Measuring the Culture of C. P. Snow's Two Cultures

Abstract

C. P. Snow's (1964) The Two Cultures has been controversial, and is still much cited in the literature of both the sciences and the humanities. However, there seem to have been no empirical studies of cultural and aesthetic activities in scientists and non-scientists. This study describes a questionnaire which measured 17 different cultural activities in a stratified survey of science and non-science students in London, UK. Science students showed a significantly lower level of activity on 12 of the 17 measures (and were significantly higher on none). Among the scientists, cultural activity overall was lowest in engineering and mathematics students, and highest in medical and biological science students. Cultural activity correlated significantly with the personality measure of Openness to Experience, although the correlation was weaker in scientists than in non-scientists.