TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - Human Rights and the Triumph of the Individual in World Culture
JO  - Cultural sociology
A1  - Elliott, Michael A.
SP  - 343
EP  - 363
VL  - 1
IS  - 3
N2  - Despite ongoing attention to the subject, cultural accounts of the globalization of human rights are surprisingly scarce. Most accounts describe this phenomenon either as a function of evolutionary progress or the rational/strategic action of states and social movement organizations. As a result, they have difficulty explaining both the moral impulse to act on behalf of human rights and the tremendous expansion of the ideology itself. Borrowing insights from global cultural analysis, I argue that the increasing concern for, and elaboration of, human rights points to a world-cultural environment where the individual is increasingly regarded as sacred and inviolable. To demonstrate this, I explore how human rights have developed historically as a 'cult of the individual' and present new data on their recent worldwide expansion.<p /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 1749-9755
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1749975507082052
ID  - ref1
ER  -