ABSTRACT
Introduction Cultural analysis, it may be pointed out, has a different methodology from that of rational choice analysis. CA employs an interpretative methodology and does not proceed from a small number of axiomatic assumptions as does RC. CA is highly suitable for research into the postmodern society, where identity, meaning and borders are problematic. This is also the case within postmodernist philosophy. But it is often argued that CA has an inherent tendency towards subjectivism or value bias, since its focus is values. Aaron Wildavsky once asked whether postmodernism had killed scientific objectivity, stating his position succinctly:
My largest aim in teaching a seminar on political cultures is to bring values and facts, humanistic understanding and social science methods together as part and parcel of the same mode of analysis, abandoning neither the rigor of scientific intention nor the substance of humanistic concern.
