Cross-Cultural Studies of Dream Content

Abstract

In this chapter, we present findings on dream content from a wide range of other nations and cultures. Some of these cultures are very similar to the United States in level of education or degree of urbanization and industrialization. Others are preliterate in nature, including some of the smallest and least structured societies in the world. Whatever the size of the society or its material base, however, the chapter shows there are both similarities and understandable differences in the findings when compared with our norms. The chapter begins with findings from such modern nation-states as the Netherlands, Argentina, India, and Japan, and then turns to findings on dreams collected by cultural anthropologists in past decades from small-scale societies.