Latest thinking

Social brains, social networks and corporate trust

Blog

20 Jan 2009

One aspect of the financial crisis that hasn’t been examined is the role of complex social networks and relationships of trust. There are some reasons to think that networks beyond a certain size and with certain sorts of internal structure might lead to a breakdown in trust.

Maths, small children and neural pathways - 'proving cultural theory'

Blog

16 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

I promised yesterday to offer some evidence that the four categories of cultural theory are fundamental and ubiquitous. I will stick to this despite the temptation to respond to the fascinating conversation about CT taking place on my comment pages.

Social brains, social networks, big ideas and social change

Blog

15 Jan 2009

The Social Brain project tries to wed together three elements:

Cultural theory - and the row over the Heathrow third runway

Blog

15 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

Cultural theory offers four paradigms of change (there is a fifth, but it is of a different kind). What are they and how are they exhibited in relation to a specific issue, for example, whether to build a third runway at Heathrow?

Cultural theory - and the link between George Washington and Gordon Brown

Blog

14 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

Cultural theory has changed the way I think about policy dilemmas and organisational problems. It can provide insights to everyone from political commentators to community activists to managers of large organisations. Over the next few days in some – hopefully – short, accessible posts I intend to lay out the key tenets of CT as I understand them by reference to concrete examples and contemporary issues.

Social mobility, the brain and good news for the RSA

Blog

13 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

As I write I’m listening to the Today programme item about the social mobility white paper. The RSA will soon be hearing from someone whose work may be one of the most important contributions to this debate.

Self-help, individualism and the social brain

Blog

12 Jan 2009

The self-help movement was a real late twentieth century phenomenon. It was (is) quite different from the self-improvement societies of (say) Victorian Britain, or the (often somewhat cultish) self-improvement societies of the twenties and thirties (the nadir of these societies being Hitler’s National Socialism, which had its roots in cult-of-the-body groups from the twenties). All these movements were fundamentally social. But self-help since the liberal individualism of the sixties has been thoroughly individualistic (think of the Tom Cruise character in Paul Thomas-Anderson’s flawed masterpiece Magnolia as the nadir of this kind of movement).

A trip to Hamlet (and, yes, it was Dr Who!)

Blog

09 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

I had the privilege this week of seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet starring David Tennant. The quality of the production was underlined by a spontaneous standing ovation, directed mainly at our Prince but deserved by the cast in general. I particularly enjoyed Oliver Ford Davies who played Polonius as a slightly senile actor who keeps forgetting or mangling his lines.

My new progressivism, part five - the world

Blog

02 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

The good news, I guess, is I’ve done what I said two weeks ago; one week of postings about the political situation and one about new strands in progressive thinking for the post credit crunch world. Sadly, I’m not sure this kind of sustained musing works as a blog. It will be a relief (for me and my reader) to go back next week to what does; short colourful riffs about new research, a topical incident or talking point.