Routledge Handbook of Strategic Culture

5 Religion and Strategic Culture

Kerry M. Kartchner

DOI: 10.4324/9781003010302-7

Introduction

Human beings are not born with culture. They are enculturated through association with family, community, tribes, and organizations. Likewise, societies are not created from whole cloth with fully developed notions of self and others, or of values, expectations of appropriate or inappropriate behavior, action templates, or lenses for perception and reasoning. They acquire these from many sources, including history, geography, engagement with other cultures, drought, flooding, other environmental conditions, and even experiences with disease and plagues.¹ This chapter argues that one of the main sources of strategic culture is often overlooked even ...