A Novel Framework for the Study of Culturally Evolved Chivalric Disposition in Multiple Social Science Applications

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 10 Sayı: 2, 1 - 18, 31.12.2024

Matthew Muscat-ınglott

https://doi.org/10.46442/intjcss.1428234

Öz

Some scholars have argued that medieval-style chivalry has made a far greater imprint on recent history than is commonly recognised. Themes surrounding chivalry and knights in shining armour meanwhile remain popular and influential in contemporary culture. Yet, current definitions of the phenomenon associate it with a fairly limited range of paternalistic behaviours, like paying bills or opening doors for others. The paper actively challenges this view by arguing that the impact of an extant widespread uptake of chivalrous values has been significantly underestimated in areas of vital interest to social scientists. It furthermore proposes a novel theoretical approach for understanding chivalric disposition as a function of cultural evolutionary processes, with roots extending at least as far back as the classical era. Employing an initial scale-validation strategy, the study began with a pool of 48 items generated deductively from the literature on medieval chivalry reflecting its key prevailing characteristics, and presenting them via online questionnaire to a sample of 242 participants. The resulting data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, internal reliability testing, and in-depth qualitative assessment. In a presentation and discussion of the findings, the paper offers a revised definition of chivalry as an evolving set of cultural variants comprising three mutually constitutive, inextricably linked dimensions, along with a working 21-item chivalric disposition scale. The instrument is proposed for additional validation and refinement, and ultimately, to provide impetus for further interdisciplinary research on the broader effects of chivalric disposition across a wide range of potential social science applications.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Chivalry, chivalrous values, chivalric disposition, chivalric culture complex, cultural evolution

Çoklu Sosyal Bilim Uygulamalarında Kültürel Olarak Gelişen Şövalyelik Eğiliminin İncelenmesine Yönelik Yeni Bir Çerçeve

Öz

Bazı akademisyenler, ortaçağ tarzı şövalyeliğin yakın tarih üzerinde genel olarak kabul edildiğinden çok daha büyük bir iz bıraktığını iddia ediyor. Bu arada şövalyelik ve parlak zırhlı şövalyeleri çevreleyen temalar çağdaş kültürde popüler ve etkili olmaya devam ediyor. Ancak bu olgunun mevcut tanımları, onu fatura ödeme veya başkalarına kapı açma gibi oldukça sınırlı sayıda paternalist davranışlarla ilişkilendirmektedir. Makale, şövalyelik değerlerinin günümüzde yaygın bir şekilde benimsenmesinin etkisinin, sosyal bilimciler için hayati önem taşıyan alanlarda önemli ölçüde hafife alındığını ileri sürerek bu görüşe aktif bir şekilde karşı çıkıyor. Ayrıca, şövalyelik eğilimini kültürel evrimsel süreçlerin bir fonksiyonu olarak anlamak için kökleri en azından klasik çağa kadar uzanan yeni bir teorik yaklaşım önermektedir. Başlangıçta bir ölçek doğrulama stratejisi uygulayan çalışma, ortaçağ şövalyeliğine ilişkin literatürden tümdengelimli olarak oluşturulan, onun temel hakim özelliklerini yansıtan 48 maddelik bir havuzla başladı ve bunları çevrimiçi anket aracılığıyla 242 katılımcıdan oluşan bir numuneye sundu. Ortaya çıkan veriler, keşfedici ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizlerine, iç güvenilirlik testlerine ve derinlemesine niteliksel değerlendirmeye tabi tutuldu. Bulguların sunumu ve tartışılmasında makale, 21 maddelik şövalyelik eğilimi ölçeğinin yanı sıra, karşılıklı olarak kurucu, ayrılmaz bir şekilde bağlantılı üç boyut içeren, gelişen bir kültürel değişkenler dizisi olarak şövalyeliğin gözden geçirilmiş bir tanımını sunmaktadır. Araç, ek doğrulama ve iyileştirme için ve sonuçta şövalye eğiliminin geniş bir potansiyel sosyal bilim uygulamaları yelpazesinde daha geniş etkilerine ilişkin daha fazla disiplinlerarası araştırmaya ivme sağlamak için önerilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Chivalry, chivalrous values, chivalric disposition, chivalric culture complex, cultural evolution

