What do you think?
Rate this book
Move UP: Why Some Cultures Advance While Others Don't by Clotaire Rapaille
¿Por qué algunas culturas avanzan y otras no?
La vida es movimiento y la dirección de este movimiento es hacia arriba. Si todos debemos movernos para sobrevivir, vale la pena preguntarse: ¿qué factores de nuestro entorno nos impulsan a movernos y cuáles, por el contrario, nos detienen? ¿Por qué algunas personas tienen la oportunidad de moverse hacia donde quieren y otras no? ¿Por qué ciertas sociedades evolucionan y otras no? Para responder a estas interrogantes, los autores del libro estudiaron los códigos culturales y el comportamiento Bio-Lógico de 71 países para desarrollar un índice de que permite medir la movilidad social dentro de estas sociedades.
Andrés Roemer y Clotaire Rapaille señalan que las culturas más exitosas son aquellas que han sabido preservar los mejores aspectos de su tradición, al mismo tiempo que han estado dispuestas a innovar y buscar nuevos horizontes. Se trata de sociedades abiertas al cambio y sin temor al statu quo. Otra clave del éxito evolutivo de las sociedades es el equilibrio entre el aspecto biológico (determinado por cuatro factores: supervivencia, sexo, seguridad y superación) y el aspecto cultural. El reto, concluyen los autores, es aprender a armonizar nuestros instintos (nuestro cerebro reptiliano) con nuestras emociones (nuestro cerebro límbico) y nuestra lógica (el neocórtex).
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION If we all know we must move to survive, shouldn’t we ask ourselves which factors in our environment propel us and which halt us? Why do certain societies evolve while others don’t? In this book, Andrés Roemer and Clotaire Rapaille point out that the most successful cultures are those that are not afraid of the status quo: they have learned to preserve the best qualities of their traditions while being open to innovation and to uncovering new horizons. Another key to the success of these societies is the equilibrium between biological and the cultural aspects. The challenge is to harmonize our instincts, our emotions, and our logic.
La vida es movimiento y la dirección de este movimiento es hacia arriba. Si todos debemos movernos para sobrevivir, vale la pena preguntarse: ¿qué factores de nuestro entorno nos impulsan a movernos y cuáles, por el contrario, nos detienen? ¿Por qué algunas personas tienen la oportunidad de moverse hacia donde quieren y otras no? ¿Por qué ciertas sociedades evolucionan y otras no? Para responder a estas interrogantes, los autores del libro estudiaron los códigos culturales y el comportamiento Bio-Lógico de 71 países para desarrollar un índice de que permite medir la movilidad social dentro de estas sociedades.
Andrés Roemer y Clotaire Rapaille señalan que las culturas más exitosas son aquellas que han sabido preservar los mejores aspectos de su tradición, al mismo tiempo que han estado dispuestas a innovar y buscar nuevos horizontes. Se trata de sociedades abiertas al cambio y sin temor al statu quo. Otra clave del éxito evolutivo de las sociedades es el equilibrio entre el aspecto biológico (determinado por cuatro factores: supervivencia, sexo, seguridad y superación) y el aspecto cultural. El reto, concluyen los autores, es aprender a armonizar nuestros instintos (nuestro cerebro reptiliano) con nuestras emociones (nuestro cerebro límbico) y nuestra lógica (el neocórtex).
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION If we all know we must move to survive, shouldn’t we ask ourselves which factors in our environment propel us and which halt us? Why do certain societies evolve while others don’t? In this book, Andrés Roemer and Clotaire Rapaille point out that the most successful cultures are those that are not afraid of the status quo: they have learned to preserve the best qualities of their traditions while being open to innovation and to uncovering new horizons. Another key to the success of these societies is the equilibrium between biological and the cultural aspects. The challenge is to harmonize our instincts, our emotions, and our logic.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
23 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
About the author
Clotaire Rapaille
15 books85 followersDr. Clotaire Rapaille began his career as an academic, studying political and social sciences at The Paris Institute of Political Sciences and social psychology at Paris-Sorbonne University.
