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CULTURAL THEORY AND CLUMSY SOLUTIONS
Douglas and Thompson
Cultural Theory believes that everyone perceives and responds to danger in
different ways, and that everyone has different ideologies about how the world
should be. This leads to different kinds of social organisation that each have
different types of beliefs and values. These govern the way that they function
within the group and also how they interact with other groups. Each group
believes themselves to be the ‘best’, and is in constant competition with the other
groups.
Hierarchical: Believe in the value in the institution.
Egalitarian: Believe that everything is connected in complex ways.
Individualistic: Members of this group are self-thinking and competitive and don’t like restrictions.
Fatalism: The passive group. They believe that nothing will change regardless of
actions taken.
Clumsy Solutions
Michael Thompson
Thomson believes that the three active groups voices are all needed in order to
maintain societal balance and reduce the power of the voice of fatalism. These
voices need to be encouraged through shared discussion to reach ‘clumsy’
solutions that represent the whole of society rather than just one group.
Further Resources
Michael Thompson talks to Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA, to discuss how cultural theory can offer a new economic paradigm. Courtesy of the RSA