This award to the Human Relations Area Files, a not-for-profit research institute in New Haven, CT. which specializes in cross- cultural research, will fund a major conference to assess the past, present and future of cross-cultural and comparative research. Twenty-five leading scholars in this research tradition will gather to assess what has been accomplished, to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of varying research traditions, to develop agendas for furthering the comparative study of culture, and to resolve disagreements among comparative researchers by involving researchers with different viewpoints in collaborative papers. The conference will produce a summary of the proceedings in a major journal, and a book-length manuscript consisting of the conference papers. This research is important because the explanation of the similarities and differences in human society and culture is critical to our understanding of ourselves as human beings. This conference should produce an evaluation of the state-of-the-art in this research tradition, with prescriptions for future directions for research. The Human Relations Area Files is the leading repository of cross-cultural research materials, and is the appropriate organization to host and organize the conference.