One of Dr. Rapaille's students urged his father, a Nestlé employee to attend one of Dr. Rapaille's lectures. In his lecture, Dr. Rapaille covered Paul D. MacLean's theory of the reptilian brain and Konrad Lorenz's theory of psychological imprints. After Dr. Rapaille's lecture, the student's father convinced Rapaille that his psychological approach could help Nestlé sell instant coffee in Japan.
Skeptical, Dr. Rapaille took the challenge. Soon, he saw how Nestlé's approach had ignored imprints (the process by which people establish strong emotional connections at an early age, which affect the psyche and influence decision making into adulthood). Without any early association with coffee, the tea-drinking Japanese consumers were unlikely to buy Nestlé's instant coffee.
Dr. Rapaille's work has since revolved around the way psychological imprints and the reptilian brain inform consumer decisions as people develop these associations on a cultural scale. Rapaille refers to the basic metaphors consumers unconsciously adopt to see products and the world as "culture codes."
Rapaille has advised American presidential candidates and corporations worldwide, touting huge successes that improved the fates of Fortune 500 Companies and more.
One of Dr. Rapaille's students urged his father, a Nestlé employee to attend one of Dr. Rapaille's lectures. In his lecture, Dr. Rapaille covered Paul D. MacLean's theory of the reptilian brain and Konrad Lorenz's theory of psychological imprints. After Dr. Rapaille's lecture, the student's father convinced Rapaille that his psychological approach could help Nestlé sell instant coffee in Japan.
Skeptical, Dr. Rapaille took the challenge. Soon, he saw how Nestlé's approach had ignored imprints (the process by which people establish strong emotional connections at an early age, which affect the psyche and influence decision making into adulthood). Without any early association with coffee, the tea-drinking Japanese consumers were unlikely to buy Nestlé's instant coffee.
Dr. Rapaille's work has since revolved around the way psychological imprints and the reptilian brain inform consumer decisions as people develop these associations on a cultural scale. Rapaille refers to the basic metaphors consumers unconsciously adopt to see products and the world as "culture codes."
Rapaille has advised American presidential candidates and corporations worldwide, touting huge successes that improved the fates of Fortune 500 Companies and more.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 13, 2024
کتاب ایده اولیه خوبی داشت اما به مرور ناامیدکننده شد. یعنی یک سوال مهم و قابل تامل که مطرحه اینه که در بسیاری از فرهنگها یه حس رشد اجتماعی و مادی وجود داره که به میزان سرزندگی و بالندگی اون فرهنگ مرتبطه و این بالندگی فرهنگی از کجا میاد یا اختلاف فرهنگها ناشی از چیه که یه سری با این حس حرکت و بالندگی باعث نوآوری، تغییر در محیط و اثرگذاری روی زندگی شهروندان میشن؟
اما از اینجای بحث با ملغمهای از مسائل بیولوژیک و غریزی سر و کار داریم و برخلاف تصور حرفی از مسائل سیاسی و اجتماعی و فرهنگی و اقتصادی نیست و همه چیز به سطحی فردی فروکاسته شده. همه چیز باید در راستای ارضای نیازهای بیولوژیک باشه تا فرهنگی بالنده داشته باشیم که منجر به نوآوری بشه!! به قول خود نویسندگان کلید بحث در رابطه بین فرهنگ و بیولوژی است. تطبیق با چیزی که بهش مغز خزنده یا ابتدایی ترین بخش مغز گفته میشه
خلاصه انگار برخلاف فروید که آغاز تمدن رو در جایی میدونست که کنترل غرایز صورت میگیرند، اینجا با ایدهای سروکار داریم که اتفاقا برعکس هست و حتی فرهنگ غربی بر اساس برآورده کردن نیازهای بیولوژیک رو سازگارتر با فرهنگهای شرقی میدونه - که فرهنگهایی دارای مشکل هستند - و با چارچوبی که تعریف کردند به نام بقا، سکس، امنیت و موفقیت که در اون همه چیز رو بیولوژیک می دونن حتی چارچوبهای دیگران مثل مازلو رو هم بازتفسیری بیولوژیک میکنند.
