Beyond Culture

Beyond Culture’s Introduction posits that the population/environmental crisis and the relational crisis between humans will propel the world into “disaster” unless humans learn to cooperate on a mass scale and regulate consumption. To do so, humans must transcend the limits of individual cultures that preclude the working together of peoples across nations and societies. Communication and true understanding of others will help achieve these goals.

Hall questions why people are hard on themselves and do not use their talents wisely, pointing out that such disparaging behavior can be seen in religion, folklore, and philosophy. Hall differentiates himself from Sigmund Freud, who argued that to facilitate harmonious living, “basic energies” need to be repressed and “libidinal energy” needs to be sublimated into the creative drives that form modern institutions. In Hall’s eyes, people began to “err in judgment” after they evolved their extensions, a term Hall uses to refer to language, tools, institutions, or anything that enhances a function of an organism without changing said organism. This led to humans getting caught in a web of “extension transference,” which refers to the tendency to transfer familiar meanings or understandings from one cultural context to another. Hall proposes a “massive cultural literacy movement” to improve understanding of other peoples, cultures, and the quality of life (7).