The Three Cultures

Jerome Kagan examines the basic goals, vocabulary, and assumptions of the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, summarizing their unique contributions to our understanding of human nature.

In this volume, the author presents a provocative look at the impact of culture on global development.

Published twenty years ago, the original Preschool in Three Cultures was a landmark in the study of education: a profoundly enlightening exploration of the different ways preschoolers are taught in China, Japan, and the United States. Here, lead author Joseph Tobin—along with new collaborators Yeh Hsueh and Mayumi Karasawa—revisits his original research to discover how two decades of globalization and sweeping social transformation have affected the way these three cultures educate and care for their youngest pupils. Putting their subjects’ responses into historical perspective, Tobin, Hsueh, and Karasawa analyze the pressures put on schools to evolve and to stay the same, discuss how the teachers adapt to these demands, and examine the patterns and processes of continuity and change in each country. Featuring nearly one hundred stills from the videotapes, Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited artfully and insightfully illustrates the surprising, illuminating, and at times entertaining experiences of four-year-olds—and their teachers—on both sides of the Pacific.

The importance of science and technology and future of education and research are just some of the subjects discussed here.

Compares preschool education in the three countries, discusses how child care reflects social change and considers the issues of freedom, creativity, and discipline

An Age of Limits outlines a new social theory for understanding contemporary society. Providing an analysis of why political, economic and cultural powers face constraints across the global North and beyond, this bold book argues that forces which address current challenges must confront the limits of the interplay between dominant institutions.

The workings of Western intelligence in our day--whether in politics or the arts, in the humanities or the church--are as troubling as they are mysterious, leading to the questions: Where are we going? What in the world were we thinking? By exploring the history of four "cultures" so deeply embedded in Western history that we rarely see their instrumental role in politics, religion, education, and the arts, this timely book provides a broad framework for addressing these questions in a fresh way.

"Tomomi Hanamure, a Japanese citizen who loved exploring the rugged wilderness of the American West, was killed on her birthday May 8, 2006. She was stabbed 29 times as she hiked to Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of Grand Canyon. Her killer was an 18-year old Havasupai youth named Randy Redtail Wescogame who had a history of robbing tourists and was addicted to meth. It was the most brutal murder ever recorded in Grand Canyon's history."--Amazon.com.

This book provides a diverse collection of studies reporting the effects of social influence processes in multiple cultures at both the universal and culture-specific levels. The book is characterized by three distinct features. First, the social influence process is considered as a ubiquitous and pervasive feature of human interaction. Second, the book represents a multicultural approach which includes both cross-cultural and culture-focused examinations. Third, the book emphasizes practical implications of the research presented. This volume incorporates theory and research stemming from three different approaches to social influence: social influence principles across cultures, social influence and social change across cultures, and culture and moral perspective in the social influence process. Because each of these three parts encompasses a considerable variety of research methodologies, social contexts, and cultures, each is proceeded by an integrative commentary authored by one of the book editors. These essays provide syntheses of the topics and themes within the corresponding sections and within the book as a whole. They also offer critical commentaries on both theoretical and methodological issues, raise suggestions for future research, and focus on practical applications. This book is intended for both scholars interested in cross- and multicultural research into the mechanisms of the social influence process and for the professional whose mission is to make planned changes in a society. Knowledge about the influence process, especially regarding how it works in different cultures and within several cultural groups, facilitates this goal. The practical implications ending each chapter serve as encouraging instructions for such applications.