Culture and the individual: theory and method of cultural consonance. / William W. Dressler

Preface1. Introduction 2. Culture and the Individual in Anthropological Theory 3. Solutions to Five Recurring Problems in Culture Theory 4. Cultural Models and Cultural Consensus 5. Cultural Consonance 6. Measuring Cultural Consonance 7. The Relationships of Cultural Consonance and Health Outcomes 8. Conclusions

How culture is incorporated into individuals' lives is a problem that has plagued the social sciences for centuries. This book examines the insights offered by approaching the question using a cognitive theory of culture. Culture and the Individual pulls together over twenty-five years of research on cultural consonance, defined as the degree to which individuals incorporate into their own beliefs and behaviors the prototypes for belief and behavior encoded in shared cultural models. Starting with a critical overview of the treatment of culture and the individual in anthropology, Dressler goes on to make the case for adopting a cognitive theory of culture in researching the relationship, introducing the concept of cultural consonance as a solution.