence of
been studied only as a sideline.
significant numbers of each type of company
being studied, as well as a strong regional
identity.
Official Title
Corporate Culture and Regional Embeddedness
Coordinator
Institute for Work and Technology (Germany)
Partners
• University of Pécs (Hungary)
• Cardiff University (United Kingdom)
• Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
(Germany)
• Raboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands)
• University for Applied Science (Switzerland)
• Vienna University for Economics and Business
Administration (Austria)
Further Information
Dr Dieter Rehfeld
Institute for Work and Technology
Innovative Spaces
Munscheidstr.14
45886 Gelsenkirchen
Germany
email: [email protected]
fax: +49 209 1707 110
Project cost
€ 1 975 773
EU funding
€ 1 687 808
Project reference
Contract No 043438 (NEST)
Making it happen
Despite the recent emphasis on regional
culture as a way to promote innovation,
there still remains much we do not know.
In particular, regional culture tends to be
seen as static. Drawing on existing research,
the partners will find out more about the
variety and dynamics of regional cultures
to discover which types best suit which
kinds of corporate culture.
Companies who try to impose an unsympathetic or alien culture on their surroundings
are not likely to do as well as those who
understand and build on regional strengths.
By studying corporate and regional cultures,
and the interactions between them, CURE
will help Europe to create prosperity while
retaining its unique cultural heritage.
Galata Museo del Mare, Genoa.
© Jan Fasselt
Commitment to European Cultural City 2010,
Essen. © RAG Aktiengesellschaft
13
NEST
Pathfinder
WHERE DO RELIGIOUS
THOUGHTS COME FROM?
EXREL
Religious thinking and behaviour
have a number of universal
features. Yet, in spite of the huge
amount of attention afforded to
religion generally, the origins of
these features have never been
fully determined. In EXREL,
a European team of leading
experts is seeking a definitive
scientific explanation as a basis
for reconstructing the underlying
historical processes of their
development, as well as
attempting to model future
evolution. If successful,
their efforts could provide an
extremely valuable tool for future
social policy planning.
E
ven among professed non-believers,
religiously-oriented intuitions and feelings
shape our natural responses to people
and events. Religiosity can confer palpable
benefits in terms of mental and physical
health, as well as support pro-social behaviour. Regrettably, religion has also been at
the heart of many major global conflicts
throughout the ages, and remains so today.
A better understanding of how religious
thoughts and actions arise would not only
answer long-standing scientific questions,
but also offer an indication of ways in which
current problems of intolerance and fundamentalist extremism might be averted.
Natural and variable features
Religious groups exhibit a number of common
traits. They believe in gods, spirits or ancestors,
and envisage various forms of life after
death. They attribute misfortune and luck to
transcendental causes, and assume that certain
features of the natural world were created
intentionally. They perform rituals and endow
them with symbolic meanings. They regard
scriptures or other kinds of testimony
as having been divinely produced or inspired.
Leading experimental psychologists and
biologists have suggested that man’s universal
religious consciousness results from innate
characteristics in the evolved cognitive
According to present knowledge, some central architecture of the brain. In contrast,
aspects of religious thinking and behaviour are the differences stem from variable priming
recurrent and stable across humankind, while of the cognitive mechanisms through creative
thinking, memory and acquired expertise.
others vary significantly between traditions
and cultures – sometimes even running
counter to the normal current.
© European Commission, 2007
The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever
whith regard to the information presented in this document.
14
“Core features of religion arise as outcomes
of the activation of particular cognitive mechanisms.”
AT A GLANCE
Religions as systems
universal, and the extent to which nonAvailable evidence points to an early
universal features are cross-culturally and
emergence of religious thinking and behaviour historically recurrent. For this purpose, more
in childhood, while studies of neurological
precise descriptions of the worldwide
disorders suggest that the malfunctioning of distributions of religious configurations and
domain-specific cognitive mechanisms
their relation to both social structure and the
affects key aspects of religiosity and ritualisation. natural environment will be assembled.
A possible explanation is that the core features
of religion arise as outcomes of the activation
of particular cognitive mechanisms. But this
alone fails to account for the frequent
co-occurrence of phenomena, such as the
development of dogmatic structures and
the formation of religious institutions.
