This is a very important book on the social psychology of religion. It provides strong evidence on how religious beliefs can effect the enforcement of social rules, norms, and laws. It is a very revealing and important analysis, for believers and non-believers alike.
"And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." The Flood that God used to destroy the sinful race of man on the earth in Genesis 6:17 crystalizes--in its terrifying, dramatic, simplicity--the universally recognized concept of payback. For millennia human civilization has relied on such beliefs to create a moral order that threatens divine punishment on people who commit crimes or other bad deeds, while promising rewards-abstract or material-for those who do…
This is one of the most important recent books in social science, written by a leading evolutionary theorist and psychologist. Its starting point is that much of experimental social science has been confined to subjects who are educated westerners. Experimental evidence from other cultures presents a different perspective. Another relatively unique feature of western culture is its lesser reliance on extended kinship transactions. Another important narrative in the book is how culture can mold individual preference functions and change our choices and dispositions. Joseph Henrich is critical of mainstream economics for often taking preference functions as given. This is a well-researched and highly stimulating volume.
'A landmark in social thought. Henrich may go down as the most influential social scientist of the first half of the twenty-first century' MATTHEW SYED
Do you identify yourself by your profession or achievements, rather than your family network? Do you cultivate your unique attributes and goals? If so, perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.
Unlike most who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, nonconformist, analytical and control-oriented. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically peculiar? What part did these differences play in our history, and what do…
This is a very important re-evaluation of the economic role of slavery in the British Industrial Revolution of 1760-1820. It is widely accepted that the transatlantic slave trade expanded massively in the 18th century. But several scholars have argued, even recently, that slavery played a marginal role in promoting economic growth in Britain. Economic historians Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson carefully examine the evidence, exploring all the major influences of the slave trade on the British economy. They conclude that slavery was a major factor in promoting investment, innovation, and growth. But they do not go so far to suggest that the Industrial Revolution could not have happened without slavery.
The role of slavery in driving Britain's economic development is often debated, but seldom given a central place.
In their remarkable new book, Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson 'follow the money' to document in revealing detail the role of slavery in the making of Britain's industrial revolution. Slavery was not just a source of wealth for a narrow circle of slave owners who built grand country houses and filled them with luxuries. The forces set in motion by the slave and plantation trades seeped into almost every aspect of the economy and society.
Modern capitalism emerged in England in the eighteenth century and ushered in the Industrial Revolution, though scholars have long debated why. Some scholars attribute the causes to technological change while others point to the Protestant ethic, liberal ideas, and cultural change. The Wealth of a Nation reveals the crucial developments in legal and financial institutions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that help to explain this dramatic transformation. It shows how intensive military conflicts overseas forced the state to undertake major financial, administrative, legal, and political reforms. The resulting institutional changes not only bolstered the British war machine—they fostered the Industrial Revolution.
