Resources

This is a list of resources for the study and application of grid-group cultural theory, also known as Cultural Theory, theory of cultural viability, theory of plural rationality, cultural theory of risk, cultural cognition (and a few more)

For simplicity this site just calls it “Fourcultures”.

For an explanation of why this cluster of ideas has so many names, see Virginie Mamadouh’s (1999) introductory article.

It is hoped to add to this list incrementally. To contribute to the collection, please add a comment, or send an email. Thanks!

Websites

Fourcultures

John Adams: Risk in a Hypermobile World

The Cultural Cognition Project (Yale Law School)

Overcoming Bias (Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford)

Virginie Mamadouh’s website

Matthew Taylor’s blog (the RSA)

Bibliography

Cultural Theory Reading Group bibliography (2005)

Articles

Mary Douglas, A History of Grid and Group Cultural Theory (link to pdf)
Virginie Mamadouh, 1999
Grid-group Cultural Theory: An Introduction. GeoJournal 47(3):395-409

Key Books

Michael Thompson, Richard Ellis, Aaron Wildavsky, 1990
Cultural Theory. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

Christopher Hood, 1998 (paperback, 2000)
The Art of the State: Culture, Rhetoric and Public Management. Oxford, Clarendon.

Marco Verweij and Michael Thompson, Eds, 2006
Clumsy solutions for a complex world : governance, politics and plural perceptions . Basingstoke & New York : Palgrave Macmillan.

Michael Thompson, 2008
Organising and Disorganising: A Dynamic and Non-Linear Theory of Institutional Emergence and its Implications. Axminster, Devon: Triarchy Press.

Reviews

The Institutional Dynamics of Culture (2008)

Profiles

Mary Douglas

Christopher Hood

Video

Michael Thompson interview Nov 2008

Audio

Michael Thompton’s RSA lecture, Dec 2008 (link to MP3 file)

Other Resources

Fourcultures bookmarks on Delicious