"Ethnic Identity, Cultural Variation and Processes of Change: Rethinking Standardization and Orthopraxy"

Speaker: Melissa Brown Assistant Professor of Anthropological Sciences, Stanford University

What held late imperial China together? James L. Watson viewed late imperial Han culture as relatively uniform due to successive state regimes and local elites emphasizing standardization of practices (orthopraxy) rather than beliefs or ideas. He suggested that cultural unity derived from standardization was a major element of what held Chinese society together. Ethnographic evidence, however, about sinocization suggests there was less standardization than previously believed. Still, orthopraxy offers insights into the process of social change. It raises questions about the Weberian-derived interpretive assumption that cultural ideas are the primary motivation for human actions.