Page 20 - CULTURE IN THE COMMUNICATION AGE

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CULTURE OF THE MIND

On the origins of meaning and emotion

Edward C. Stewart

The theory pursued here begins with the assertion that the origins of modern
human nature and the foundations of culture were constructed during the last
Ice Age. Living in the hostile environment of the glacial period, and in a fierce
struggle to survive, Paleolithic humans confronted large wild animals each day
and faced a deadly fight to secure flesh for food and pelts for clothing. During
the glacial period men and women competed with, and were the frequent prey
of, carnivores. By bonding in small groups, early humans increased their
chances of surviving the attacks of ferocious predatory animals. The need for
protection against predators, and for security from counter-attacks of the prey
hunted, gave early men and women powerful incentives to develop vital inter-
personal networks or ‘cultures’ of belonging and identity. The human nature
which was formed was defensive and aimed to compensate for human vulner-
ability. Even so, social strategies developed by prehistoric humans for preserv-
ing life allowed the species to survive only by a razor-thin margin, according to
some scientists.
What early humans learned about survival by the end of the Ice Age has
endured in human relations. Studies conducted by anthropologists in Asia,
Africa, and Australia in the 1800s and more recently show that when living
under the threat of attack by large predators, such as tigers, people live clustered
together in small communities, while people who are not threatened by
such predators tend to live spread out over the land, singly or in small groups.
Modern social scientists continue to find the same social tendencies in each
‘unique’ culture.
In this chapter I will describe the formation of human nature and culture,
and argue that key foundational paths of personal and social development are
common to all cultures. The discussion will highlight the tension between
‘predator’ and ‘prey’ in human survival. I will demonstrate brie fly how such a
dangerous condition endures today in various forms of aggression, especially
war. I will then link biological processes of cultural evolution to symbolic

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