(Journal Article) Relative to their perceived importance in international and domestic politics, civilizations are radically understudied by social scientists. One possible cause is that existing research on civilizations is too often based on outmoded primordialist assumptions about the nature of identity that at least partly trace back to Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” paradigm. A new theoretical framework is proposed for understanding civilizations based on important postprimordialist research, including in human psychology. This approach not only helps us understand the appeal and spread of Huntingtonian ideas, but generates fresh predictions that can be tested and developed as part of a new research program. […]
See the full article © Journal of Civilization Studies (v.1, n.1, January 2014, pp.21-39)
