What Are the Duties of a Cultural Theory of Duties?

Abstract

Moghaddam, Slocum, Finkel, Mor and HarrÈ’s (2000) article suggests an interesting and important topic for cultural psychology: duties. Behind this topic, another, more basic issue appears: the requirements that must be fulfilled by a cultural theory of duties (or any other topic). This implicit issue is the focus of the comment. Reading between the lines, we find some questions that seem to lie at the core of present-day efforts to develop a cultural psychology: (a) the kind of links with other social sciences that can support our own conceptual construction; (b) the need for an explicit conception of society and culture as part of our theorizing; and (c) the effort to locate our contributions as part of ongoing common concerns within our scientific field. Consequences of not complying with these duties are shown.