Despite a vast body of research on religion,
very few people have so far attempted to
develop a systematic and precise account of
its universal features. In the early months of
the initiative, two of the partners will focus on
the development of a detailed methodology
for coding the elements of practice and belief.
Furthermore, strong divergences can be
perceived between religious traditions.
Various elements are differently emphasised,
and very distinct doctrinal and cosmological
systems are espoused. These distinct traditions
incorporate conceptual configurations that
seem to correlate with specific types of social
structure and/or physical environments. They
may be the outcome of cognitive processes
that are more domain-general.
A combination of psychological experimentation and data mining from the extensive
repository of ethnographic, historiographic
and archaeological information gathered over
the past century will then make it possible to
reconstruct an ancestral religious repertoire,
dating back to human prehistory. This will
generate important new data for the
explanation of cross-cultural, widespread
patterns of religious thought and behaviour.
In EXREL, ten of Europe’s foremost centres for
psychological, biological, anthropological
and historical research on religion are joining
forces to put these theories to the test.
The partners aim to develop a computational
model of religious dynamics that can be
used to explain present and past religious
traditions, and to simulate likely future
directions. They will be aided by contributions
from North American research laboratories.
From this knowledge base, modern computer
modelling techniques will permit the
simulation of future trajectories of
transformation in various religious systems.
The initial objective is to consolidate existing
data on religious traditions, as a starting
point for determining which features are
The results could be highly informative for
the formulation of social policy in such key
areas as the teaching of science and religion,
and the promotion of inter-religious and
inter-ethnic tolerance. They will also shed
light on the relationship between religiosity
and broader ideological orientations, and on
reasons for the rise and spread of religious
fundamentalism and sectarianism.
Official Title
Explaining Religion
Coordinator
University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
Partners
• University of Liverpool (United Kingdom)
• University of Helsinki (Finland)
• University of Aarhus (Denmark)
• University of Groningen (The Netherlands)
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
(France)
• University of Salzburg (Austria)
• University of Zurich (Switzerland)
• New Bulgarian University (Bulgaria)
• Brunel University (United Kingdom)
Further Information
Prof Harvey Whitehouse
University of Oxford
School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography
51-53 Banbury Road
OX2 6PE Oxford
United Kingdom
email: [email protected]
fax: +44 1865 274630
Project cost
€ 2 123 420
EU funding
€ 1 999 733
Project reference
Contract No 043225 (NEST)
Members of Afro-Brazilian Candomblé pray
before taking part in a ritual ceremony in
Belém, northern Brazil. © Emma Cohen
First Holy Communion for newly baptised
infants in an Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
Aksum, Ethiopia. © Kjell A. Rugkasa
15
NEST
INTEGRATION MATRIX
Pathfinder
ISBP
Welding the EU into a coherent
and integrated entity is perhaps
today’s greatest challenge.
Competition for resources and
personal freedoms affect diverse
communities at all levels, and
inevitably create conflicts of
interest. But reaching acceptable
compromise depends upon how
the problems are defined and
who are seen as legitimate
stakeholders. The ISBP project is
developing a scientific basis for
determining how these ‘boundary
judgements’ are made, and
whether a convergence of views
can be achieved without stifling
innovation or creating tension.
A
s the EU expands, its success in treading
a peaceful path to convergence will
depend on the ability to integrate its
constituent populations without suppressing
the inherent diversity of each group. At this
level, convergence implies the harmonisation
of local administrative and political practices
with sound principles established for the
Community as a whole. But similar challenges
exist on many different scales, from local
town planning to the worldwide regulation
of economic globalisation.
The same diversity can even be observed in
multidisciplinary groups, such as the mix of
humanists, natural scientists and technologists
forming the ISBP consortium. Hence, the
partners are testing their approach to defining
boundaries and reaching judgements not
only in a series of case studies, but by fact of
their very own participation in the project.
In particular, its research focuses on cultural
and natural resource management.
It will explore the ways in which communities
solve problems by negotiating and modifying
boundary judgments, and how divergent
beliefs can be integrated without paralysing
political institutions or marginalising the
stakeholders. The work will determine how
institutions regulate the communities they
govern, and how the affected populations
react to such regulatory constraints.
