Gert Jan Hofstede
Born in Hengelo, the Netherlands, in 1956. Ph.D. from Wageningen University. Associate Professor of Information Technology, Social Science Department, at Wageningen University.
Fellow (1 September 2013 – 31 January 2014)
MODELLING SOCIAL REALITY: EMERGENCE OF THE GLASS CEILING
Research Question
Can the emergence of glass-ceiling phenomena for girls in groups of playing children be explained through agent-based models in which small sex differences in average propensities (nature) lead to fixed gendered patterns (emergence)? Can national culture (nurture) modify these dynamics?
Project Description
While human societies change, underlying value systems are remarkably stable through the generations. Despite telephone, airplanes, TV and Internet, the world has not become a global village. Gender roles, as a salient example, are predictably different across the world. Why? Is it nature or nurture? The technique of “agent-based modelling” allows to re-play society in the small, “grow it to show it”. In this study we shall make agent-based models of groups of children. We’ll design the children using development psychology, sociology, and cultural psychology, and see what emergent patterns form when we let them play. Perhaps this self-organisation will help explain the various manifestations of glass ceiling for girls. The case should serve the larger aim of modelling social reality in a foundational way.
Selected Publications
1) Gert Jan Hofstede, Catholijn Jonker, Tim Verwaart (2012) Cultural differentiation of negotiating agents. Group Decision and Negotiation 21 (1), 79-98
2) John Mc Breen, Gennaro Di Tosto, Frank Dignum, Gert Jan Hofstede (2011) “Linking Norms and Culture”. Proceedings Second International Conference on Culture and Computing 9-14. IEEE.
3) Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede, Michael Minkov (2010) Cultures and organizations, software of the mind: intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival (3rd edition). McGraw-Hill Professional.