Evaluating culture : well-being, institutions and circumstance / Matthew Thomas Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, Matthew Thomas.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Culture.

Well-being.

Politics and culture.

Cultural relativism.

Multiculturalism.

Physical Description:

xi, 204 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Summary:

"From which evaluative foundation should we develop public policies designed to promote wellbeing among different cultural groups in different circumstances? This book seeks to advance an objective, universal theory of cultural evaluation grounded in a eudaemonic account of human wellbeing. The approach brings together a 'thick vague' conception of the good; a determinate, particularist conception of circumstance; an egalitarian moral philosophy with concessions to sufficientarianism, and a normative functionalist view of culture, to assess the value of cultural institutions to those that they affect. Engaging closely with needs and capabilities paradigms, the approach seeks to identify and explain cultural deficits in given circumstances. The applicability of the theory is illustrated through analysis of the effect of settler-indigenous relations on Aboriginal Australian people. This book is ideal for students and scholars of cultural theory and public policy"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note:

List of Illustrations

Note on the Author

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. The Case Against Cultural Evaluation: Relativism, Culturalism and Romanticism

2. Needs, Goods and Self-actualization

3. Capabilities, Zero-sum Choices and Equality

4. What is Culture? What does it do? What should it do?

5. Circumstance, Materialism and Possibilism

6. Applying the Theory: Sources of Harm in Aboriginal Australian Communities

Conclusion

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230296565

0230296564

OCLC:

829386932