Summary on culture
Topic: Culture
by Afeeya, 2018 Cohort
Note: This entry was created in 2018, when the task was to “summarise a key reading”, and so may not represent a good example to model current primer entries on.
Cultural theory, also known as cultural theory of risk, states that social conflict arises because social structures endow individuals with varying worldviews that conflict with each other. Four main worldviews exist, known as solidarities (see Figure 1). This theory is useful in helping understand why complex problems arise and how to resolve such problems.
Particularly, Michael Thompsons Understanding Environmental Values: A Cultural Theory Approach, applies cultural theory to the complex problem of environmental policy. Thompson argues that current environmental policy is flawed and should consider multiple solidarities rather than merely one. Figure 1 outlines how each solidarity would create environmental policy.
Thompson rejects current environmental policys sole emphasis on the hierarchical solidarity. This solidarity privileges hard science in creating policies (e.g. creating Co2 limits), rather than the soft science (e.g. consideration of social reactions to creating particular policies). Instead, Thompson privileges the need to reflect all solidarities in environmental policy. Also, environmental institutions, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, should reflect all solidarities. Such institutions are counterintuitively known as clumsy institutions.
It may seem counterproductive to apply each of these contrasting views to environmental policy, since each solidarity advocates a different reason and solution for environmental problems. For example, hierarchists believe such issues are mainly due to overpopulation, while egalitarianists believe in the role of too much overconsumption.
Since cultural theory suggests that no solidarity will ever abandon their views, the solution is to adopt practices for different reasons. For example, in reducing global food consumption, individuals in developed countries often believe in eating less food for health reasons. On the other hand, individuals in developing countries may believe in reducing consumption to equalise acute social polarisation. Hence, this shows how framing can be used to frame an issue in different ways and reach a common outcome.
In conclusion, cultural theory is one lens to approach complexity. Thompson applies cultural theory to the complex problem of environmental policy to propose the need to reflect a variety of solidarities.
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