A Most Dangerous Tale: the Universality, Evolution, and Function of Blood Libels
Blood libels are narratives about Jews and Christians, featuring an accusation that a child or a woman had been kidnapped and assaulted due to religious or economic goals. Blood libel-like narratives, however, are not only found in Judeo-Christian history; they appear in many cultures. Using the fra...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2024
|
| In: |
Journal of cognition and culture
Year: 2024, Volume: 24, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 182-206 |
| Further subjects: | B
Conspiracy Theories
B coalitional psychology B Cultural Attraction Theory B Evolutionary Psychology B QAnon conspiracy theory |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Blood libels are narratives about Jews and Christians, featuring an accusation that a child or a woman had been kidnapped and assaulted due to religious or economic goals. Blood libel-like narratives, however, are not only found in Judeo-Christian history; they appear in many cultures. Using the framework of Cultural Attraction Theory, the paper considers their evolution, and identifies testable factors of attraction. The paper makes two claims regarding the morphology and the function of these ancient tales. Firstly, narratives about outgroups tend to evolve towards the shape of a blood libel, as it taps into an optimum number of universal cognitive preferences. The correspondence with the evolved features of the mind contributes to the success of the narrative in different cultures and time periods. Secondly, these narratives function as coalition signals. Upon calling ingroup members into action against an outgroup, the blood libel unifies audiences before engaging in exclusionary action. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1568-5373 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of cognition and culture
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685373-12340186 |