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What causes a certain society to have a certain aesthetic taste in architecture?

In other words, why is there so less scope of diversity and experimentation in a local architecture? British, Greek, Indian, American.. why are the old monuments built by these civilizations so identifiable?

Public Comments

1. Simply - we have lost the great dictators and slave masters of the world- Look at the past great monuments- by whom were they built and how. The designers were those catering to leaders of enormous egos and who could afford to build them on the back sof slaves. The largest of tadays scultures - are a monument to money. Look at the huge skyscrapers- who builds them - banks/ insurance companies. Diversity abounds- but islimited by your pocket book not by our imagination.
2. All societies have at all times put forward a certain view of the universe and their place in it. Architecture is one form of expression of this view. It is also perhaps the most fundamental form of expression of this view for a society taken as a whole. For example, the vaulted ceilings of medieval churches, and the extraordinary church spires with crosses on top express certain aspects of what medieval christian society believed about the universe. Like: there is a God, He lives up in Heaven, the purpose of human life is to lead a life according to the example of Jesus who died on the Cross, the cross up there being a gateway to heaven and so on. There is a coherence in the worldview, and so there is an identifiable style to the architecture that the worldview requires to make itself visible, and actually lived in the human world. The scope and diversity of architecture is bounded by the worldview which a society is expressing. And, if you think about it, there aren't that many truly different worldviews around. Despite the fact that England and Italy are quite different, they share a common socio-spiritual heritage in christianity, and so there is limited diversity in architectural expression. The same can be said of modern architecture. Tokyo and New York are very different, but if you look at the modern society, with its scientific worldview, those like-minded people who believe in it build the monuments appropriate to glorifying it. And they all look similar because the core values are the same. Architectural expression is limited, not by the means at hand to build, but by the beliefs of those doing the building. Does this way of looking at your question help?