Kaynakça

• Atkins, H. G. (1996). Chivalry of Germany. In: Prestage, E. (Ed.) The History of Civilization: Chivalry – Its Historical Significance and Civilizing Influence. New York: Routledge, pp. 93-126.
• Attard, J. (2022). The Knights of Malta. Malta: BDL.
• Balot, R. K. (2004). The Dark Side of Democratic Courage. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 71(1), 73-106.
• Banner, P. (2015). Knights in shining armor: The impact of the Middle Ages on the Modern Western perception of war. Prologue: A First-Year Writing Journal, 7(1), 5-16.
• Bartley, D. F. & Robitschek, C. (2000). Career Exploration: A Multivariate Analysis of Predictors. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 56(1), 63-81.
• Barthélemy, D. (2018). Modern Mythologies of Medieval Chivalry. In The Medieval World (pp. 249-263). London: Routledge.
• Bélanger, J. J., Schumpe, B. M., Nociti, N., Zeigler-Hill, V. & Shackelford, T. K. (2018) Self-sacrifice for a Cause: A Review and an Integrative Model. In: Zeigler-Hill, V. & Shackelford, T. K. (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Personality and Individual Differences, 465-485.
• Bellamy, A. J. (2005). Is the war on terror just? International Relations, 19(3), 275-296.
• Boyd, R. & Richerson, P. J. (1985). Culture and the Evolutionary Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Boyd, R. & Richerson, P. J. (2011). Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Black, J. E. & Reynolds, W. M. (2016). Development, reliability, and validity of the Moral Identity Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 97(1), 120–129.
• Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. & Feldman, M.W. (1981) Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach. Vol. 16 of Monographs in Population Biology.
• Cohen, R. (2011). Knights of Malta 1523 – 1798. Malta: Wise Owl.
• De Charny, G. (2005). A Knight’s Own Book of Chivalry. In: Karras, R. M. & Peters, E. (Eds.) The Middle Ages Series. Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Frantzen, A. J. (2004). Bloody Good: Chivalry, Sacrifice, and the Great War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• French, S. (2017). The Code of the Warrior: Ideals of Warrior Cultures Throughout History. Journal of Character and Leadership Development, 4(1).
• Gervais, K. (2014). This is my Sparta! 300 (1998), 300 (2007), and Three (2014). Melbourne Historical Journal, 42(2), 3-20.
• Goethals, G. R. & Allison, S. T. (2012). Making Heroes: The Construction of Courage, Competence, and Virtue. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 46(1), 183-235.
• Grabe, M. E., Trager, K. D., Lear, M. & Rauch, J. (2006). Gender in crime news: A case study test of the chivalry hypothesis. Mass Communication & Society, 9(2), 137-163.
• Graham, S. (2013). Cities and the ‘War on Terror'. In: Indefensible Space (pp. 1-28). Routledge.
• Haag, M. (2014). The Tragedy of the Templars: The Rise and Fall of the Crusader States. UK: CPI Group.
• Hamm, B. & Smandych, R. (2005). Cultural Imperialism: Essays on the Political Economy of Cultural Domination. Canada: Broadview Press.
• Hearnshaw, F. J. C. (1996). Chivalry and its Place in History. In: Prestage, E. (Ed.) The History of Civilization: Chivalry – Its Historical Significance and Civilizing Influence. New York: Routledge, pp. 1-36.
• Henneberry, S. (2008). Modern Leonidas: Spartan Military Culture in a Modern American Context. Senior Honors Projects. Paper 105.
• Henrich, J. & Gil-White, F. J. (2001). The evolution of prestige: Freely Conferred Deference as a Mechanism for Enhancing the Benefits of Cultural Transmission. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22(3), 165-196.
• Henrich, J., Chudek, M. & Boyd, R. (2015). The Big Man Mechanism: How Prestige Fosters Cooperation and Creates Prosocial Leaders. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1683), 20150013.
• Herman, E. S. & Chomsky, N. (1994). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Vintage Books.
• Jacob, E. F. (1996). The Beginnings of Medieval Chivalry. In: Prestage, E. (Ed.) The History of Civilization: Chivalry – Its Historical Significance and Civilizing Influence. New York: Routledge, pp. 37-62.
• Kaeuper, R. W. (2005). Historical Introduction to the Text: A Knight’s Own Book of Chivalry. In: Karras, R. M. & Peters, E. (Eds.) The Middle Ages Series. Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Kateb, G. (2004). Courage as a Virtue. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 71(1), 39-72.
