Measuring Culture

Social scientists seek to develop systematic ways to understand how people make meaning and how the meanings they make shape them and the world in which they live. But how do we measure such processes? Measuring Culture is an essential point of entry for both those new to the field and those who are deeply immersed in the measurement of meaning. Written collectively by a team of leading qualitative and quantitative sociologists of culture, the book considers three common subjects of measurement—people, objects, and relationships—and then discusses how to pivot effectively between subjects and methods. Measuring Culture takes the reader on a tour of the state of the art in measuring meaning, from discussions of neuroscience to computational social science. It provides both the definitive introduction to the sociological literature on culture as well as a critical set of case studies for methods courses across the social sciences.

This book documents the use of methods that put a value on cultural goods, including theater, cultural events, museums, archeological sites, and libraries. The author sets forth the advantages and disadvantages of each method using case studies to illustrate how they work. Moreover, the theoretical background of the methods and the kind of information they can provide are discussed. Both market and non-market valuation techniques are covered.

Based on the data from the European and World Values Studies, this volume discuss basic theoretical and methodological issues of value research and focus on some the most basic processes of value change: cultural globalization, individualization, secularization and democratization.

The Sage Handbook of Measurement is a unique methodological resource in which Walford, Viswanathan and Tucker draw together contributions from leading scholars in the social sciences, each of whom has played an important role in advancing the study of measurement over the past 25 years. Each of the contributors offers insights into particular measurement related challenges they have confronted and how they have addressed these. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of measurement, so that the handbook as a whole covers the full spectrum of core issues related to design, method and analysis within measurement studies. The book emphasises issues such as indicator generation and modification, the nature and conceptual meaning of measurement error, and the day-to-day processes involved in developing and using measures. The Handbook covers the full range of disciplines where measurement studies are common: policy studies; education studies; health studies; and business studies.

"The Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate provides an overview of current research, theory and practice in this expanding field. The editorial team and the authors come from diverse professional and geographical backgrounds, and provide an unprecedented coverage of topics relating to both culture and climate of modern organizations.... Well-known editors Neal Ashkanasy, Celeste P. M. Wilderom, and Mark F. Peterson lend a truly international perspective to what is the single most comprehensive and up-to-date source on the growing field of organizational culture and climate. In addition, the Handbook opens with a foreword by Andrew Pettigrew and two provocative commentaries by Ben Schneider and Edgar Schein, and concludes with an invaluable set of combined references." --Publisher.

OECD's 2nd World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy held in Istanbul in June 2007 brought together a diverse group of leaders from more than 130 countries to discuss issues surrounding use of statistics in policy making. This proceedings includes 40 papers presented at that event.

In the next wave of conduct regulation in financial markets, from 2021 conduct regulators in the UK and elsewhere expect firms to produce evidence on how they are improving behaviour and culture. Facing this, many practitioners are anxious that their current reporting and management information (MI) are irrelevant to meeting as-yet unclear regulatory expectations. This book provides the insights and tools firms need to report on culture, securing both enhanced business value and the regulator's approval. Culture is now seen as a key contributor to good governance, feeding into existing discourse on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and the emerging dialogue on 'non-financial (mis)conduct', but conventional measures of business quality are unfit for the new reporting agenda. Culture Audit in Financial Services follows the arc of 'behavioural regulation' to examine what the regulator really wants, before offering guidance on how culture audit differs from conventional auditing, how to put the latest pure-research findings to work, and the key features of well-designed conduct and culture reports. Written by an impartial author and a variety of contributors with extensive experience working with practitioners, regulators, and many of the world's finest academic initiatives, this book is filled with practical, grounded advice on how best to approach this new challenge and avoid infractions.