بر این اساس از ایده اولیه کتاب دور و دورتر میشیم و با گزارههایی سر و کار پیدا میکنیم که تفسیرهای فردی نویسندگان هستند. مثل اینکه برهنگی عمومی امری مثبت و سالم هست در جامعه (برهنگی مادرزاد) و اگر سکس به حدی ارزون بشه که دسترسی عمومی فراهم بشه میزان چاقی در جامعه خیلی کم میشه چون مثلا مکدونالد اونقدر ارزونه که همه بهش دسترسی دارن و غذا بیشتر میخورن
برزیل به نظر نویسندگان فرهنگ جنسی پیشروی داره - درحالیکه بعید میدونم با معیارهای ابتدایی کتاب همخوان باشه به لحاظ رشد نوآوری و مالی - ژاپنی ها خشن هستند و نیازهای غریزی رو سرکوب میکنن و فرانسویها داشتن بیشتر از یک معشوق در زندگی رو خیلی طبیعی میدونن و مثلا زوجها ساعت ۵ تا ۷ رو به دیدن عشاقشون میرن. یا یک چیزی که باعث سقوط فرهنگی میشه اعتقاد داشتن به جهان پس از مرگه! یا آرژانتینیها به خاطر خوشحالی بعد از گل معروف مارادونا با دست فرهنگ ضعیفی دارن چون دروغ و تقلب رو تشویق میکنند - بدون اینکه انگیزههای سیاسی پشتش رو بدونیم - خلاصه پر از این داستانسراییها و کلیشهها و ابراز وجودهای فردی است برای بیان نظرات یک ذهن کوچک
اما از اینجای بحث با ملغمهای از مسائل بیولوژیک و غریزی سر و کار داریم و برخلاف تصور حرفی از مسائل سیاسی و اجتماعی و فرهنگی و اقتصادی نیست و همه چیز به سطحی فردی فروکاسته شده. همه چیز باید در راستای ارضای نیازهای بیولوژیک باشه تا فرهنگی بالنده داشته باشیم که منجر به نوآوری بشه!! به قول خود نویسندگان کلید بحث در رابطه بین فرهنگ و بیولوژی است. تطبیق با چیزی که بهش مغز خزنده یا ابتدایی ترین بخش مغز گفته میشه
خلاصه انگار برخلاف فروید که آغاز تمدن رو در جایی میدونست که کنترل غرایز صورت میگیرند، اینجا با ایدهای سروکار داریم که اتفاقا برعکس هست و حتی فرهنگ غربی بر اساس برآورده کردن نیازهای بیولوژیک رو سازگارتر با فرهنگهای شرقی میدونه - که فرهنگهایی دارای مشکل هستند - و با چارچوبی که تعریف کردند به نام بقا، سکس، امنیت و موفقیت که در اون همه چیز رو بیولوژیک می دونن حتی چارچوبهای دیگران مثل مازلو رو هم بازتفسیری بیولوژیک میکنند.
بر این اساس از ایده اولیه کتاب دور و دورتر میشیم و با گزارههایی سر و کار پیدا میکنیم که تفسیرهای فردی نویسندگان هستند. مثل اینکه برهنگی عمومی امری مثبت و سالم هست در جامعه (برهنگی مادرزاد) و اگر سکس به حدی ارزون بشه که دسترسی عمومی فراهم بشه میزان چاقی در جامعه خیلی کم میشه چون مثلا مکدونالد اونقدر ارزونه که همه بهش دسترسی دارن و غذا بیشتر میخورن
برزیل به نظر نویسندگان فرهنگ جنسی پیشروی داره - درحالیکه بعید میدونم با معیارهای ابتدایی کتاب همخوان باشه به لحاظ رشد نوآوری و مالی - ژاپنی ها خشن هستند و نیازهای غریزی رو سرکوب میکنن و فرانسویها داشتن بیشتر از یک معشوق در زندگی رو خیلی طبیعی میدونن و مثلا زوجها ساعت ۵ تا ۷ رو به دیدن عشاقشون میرن. یا یک چیزی که باعث سقوط فرهنگی میشه اعتقاد داشتن به جهان پس از مرگه! یا آرژانتینیها به خاطر خوشحالی بعد از گل معروف مارادونا با دست فرهنگ ضعیفی دارن چون دروغ و تقلب رو تشویق میکنند - بدون اینکه انگیزههای سیاسی پشتش رو بدونیم - خلاصه پر از این داستانسراییها و کلیشهها و ابراز وجودهای فردی است برای بیان نظرات یک ذهن کوچک
July 30, 2019
Awful. Truly awful. So awful I felt the need to start conversations with strangers just tell them how awful it was.
