Cultural Variation and Dominance in a Globalised Knowledge-Economy: Towards a Culture-Sensitive Research Paradigm in the Science of Giftedness

Abstract

The objective of this target article is to chart the potential threat to research validity in the field of giftedness research, and by implication also the study and practice of gifted education, in the light of cultural bias. It endeavours to pull together facts from a number of academic disciplines to make sense of how culture relates to science, research and society. In proposing a reasonable agenda for remedial action the nature and impact of cultural dominance, and the emergence of a socially engineered and transnational superculture are issues discussed first. Then follows a focus on the known cultural patterns of the World and how these relate to many of the notions and constructs of giftedness research as well as to the known pitfalls of the ethnocentric mind. In conclusion, a number of straightforward actions focusing on a) mindset and habits, b) research skills and c) selfknowledge and cultural competence are proposed as important in coming to terms with the weakening credibility of gifted science in a global perspective.

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Notes on contributors

Roland S. Persson

Roland S. Persson: Ph.D. in psychology, MFA in Music Education, Diploma in Church Music. Current full Professor of Educational Psychology and Associate professor in General Psychology. Editorial board member of Education Today; psychometric consultant to the Swedish Foundation for Applied Psychology (STP); on the International Board of Consultants for The International for Innovation in Education (ICIE); former Editor-in-Chief of High Ability Studies (1998–2002) and contributor to many of the standard handbooks and encyclopedic works on Giftedness/Talent and Gifted Education. Honorary lifetime member of the European Council for High Ability (ECHA); member of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (WCGTC) and member of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC). International affiliate to the American Psychological Association (APA) and the British Psychological Society (BPS). Member also of the Human Evolution and Behaviour Society (HBES).