mythosociologyMythosociology is the study of knowledge assembled along women's and men's lines of communication. The mythosociological tradition employs a nature-centred approach to social culture in contrast with the human-centred approach of mythology and sociology. Evidence is examined from the oral, artistic and ceremonial traditions developed in ancient times to the modern techniques of written and electronic communication. Human communities emerged with the mythosociological method as celebrated in surviving indigenous traditions.Women's business and men's business is considered the consequence of progenitor female and mutant male archetypes celebrated in creation mythology. Women's and men's archetypes explain ecological cycles of social culture comprising phases of emergence, emancipation and conclusion evident in the 50,000 year mythosociological record.
Mythosociology achieves objectivity by formulating principles of human behaviour from studies of male and female activity across all species, applied subjectively with humans in situ. Sociologists Ross Eschleman, Barbara Cashion and Lawrence Basirico (1993:63) suggest the study of human social behavior and society presents a particular problem of observer bias, since "sociologists are part of the societies they observe, which makes it extremely difficult for them to prevent bias from affecting their perceptions". The mythosociological solution is to broaden the basis of inquiry, a method Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) adopted with the analysis of canine behavior in the understanding of linkage between stimulus and response which gave insight into the human mind.
The inclusion of principles of social behavior in nature in the study of human and society, the nature-centred approach, optimises objectivity. Application of the mythosociological method in studies of religion, sociology, law, anthropology and the ancient record of Arnhem Land rock art in northern Australia gives insight into the nature-centred world view.
From mythosociological origins, social theory became human-centred under the influence of cycles of social culture corresponding with phases of patriarchy, emancipation and collapse as with the rise and fall of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Rome, the Renaissance and Industrialisation. As cross-cultural researcher John Mitchell (1975:6) suggests, "[c]ivilisation is created by men in defiance of human nature". Mythology and sociology consider human behavior apart from behavior in the natural world. Mortimer Adler (1978:7) explains the view of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384-322BC).
"In the scale of natural things, the animate is a higher form of existence than the inanimate; animals are a higher form of life than plants; and human life is the highest form of life on earth."An emerging cycle of globalisation offers the opportunity of a return to the nature-centred approach informing the provision of sustainable global governance. Human-centred analysis corresponds with the social agenda of the analyst, the bane of social theory. Mythosociology restores scientific validity to social theory from which principles of behavior can be determined and applied for the benefit of all, above and beyond personal interest.
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References:Women and Men:Eschleman, Ross J.; Cashion, Barbara G.; and Basirico, Lawrence A. (1993) Sociology - an introduction. 4th edition. New York: Harper Collins.Men:Adler, Mortimer J. (1978) Aristotle for Everybody. New York: MacMillan.Mitchell, John (1975) The Earth Spirit - Its Ways, Shrines and Mysteries. London: Thames and Hudson.2mf.netcopyright brigitte unicorn and philip mckeon 2004-10 ... updated april,2010