July 21, 2016
This book promises to explain why some cultures are more successful than others, arguably one of the central questions of economics. Why is it that sooner nations are richer, safer, freer, etc. Definitely one of the big questions and any meaningful answer is going to be very complex. So I started the book with very minimal expectations.
Turns out the book doesn't answer much of it. Or even attempt to flesh out a defensible thesis or argument of any sort. Almost the whole book is full of generalities and questionable statements phrased as assertions to be taken as fact. Lots of stereotypes are peddled and cause is not separated from consequence. The only good ideas in the book I found were those that predate it--like the old brain, new brain idea from The Happiness Hypothesis.
Wholly unscientific and cursory look at the questions or strives to answer. The book is a disaster.
Turns out the book doesn't answer much of it. Or even attempt to flesh out a defensible thesis or argument of any sort. Almost the whole book is full of generalities and questionable statements phrased as assertions to be taken as fact. Lots of stereotypes are peddled and cause is not separated from consequence. The only good ideas in the book I found were those that predate it--like the old brain, new brain idea from The Happiness Hypothesis.
Wholly unscientific and cursory look at the questions or strives to answer. The book is a disaster.
April 14, 2014
At first, i was dubious about the sense with which Dr. Dawkins praised the book. Now i'm certain he didn't mean to compliment it. While the authors make clear several times that this book is not a rigorous academic or scientific research, they attempt to link their thesis with previous works from C.G. Jung, Freud, Maslow and Dr. Rapaille himself among others in order to convey it some credibility.
In the end the superficial mix of several indicators along with simplistic formulas, turn their new metric (the R^2 index) into nothing more but an intellectual amusement. All in all, despite sokme interesting ideas presented here and there, the book lacks of relevant and meaningful content, specially considering the anticipation with which it was announced.
In the end the superficial mix of several indicators along with simplistic formulas, turn their new metric (the R^2 index) into nothing more but an intellectual amusement. All in all, despite sokme interesting ideas presented here and there, the book lacks of relevant and meaningful content, specially considering the anticipation with which it was announced.
February 1, 2020
It's a mishmash of cognitive science, cultural anthropology and narrative history, packaged as a scientific treatise. Big claims were made with scanty and selective evidence. It's a classic Davos book, reads like a PowerPoint and written for the Conference Circuits. In one way, this book is handy though: It's a summary of fashionable neo-liberal cultural determinism. It helpfully defines the much-used word 'liberty' - it's the freedom to follow your reptilian brain (and to have as much sex as you want to have, among other things). But otherwise, this is like reading a few Facebook posts rather than a book.
May 7, 2020
[ Move up ]
Un libro excepcional
Indispensables para quien quiere mejorar
Sin duda todo empieza en uno mismo,
No es cuestión de escapar y juagar a otros es cuestión de cambiar y mejorar uno, para así cambiar la cultura, pero si pese a eso quieres seguir mejorando y dónde estás te falta "espacio" oportunidades, te limitan para crecer, entonces cambia de lugar y muévete a otro lugar o país
Pero nuca dejes de moverte,
La vida es movimiento
Move up
Ideal para todos
Desde un maestro hasta el presidente de la nación.
Un libro excepcional
Indispensables para quien quiere mejorar
Sin duda todo empieza en uno mismo,
No es cuestión de escapar y juagar a otros es cuestión de cambiar y mejorar uno, para así cambiar la cultura, pero si pese a eso quieres seguir mejorando y dónde estás te falta "espacio" oportunidades, te limitan para crecer, entonces cambia de lugar y muévete a otro lugar o país
Pero nuca dejes de moverte,
La vida es movimiento
Move up
Ideal para todos
Desde un maestro hasta el presidente de la nación.
December 1, 2021
A disappointment.
