Week1: Two Cultures

As an economics major, I am indeed deeply influenced by C.P. Snow’s theory of two cultures. The department of economics is located at the northeast part of the campus and the degree that I’ll be getting is Bachelor of Arts; however, I never considered myself to be a pure humanities major. Modeled on data, the study of economics has too much to do with statistics and math. Despite of its science component, economics is fundamentally based on the reflection and criticism of human history. In order to analyze an economic activity, one has to understand a broad context and background of the event. For instance, when predicting a country’s GDP growth, religious, political, and social  factors are just as important as its previous GDP records. Contrary to John Brockman’s denial to the existence of a third culture in his 2011 interview, I believe that economics is a great example of the emergence of the third culture as a bridge between the sciences and the humanities. 

Bunche Hall: Department of Economics

http://diversity.polisci.ucla.edu/resources.html

Ranking sixth in nation for international student enrollment, UCLA is one of the most diverse university in the United States. Through the communication of different cultures, students and scholars are able to better understand the world and themselves. As an international student from China, I certainly feel the differences between American culture and Chinese culture; however, the differences do not necessarily cause conflict. Instead, they together made how I am today.

http://dailybruin.com/2013/11/14/uclas-international-student-enrollment-is-up/

The idea of two cultures and the emerging third culture lead to me think about the gap between art and science and how they separate and merge in my own education experience. While artists are approaching  science and technology in a variety of ways, as described by Stephen Wilson in “Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology”,scientists are also getting to understand arts and humanities with their own methods. For me, the separation has become less and less obvious, which helps me better understand my own field of study. Also, the third culture encourages me to go into classrooms of different disciplines to enrich and diversify my own knowledge.

http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/04/25/e-o-wilson-on-art/

Sources

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

Brockman, John. "John Brockman: Matchmaking with science and art." Wired. 1995. Print.

Wilson, Stephen D. “Myths and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.” College Art Association Meetings. New York. 2000. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998