Special Issue: No Great Breakthroughs Have
Ever Been Achieved by Taking Things Seriously: A Festschrift for
Michael Thompson
Guest Editors: Marco Verweij and Steven Ney
Marco Verweij
Michael Thompson's Contributions to Making Social Science
More Social and Scientific
Abstract
Good
social and political theory is parsimonious, cumulative,
counter-intuitive, and relevant to well-intended efforts to solve
gripping social problems. This introduction to the Festschrift shows
that in developing ‘rubbish theory’ and ‘cultural theory’
the work of Michael Thompson meets all these criteria. Added is a
‘top 10’ of quotes from Thompson’s work, an overview of his
academic career, as well as a bibliography.
Eve Mitleton-Kelly
The Information Systems of Professional as a Hermit: Of
Plural Rationalities, Information Rejection and Complexity
Abstract
In
this article, the contributions that Michael Thompson has made to
the development of cultural theory are laid out. This is done by
highlighting the ways in which Thompson has built upon the grid–group
analysis of Mary Douglas. Thereafter, it is shown how cultural
theory is compatible with, and can be strengthened by, the
complexity theories that have been formulated within the natural
sciences. The resulting theoretical framework is then applied to
explain the persistent cultural gap between the business planning
and the information systems (IS) departments within companies. It
will be argued and demonstrated that the IS professional can
usefully be understood as following the views and practices
characteristic of the hermit, as de.ned in cultural theory.
Mark R. Nowacki
A Critique of Cultural Theory's Impossibility Theorem
Abstract
Various
proponents of Cultural Theory (CT) have claimed that CT’s
Impossibility Theorem, namely that there are precisely .ve
viable ways of life, has been formally proved. In this paper, I:
(a) show that the Impossibility Theorem has not been formally
proved; and (b) present a refutation of the Impossibility Theorem.
With regard to (a), the problem areas identi.ed include a failure
to take into account the analogical nature of their theory and
also a failure to carefully consider the nature of the
relationship between mathematical models and the empirical
phenomena that they are supposed to model. With regard to (b), an
empirically grounded description of a distinct, sixth viable way
of life, here called the Philosophical way of life, is presented.
Second, a general argument is presented that demonstrates the
necessity of positing a sixth form of rationality and a sixth
viable way of life in addition to the .ve rationalities and .ve
ways of life recognized by CT.
Frank Hendriks
The Poison is the Dose: Or How 'More Egalitarianism' May
Work in Some Places but Not in All
Abstract
A
comparison of the city development of Munich (Germany) and
Birmingham (England) shows the adverse consequences of excluding
egalitarian-minded organizations and perspectives from public
decision making. Since the Second World War, Munich has become an
economically thriving and beautiful city in which people from all
walks of life can feel at home. During the same period of time,
Birmingham has struggled economically, socially and aesthetically.
Their diverging paths, from quite similar starting positions, can
be explained with the help of the argument that in Munich a much
more pluralistic policy regime has reigned, whereas in Birmingham
egalitarian views have been ignored until very recently. Yet,
another attempt at urban revitalization—this time in the
multi-ethnic, impoverished Schilderswijk in The Hague, the
Netherlands—illustrates that policy making can also become too
egalitarian. An in-depth study of a municipal attempt to
revitalize this neighbourhood reveals that this effort .oundered,
as it was overly infused with egalitarian concerns and values.
Seoyong Kim and Sunhee Kim
The Conflict over the Use of Information Technology in
South Korean Schools
Abstract
This
article examines the heated debate over the National Educational
Information System (NEIS) in South Korea. The NEIS has been
introduced by the Ministry of Education. It collects information
on every South Korean primary and secondary school in regional
databases, including information regarding health records,
religious backgrounds, military service, grades, attendance and
other sensitive information relating to individual pupils and
teachers. Using the cultural theory developed by Mary Douglas,
Michael Thompson and Aaron Wildavsky, it is shown in which
particular ways the rivals in this debate have been talking past,
and misunderstood, each other. On the basis of this cultural
theory, a possible way out of this impasse is sketched.
Jeroen Maesschalck
A Method for Applying Cultural Theory in the Study of
Organizations
Abstract
This
research note proposes a method for determining the relative
intensity of cultural theory’s four ways of life within a
concrete organisation. The development of such a method is
necessary for the testing of any hypotheses concerning concrete
organisations that can be derived from cultural theory. The method
is first set out, and then illustrated. This illustration takes
the form of an empirical test of a hypothesis regarding the
occurrence of unethical behaviour within public sector
organisations.
