CULTURAL

THEORY
 Cultural Theory is a general sociological theory

 It is constructed according to views of positivistic

reasoning, by way of deduction from a limited
number of basic axioms (statement-evidently
true), regarding human social beings and their
interaction (Boholm, 1996)
 Cultural Theory aims at explaining how people
perceive and act upon the world around them.
 More specifically the theory claims that this is largely
determined by social aspects and cultural adherence/
loyalty.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF CULTURAL THEORY
 The basis of cultural theory is douglas’ grid-group
typology (Douglas, 1978; Thompson et al., 1990)
 Grid-Group Cultural Theory is a cultural model
developed by anthropologists Mary Douglas,
Micheal Thompson and Steve Rayner with
contributions by political Scientists Aaron
Wildavsky and Richard Elis.
 Douglas saw that the feature of
anthropology was “comparative”, which
required some theoretical mechanism by
which to compare different societies. Mary Douglas
-25 March 1921-16 May 2007
 It was this concern that inspired what would British Anthropologist
become the Grid- Group framework and Her writing on human culture and symbolism,
Cultural Theory specialty was social anthropology
 Douglas’ theory was also influenced by major global
events in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
 The threat of nuclear war, the environmental movement,
anti-war protest, and more.
 In a 1990 Wildavsky collaborated with Micheal Thompson
and Richard Ellis on a book titled Cultural Theory- at this
point the name Grid-Group theory was changed to
“Cultural Theory”.
 According to Douglas, variation in social
participation can be adequately accounted for by the
dynamics between the two dimensions group and
grid
 The two dimensions of Cultural theory based on
Mary Douglas is ‘Group’ and ‘Grid’
 Group – a general boundary around a community
(Horizontal axis)
 Grid – regulation-individuals are expected to move, or
be forced to move across the diagram, according to
choice, or according to circumstances
 One reason it was designed was to show how native
rituals and practices were relevant to modern society
 GROUP
“ the group itself is defined in terms of the claims it makes
over its constituent members, the boundary it draws around
them, the rights it confers on them to use its name and other
protections, and the levies and constraints it applies. Group is
one obvious environmental setting, but we seem unable to
conceive of the individual’s environment if it is not a group of
some kind” (Douglas, 1978: 8)
Group refers to whether an individual is member of
bonded social units and how absorbing the group’s
activities are on the individual
The Group Dimension measures how much of
people’s lives controlled by the group they live in.
An individual needs to accept constraints on his/her
by the mere fact of belonging to a group.
For a group to continue to exist at all there will be
some collective pressure to signal loyalty.
Group is the level that people identify wit each other
 GRID
“the term grid suggests the cross-hatch of rules to which individuals
are subject in course of their interaction. As a dimension, it shows a
progressive change in the mode of control. At the strong end, there are
visible rules about space and time related to social roles; at the
other end, near zero, the formal classifications fade, and finally vanish.
At the strong end of grid, individuals do not, as such freely transact with
one another. An explicit set of institutionalized classifications keep them
apart and regulate their interactions, restricting their option’s”
(Douglas, 1978:8)
Grid refers to what degree a social context is regulated and restrictive
in regard to the individual’s behavior
The other important difference between groups is the
amount of control theirs members accept. This supplied on
Grid dimension.
Grid is the level of differentiation of activities and authority.
Diagram of Douglas
Grid-Group typology
 Individuals perceive things that endanger their
own way of life as risky. The individualistic
worldview is characterized by low group and grid.
 Egalitarians are members of high group and low
grid cultures
 Hierarchical are high grid and high group
 Fatalistic worldview is high grid and low group
 When the interaction between grid and group changes,
this may influence people’s social participation
 The grid-group analysis describes different modes of
social control
 The dimension a person belong to will guide his or her
interaction with the environment. Each of them, in
addition to certain social relation, is therefore described
as one of four worldviews or ways of life.
Visual representation of the
various myths of nature with
the fourfold cultural
worldviews

• The black line

indicates the
resilience
(elasticity) of the
environment
• The ball
represents the
status quo
Visual depiction of social
organization long the
fourfold cultural world
views
 Grid-Group/ Cultural Theory analysis can
be applied to numerous situations-
 Environmental change (Degradation),
cyber culture, new technologies, history,
archeology, financial regulation, abortion ,
privacy war
Thank You