Ways of Seeing
Peripheral Vision, 11 January 2024
Each of us has a particular lens through which we look when we’re trying to make sense of the world. The International Relations people have it down to a fine art – with their classification of the subject into no fewer than 8 schools – realism, liberalism, marxism, structuralism, feminism, postcolonialism etc. (Chapter 7 of the link gives the lowdown on the various schools)
In my youth, I was aware of a tripartite division – conservatives, socialists and liberals. I didn’t like the Manichean approach of left/right - there was always a third way, be it green or ecological. It was only in the new millennium, however, that I became aware of the four dimensions of grid-group theory which anthropologist Mary Douglas introduced - consisting of four very different “world views” (what she calls hierarchist, egalitarian, individualist and fatalist) which came to be known as “Cultural Theory”. I first came across Mary Douglas’ theory in 1998, thanks /to public admin theorist Chris Hood’s “The Art of the State” which uses her typology brilliantly to help us understand the strengths, weaknesses and risks of these various world views.
But it appears we have yet another way of understanding the world – viz “conjunctural analysis”. I agree it’s a bit of a mouthful but it basically denies the bias in the various schools and argues that we need to recognise the complexity of the world and to accept there are different levels of explanation for the way things are. John Clarke sets out the argument in The Battle for Britain – crises, conflicts and the conjunctures which, I have to confess, I found very hard going.
Further Reading about “World Views”
- The Battle for Britain – crises, conflicts and the conjunctures John Clarke 2023
- Theories of International Relations ed R Devetak and J True (6th ed 2022)
- Foundations of International Relations l ed S McGlinchey et al 2022
- Britain’s Choice – common ground and divisions in 2020s Britain (More in Common 2020) a detailed picture of the british people and their values these days
- Twelve Ways of Seeing the World M Betti (2019 Eng – original German 2001) based on Rudolf Steiner's thinking, this offers a curious typology - Cultural Evolution – people’s motivations are changing, and reshaping the world; Ronald Inglehart (2018) a political scientist,who has been at the heart of discussion about cultural values for the past 50 years – and the book and this article summarises that work. - Grid, group and grade – challenges in operationalising cultural theory for cross-national research (2014) is a very academic article although its comparative diagrams are instructive
- “A Cultural Theory of Politics” (2011) a short article which shows how the grid-group approach has been used in a range of disciplines
- Consumer Shift - how changing values are reshaping the consumer landscape Any Hines (2011) actually much more about values and world views than it is about consumers….
- Common Cause – the case for working with our cultural values (2010) a useful little
manual for charities - Finding Frames – new ways to engage the UK public (2010) ditto - “Way of life theory – the underlying structure of world views, social relations and lifestyles” (2009) – a rather disjointed dissertation by Michael Edward Pepperday and introduction to which is here.
- Wicked Problems and Clumsy Solutions; Keith Grint (2008) a short very useful article by an academic
- The Geography of Thought – how westerners and asians think differently and why; Richard Nesbitt (2003) An American social psychologist gives a thought-provoking book
- “The Art of the State” Christopher Hood (1998) A brilliant essay on the usefulness of grid-group analysis
- Riding the Waves of Culture – understanding cultural diversity in business; Frans Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner (1997) the Dutchman who took on de Hofstede’s mantle
- When Cultures Collide – leading across cultures; Richard Lewis (1996) The book which introduced us to the field – and gave us marvellous vignettes of the strange habits of almost all countries of the world
- Management development through cultural diversity Ronnie Lessem (1995) Lessem is a south african who uses the four lens of the compass to show how the environment governs our ways of thinking.