Honor-Shame vs. Guilt-Innocence vs. Fear-Power Cultures

Stemming due to the dichotomy between Apollo and Dionys and popularized mainly by Friedrich Nietzsche where Apollonian societies have been seen as the societies of logic, order and individualism contrasted to Dionysian societies to which the characteristics of emotion, chaos and unity are attributed. It is somewhat ironic that the main theme to "The Birth of a Tragedy" by Friedrich Nietzsche represents the fusion between Apollonian and Dionysian principles hinting strongly that such societies should not mix.

  • Honor-Shame societies are a characteristic of the (loosely) Eastern cultures.
    • preoccupied with distributing justice, in terms of honor and shame, amongst the group,
    • people want to secure their position within a community, seeking secure relationships and appreciation (from the community),
    • people tend to hide their dishonorable acts due to the entailing shame,
    • hallmarks:
      • family,
      • community,
      • personal relationships,
      • reputation,
      • social status,
      • come from a good family, good standing and following the social norms result in honor; do something dishonorable or have something dishonorable happen and both the individual and the community will be shamed,
    • can lead to revenge dynamics,
    • typically based on appearances that matter,
  • Guilt-Innocence societies are a characteristic of the (loosely) Western cultures.
    • a mark of individualistic societies where the adherence to well-established rules is primordial,
    • people seek individualism and independence,
    • people know they have broken the rules and long for the wrongdoings to be made right,
    • hallmarks:
      • individualism,
      • rights,
      • right and wrong,
      • law,
      • punishment is in proportion to a committed crime,
      • seeks the solution to guilt,
    • control is kept via retribution,
  • Fear-Power societies are a characteristic of (loosely) southern cultures (Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and tribal areas):
    • actions take place on both a spiritual and real realm and most decisions are based on the perception of spirits,
    • based on physical dominance,
      • taboos,
      • superstitions,
      • spells,
      • sacrifices,
      • living in a constant state of fear,

The Apollonian and Dionysian dialectic is important in understanding the drives of people within a society as well as possibly the prioritization within the state for the various cultures.

The Flat Earth Theory (Wizardry and Steamworks)

One take on the flat earth theory could be that in the absence of knowledge, some of that knowledge being highly specialized, it would be safe to assume that certain statements could be unwavering accepted. In a hyperbolic manner, as per the flat Earth theory, it would be questionable whether an arbitrary individual at any point in time would be able to prove beyond a reason of a doubt that the earth has, in fact, a round shape. Even so, it would be quite safe to bet that the majority of people would state that planet Earth is, in fact, a sphere, as flawed as that might be interpreted. Historically speaking, the Earth has been portrayed in the media as a sphere such that most people would agree that the Earth is indeed a sphere when, in fact, it is an ellipsoid. Trivially though, due to $\Pi$ being a transcendental number, it would be at least sufficient to demonstrate that the Earth is, in fact, certainly not a sphere.


fuss/sociology.txt ยท Last modified: 2023/01/28 00:02 by office

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