cultural theory
Cultural Theory (sometimes known as 'the cultural theory of risk') was developed by Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky. It suggests that people tend to perceive danger and respond to risk in different ways and that these different ways tend to encourage the development of different social structures. It goes on to suggest that these social structures can be viewed in terms of 'group' and 'grid' - how cooperative they are and how much control from above is exercised.
From all this, Cultural Theory argues that there are five ways of organizing (voices): the hierarchical (e.g. the Government), the egalitarian (e.g. Greenpeace), the individualistic (e.g. the markets), the fatalistic (nothing will make any difference) and the autonomous (deliberate avoidance of the coercive involvement in the other four). Each approach is a way of disorganising the other four, and without the other four it would have nothing to organize itself against.
Follow the links below to Triarchy publications in this field. Articles and Idioticon entries are available for you to read online, free of charge:
Book
Organising and Disorganising: A Dynamic and Non-Linear Theory of Institutional Emergence and its Implications (2008; 160 pages)
An accessible, practical guide to Cultural Theory with case studies of UNEP, the UK Department for International Development, Shell Oil, The World Bank, Nepal, Arsenal Football Club.
Articles
Why the International Panel on Climate Change has lost credibility
An application of Cultural Theory to the climate change debate, by Michael Thompson
Cultural Theory and Triarchy TheoryA brief analysis of the two approaches, their overlaps and differences.
Idioticon Entries
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