Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- PART 1 Setting the stage
- PART 2 Explanation of cross-cultural differences
- PART 3 Methods for studying culture
- PART 4 The role of development
- PART 5 Concepts of culture
- 16 Cross-cultural differences as meaning systems
- 17 Ulysses returns: lessons from the logbook of a cross-cultural wayfarer
- 18 Values: cultural and individual
- 19 The cultural contexts of organisational behaviour
- 20 Rethinking culture and the self: some basic principles and their implications
- PART 6 Conclusion
- Index
- References
16 - Cross-cultural differences as meaning systems
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- PART 1 Setting the stage
- PART 2 Explanation of cross-cultural differences
- PART 3 Methods for studying culture
- PART 4 The role of development
- PART 5 Concepts of culture
- 16 Cross-cultural differences as meaning systems
- 17 Ulysses returns: lessons from the logbook of a cross-cultural wayfarer
- 18 Values: cultural and individual
- 19 The cultural contexts of organisational behaviour
- 20 Rethinking culture and the self: some basic principles and their implications
- PART 6 Conclusion
- Index
- References
Summary
Centrality and scope of meaning in science: introductory notes
Description and explanation differ in that the latter goes beyond given data by relating these to a theory. It is only through this relation to a theoretical framework that data obtain their meaning. That is equivalent to saying that data as such are meaningless. Therefore theory building is necessarily the goal of any science, and for the construction of the meaning of data it is essential. This is true for the process of theory building and testing. In other words, no sciences can relinquish the process of interpretation, of meaning making. All (not only qualitative) data need interpretation (see also Karasz, this volume). Thus quantitative sciences also contain ‘interpretative speculations’ (Teo, 2008), which are ‘not just descriptions of data, but impart meaning to data and make results understandable’ (p. 51). Teo calls this phenomenon the ‘hermeneutic surplus of interpretation’. So, basically the topic of the following pages necessarily aims right at the heart of science in general, although I restrict the discussion to a particular domain of social science: cross-cultural psychology.
This argument has three implications. Firstly, strict objectivity in data gathering and data interpretation is an illusion.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Fundamental Questions in Cross-Cultural Psychology , pp. 407 - 441Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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