A Cultural Turn in Contemporary Studies of Historical Dynamics of Well-being

Abstract

One of the key interdisciplinary “meeting points” of economic history, anthropology, and human biology has become the study of the dynamics and variations of well-being on the basis of anthropometric data. The key anthropometric indicator — the mean height — best reflects such characteristics of living conditions as the quantity and quality of nutrition, health status, morbidity, the severity of work, and the environment. Mean height is especially useful in cases where information about incomes, prices, life expectancy, etc. is not available or reliable: communities in the past, cultures with a large share of the traditional and informal economy, the importance of informal social networks. In order to correctly use data on mean height, it is necessary to take into account that it is the result of genetic, environmental, material, social, and cultural influences. The article presents an analysis of how the cultural factor is identified, taken into account, and interpreted in anthropometric studies of the dynamics of well-being. It discusses, in particular: food traditions and related features of the economy; demographic models; family structure, including models of care, upbringing, and gender relations; religious attitudes and practices; social institutions and stratification. The article concludes that without taking culture into account, a comprehensive interpretation of the relationship between anthropometric data and the standard of living is impossible, as is the correct use of such an indicator as mean height to study the dynamics of well-being. The current research characterizes particular attention to cultural models and practices in contemporary historical anthropometric studies of the dynamics of well-being as a cultural turn.