Government and governance
Culturally embedded beliefs, like any boundary
judgments, reflect the holder’s personal values
and interests. They can lead to ‘locked-in’
attitudes that reduce the scope for adaptation
and convert behaviour into habit.
But this cultural lock-in is a double-edged
The aim of ISBP is to develop a new theoretical sword. Without it, judgments would change
framework for understanding the relationship so rapidly that the ability to cooperate would
between culture, behaviour and environment. ultimately dissolve into chaos. A proliferation
© European Commission, 2007
The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever
whith regard to the information presented in this document.
16
“Every innovation hinges on a perceived opportunity
or threat that changes boundary judgments
and underwrites new behaviour.”
AT A GLANCE
of controlling legislation, on the other hand,
is a recipe for antagonisms and the stifling of
creative innovation. The answer lies in striking
a balance between top-down government
and the bottom-up governance by which
stakeholders can contribute to the debate.
Subsidiarity – the objective of this theme is
to establish whether generalisations can be
made about the types of boundary judgment
formed and the spatio-temporal scales over
which individuals operate.
Innovation – every innovation hinges on
a perceived opportunity or threat that changes
Sustainable development
boundary judgments and underwrites new
Case studies will shed light on different
behaviour. Monitoring the evidence of changing
aspects of how boundary judgments are
receptivity will indicate whether broad
formed, become locked-in or are unlocked.
conclusions can be drawn about the
In particular, they focus on cultural and natural circumstances under which culturallyresource management, and on the need to
embedded knowledge can be made explicit.
respect and protect cultural diversity. All relate This would give people the freedom to disto areas in which new judgments and
cuss and ‘think the unthinkable’.
behaviours are a prerequisite for sustainable
development – and where social coherence, Complex hierarchies – each of the systems
convergence or compliance are significant.
to be investigated in the case studies can be
located in a hierarchical context, in which
However, some deal with ‘hard’ issues, for
recognisable, ontologically robust categories
which quantitative measures based on
of object occupy a restricted interval of
mathematical modelling can be proposed.
space and time. All such objects have an
In this category, quantitative studies of
intrinsic potential for adaptation in a flexible
automatic model parameterisation and
way. That adaptive potential is itself
sustainable water management will explore constrained by interlinked factors that cannot
the way that complex systems, particularly
be treated as discrete, observable objects
computerised decision-support systems,
in space and time.
are bounded.
By informing the research and policy comOther issues concern softer scenarios, where munities (as well as society at large) about
hard science provides no leverage, but where the processes of cultural change, these
qualitative methods can facilitate convergence, insights will have a bearing on the many
enhance compliance and sustain cohesion.
situations where conflicts arise between
These issues concern equality of opportunity stakeholder communities – from poverty,
in three policy domains: sustainable land-use, social exclusion and immigration,
the training and career development of
to criminality, warfare and terrorism.
graduates, and the treatment of asylum seekers.
For more information, visit the ISBP website
The findings from individual case studies will on www.tigress.ac/isbp/index.html
be integrated into three strategic themes:
Official Title
Integrative Systems and the Boundary Problem
Coordinator
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
(United Kingdom)
Partners
• Cranfield University (United Kingdom)
• Centre for Clean Technology and Environmental
Policy, University of Twente (The Netherlands)
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain)
• Technical University Bari (Italy)
• University of Exeter (United Kingdom)
• Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
Further Information
Dr Nick Winder
The University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Historical Studies
Kensington Terrace 6
NE1 7RU Newcastle
United Kingdom
email: [email protected]
fax: +44 191 232 9259
Project cost
€ 2 401 805
EU funding
€ 1 999 830.50
Project reference
Contract No 043199 (NEST)
A picture of the Thames showing bridges
and barriers to international trade.
A view from a modern hotel looking onto
a slum area shows social and geographical
boundaries in Havanna.
17
European Commission
EUR 22425 – Cultural Dynamics – A NEST Pathfinder Initiative
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
2007 – 17 pp. – 21.0 x 29.7 cm
ISBN 92-79-03852-4
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