If you have the habit of reading a few pages of introduction or First chapter before choosing to buy a book. This one will disappoint you. It starts with a robusting comparison of income of two countries then just a crap.
The book starts like pure economics but immediately falls into behavioural economics.
One more book about the brain and its usages but nothing you are going to take away.
If you have the habit of reading a few pages of introduction or First chapter before choosing to buy a book. This one will disappoint you. It starts with a robusting comparison of income of two countries then just a crap.
The book starts like pure economics but immediately falls into behavioural economics.
One more book about the brain and its usages but nothing you are going to take away.
May 28, 2017
Me gustó, muy interesante.
July 30, 2020
Me pareció que algunos países cambian y prosperan por qué su cultura evoluciona y algunas por este motivo se quedan en el retraso
August 22, 2020
Fun, informative, and interesting. A good short read.
February 1, 2022
Se queda corto con la descripción de las culturas. Es solo una idea general pero Rapaille no revela sus teorías si uno no paga por ello.
February 19, 2023
No leerás nada más que la misma idea replicada y estirada a lo largo de 190 páginas. Con leer las primeras 20 suficiente. Vota con los pies, y avanza en la vida no da más consejos.
December 14, 2016
I first chanced Move Up in one of Melbourne's many bookstores. The name C. Rapaille was very familiar and I remembered reading The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do so many years ago during an employment with a marketing start-up. I bought a copy and set to reading it. And what I can basically say is that Move Up is essentially a (loose) follow-up to Rapaille's previous book, Culture Code on a more economic/political perspective.
The book basically runs on uncovering why some cultures progress faster than others. Rapaille's studies delve into the disjointed relationship between economics and the human biological drives. If at this point, things are starting to sound Freudian, it's because it is. Move Up's main argument is that a lot of existing tensions in nations (economics, civil rights, etc.) can find its roots in an unaddressed culture characteristics often ignored in the pursuit for higher GDPs. At the end of the book, Rapaille makes a case for a Happiness Index and provides charts so you can see where your country ranks. (Mine surprisingly, was in the middle-acceptable range. But it could be outdated data).
Takeaways from Move Up:
1. People move from a culture that's moving down to emigrate to one that's moving up. Basically, one that can meet their cultural and economic needs.
2. There is a strong relationship between culture and biology. The danger arises when cultures crystallize temporary solutions, harden cultural norms and refuse to evolve with current contexts.
3. We could learn a lot about a nation's culture through how they historically engage in war and conquering territories/communities.
4. A culture that moves up is one that identifies the "reptilian" pleasures and incorporates it into aspects such as development, food, sex, culture, etc.
5. When cultures do change, it occurs via very powerful imprints. Eg. Formation of European Union after World War 2.
6. There is a difference between safety and security. Safety relates to the female (internal environment) and security relates to the male (external environment).
7. There is much to be said for property rights, so that the population can free up its inventive potential and puts resource at work. Basically, enhance competition.
8. People vote with their feet. Humans are inclined to migrate/move to where they believe they can be successful. Even if the risks are high.
At times, Move Up can read like a little bit of too common-sense, or even Freudian. Nothing new is being mentioned in the book, but it does serve as an interesting lens as to how to think about how our basic biological drives fit into the larger colder eye of economics. An interesting read, but not a breakthrough that same way Culture Code was.
The book basically runs on uncovering why some cultures progress faster than others. Rapaille's studies delve into the disjointed relationship between economics and the human biological drives. If at this point, things are starting to sound Freudian, it's because it is. Move Up's main argument is that a lot of existing tensions in nations (economics, civil rights, etc.) can find its roots in an unaddressed culture characteristics often ignored in the pursuit for higher GDPs. At the end of the book, Rapaille makes a case for a Happiness Index and provides charts so you can see where your country ranks. (Mine surprisingly, was in the middle-acceptable range. But it could be outdated data).
Takeaways from Move Up:
1. People move from a culture that's moving down to emigrate to one that's moving up. Basically, one that can meet their cultural and economic needs.
2. There is a strong relationship between culture and biology. The danger arises when cultures crystallize temporary solutions, harden cultural norms and refuse to evolve with current contexts.
3. We could learn a lot about a nation's culture through how they historically engage in war and conquering territories/communities.
