Cultural Determinism

Cultural determinism is a theoretical perspective that asserts that the content and level of human development are entirely determined by the culture to which an individual belongs. The history of cultural determinism can be traced back to the philosophical debate over the origins of human development in the seventeenth century, known as the nature versus nurture debate. René Descartes emphasized innate ideas, while John Locke argued that the mind at birth is a blank slate, and all knowledge of the mind comes from experience. This marked the first philosophical emphasis on the role of postnatal factors in individual development, which inherently includes sociocultural factors.

In the early twentieth century, German psychologist Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt, in his work Folk Psychology, aimed to explore the collective psychology of humans. He discussed higher mental processes by examining language, art, mythology, religion, customs, law, morality, and other cultural elements, linking human...