• Kim, H. Y. (2013). Statistical Notes for Clinical Researchers: Assessing Normal Distribution (2) using Skewness and Kurtosis. Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics, 38(1), 52-54.
• Laland, K. N. (2017). Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Modern Mind. Princeton University Press.
• Luengo Kanacri, B. P., Eisenberg, N., Tramontano, C., Zuffiano, A., Caprara, M. G., Regner, E., Zhu, L., Pastorelli, C. & Caprara, G. V. (2021). Measuring Prosocial Behaviors: Psychometric Properties and Cross-national Validation of the Prosociality Scale in Five Countries. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(1), 693174.
• MacCallum, R. C., Widaman, K. F., Zhang, S. & Hong S. (1999). Sample Size in Factor Analysis. Psychological Methods, 4(1), 84-99.
• MacInnes, I. A. (2020). All I Ever Wanted Was to Fight for a Lord I Believed in. But the Good Lords Are Dead and the Rest Are Monsters”: Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister, and the Chivalric “Other. Queenship and the Women of Westeros: Female Agency and Advice in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire, pp. 79-103.
• McCarthy, B. (2022). Warrior values: A socio-historical Survey. In Male violence (pp. 105-120). Routledge.
• Napier, G. (2017). The A-Z of the Knights Templar: A Guide to their History and Legacy. UK: The History Press.
• Nicholson, H. (2010). A Brief History of the Knights Templar. Philadelphia: Running Press.
• Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., Gervais, W. M., Willard, A. K., McNamara, R. A., Slingerland, E. & Henrich, J. (2016). The Cultural Evolution of Prosocial Religions. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, e1.
• Nowotny, J. (2016). The Human Shell: The Iron Man Armour as an Agent of Heroism. Helden. Heroes. Héros, 4(1), 65-78.
• OED (2023). Oxford English Dictionary [online]. Available online at: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
• Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Hand- book and Classification. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Prestage, E. (1996). The History of Civilization: Chivalry – Its Historical Significance and Civilizing Influence. New York: Routledge.
• Richerson, P., Baldini, R., Bell, A. V., Demps, K., Frost, K., Hillis, V., Mathew, S., Newton, E. K., Naar, N., Newson, L., Ross, C., Smaldino, P. E., Waring, T. M. & Zefferman, M. (2016). Cultural Group Selection Plays an Essential Role in Explaining Human Cooperation: A Sketch of the Evidence. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, e30.
• Saul, N. (2011). Chivalry in Medieval England. Harvard University Press.
• Scaglione, A. (2023). Knights at Court: Courtliness, Chivalry, and Courtesy from Ottonian Germany to the Italian Renaissance. California: University of California Press.
• Shears, F. S. (1996). The Chivalry of France. In: Prestage, E. (Ed.) The History of Civilization: Chivalry – Its Historical Significance and Civilizing Influence. New York: Routledge, pp. 64-92.
• Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1).
• Souza, J. & Bingham, P. M. (2019) The New Human Science: Sound, New Evolutionary Theory GIves Us Ultimate Causal Understanding of Human Origins, Behavior, History, Politics, and Economics. In: Wilson, D. S., Geher, G., Mativetsky H. & Gallup, A. C. (Eds.) Darwin’s Roadmap to the Curriculum: Evolutionary Studies in Higher Education. Oxford University Press, New York, USA, pp. 117-156.
• Takeda, S. (2021). Chivalry and Bushido, the Samurai code (Pre-print). Available at: file:///home/matthew/Downloads/preprints201812.0118.v3.pdf
• Terry-Roisin, E. A. (2019). Chivalry, Renaissance Concept of. In: M. Sgarbi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. UK: Springer.
• Viki, G. T., Abrams, D. & Hutchison, P. (2003). The “True” Romantic: Benevolent Sexism and Paternal Chivalry. Sex Roles, 49(9/10), 533-538
• West, C., Baker, A., Ehrich, J. F., Woodcock, S., Bokosmaty, S., Howard, S. J., & Eady, M. J. (2020). Teacher Disposition Scale (TDS): Construction and Psychometric Validation. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(2), 185-200.
• Wheaton, B., Muthen, B., Alwin, D. F. & Summers, G. F. (1977). Assessing Reliability and Stability in Panel Models. Sociological Methodology, 8(1), 84–136.