4. A culture that moves up is one that identifies the "reptilian" pleasures and incorporates it into aspects such as development, food, sex, culture, etc.
5. When cultures do change, it occurs via very powerful imprints. Eg. Formation of European Union after World War 2.
6. There is a difference between safety and security. Safety relates to the female (internal environment) and security relates to the male (external environment).
7. There is much to be said for property rights, so that the population can free up its inventive potential and puts resource at work. Basically, enhance competition.
8. People vote with their feet. Humans are inclined to migrate/move to where they believe they can be successful. Even if the risks are high.
At times, Move Up can read like a little bit of too common-sense, or even Freudian. Nothing new is being mentioned in the book, but it does serve as an interesting lens as to how to think about how our basic biological drives fit into the larger colder eye of economics. An interesting read, but not a breakthrough that same way Culture Code was.
March 6, 2017
Gave this book two stars because at least it was an easy ready (pretty well translated) and had some amusing facts in the first 60-70 pages about evolutionary psychiatry that I enjoyed.
Pro's: very easy and quick to read. Amusing on a long train ride or flight
Con's:
1. opinions and stereotypes peddled as fact (at some point they even urged readers to look beyond cultural stereotypes but then spent the remaining ~100 pages generalizing everything into very simplistic stereotypes that had the depth of a wikipedia article).
2. The book completely doesn't answer it's thesis of why cultures move up. They create an index, which takes 100 pages to define (and is largely supported by the above mentioned anecdotes about various cultures). Meanwhile, in the last 15 pages of the book we discover that 50% of this index is qualitative - i.e., opinion. That means that at best it's an auto regressive function and at worse just mere nonsense. Basically their index says Switzerland allows individuals to "move up" because the country has a culture that allows people to move up - great insight.
Pro's: very easy and quick to read. Amusing on a long train ride or flight
Con's:
1. opinions and stereotypes peddled as fact (at some point they even urged readers to look beyond cultural stereotypes but then spent the remaining ~100 pages generalizing everything into very simplistic stereotypes that had the depth of a wikipedia article).
2. The book completely doesn't answer it's thesis of why cultures move up. They create an index, which takes 100 pages to define (and is largely supported by the above mentioned anecdotes about various cultures). Meanwhile, in the last 15 pages of the book we discover that 50% of this index is qualitative - i.e., opinion. That means that at best it's an auto regressive function and at worse just mere nonsense. Basically their index says Switzerland allows individuals to "move up" because the country has a culture that allows people to move up - great insight.
January 5, 2017
No meaningful insight. all clichés.
July 6, 2014
Move Up es un libro que debe leerse completito con todo y bibliografía y notas de autor. Su ágil redacción causa, incluso, vértigo al pasar de un concepto a otro y puedes, por momentos imaginar a Andrés Roemer sobre un banco haciendo eco de la lectura. La anotación constante del título y su traducción en paréntesis me pareció inadecuada. Al igual que la repetición de ciertas ideas, puesto que la reiteración corresponde más al terreno auditivo del video. Pero aún así, fue un deleite adentrarnos en cuestiones de patrones culturales, creencias y tradiciones que nos condicionan culturalmente a ser como somos sin ningún cuestionamiento. El reconocimiento como seres bio y lógicos (me gusta más así que con el guión y la L mayúscula) nos sitúa en el terreno del ser animal, ser emocional y el ser razón. Tres cerebros para tres naturalezas en un sólo ser que se ve modelado por su ambiente local físico, social y como parte de una nación. Patrones culturales que asumimos sin cuestionarlos y que los vivimos, y algunas veces, sufrimos. Pero, que en todo caso nos hacen avanzar, limitarnos y, lo más tenebroso como mexicanos, permanecer en el limbo, en la pasividad. Por ello, mi recomendación es movernos antes de que esa pasividad encharque y el agua nos llegue al cuello.
December 30, 2014
Muy pocos ejemplos y poco sustancia, pero la idea gneral es buena y muy atinada
May 16, 2015
Darwinismo social y exaltación del neoliberalismo, los ejes rectores de este libro.
Read
January 1, 2016Keep Moving
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews