Week 1: Two Cultures

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    Hello, my name is Genoa Rossi, I am a second year sociology major and I play waterpolo here at UCLA. In the reading by C.P Snow titled "Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution", I couldn't help but wonder about the gender confines that came with art and humanities fields versus science. My freshman year, I took a physical science course for general education purposes, however, I noticed when being on that side of campus, there were a lot more males then females. 


420+ Male And Female Symbol Stock Illustrations, Royalty-Free Vector Graphics & Clip Art - iStock


    Furthermore, this observation fueled my curiosity to the two cultures discussed by C.P Snow and the ways we can work as a society to bridge the gender gap in scientific fields and humanities.



An Update on C. P. Snow's "Two Cultures" | Scientific American

     I think a way we can begin to couple women with scientific fields is through the introduction of this third culture presented by Victoria Vesna. This idea of interconnecting these fields can allow females and males to use the skills they have acquired to expand the thought process behind social phenomenons and work towards solving some of the worlds most challenging obstacles. 

Young girl wearing safety goggles and gloves conducts chemical experiment in beaker.

    Additionally, I find myself struggling with this stigmatism as a female in this patriarchal society. As a woman in sports, the favoritism towards the opposite gender is extremely prevalent and it is difficult to get any media coverage, or even good equipment. Now, taking that into consideration, I can't even imagine the difficulty as a women in a male dominated field. Moreover, the idea of these merging cultures could potentially be used as a catapult to move along the agenda of gender equality.




Krauss, Lawrence M. “An Update on C. P. Snow’s ‘Two Cultures.’” Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-update-on-cp-snows-two-cultures/.


Snow, C. P. (1959). The two cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Physics Bulletin, 10(9), 216–217.

    https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9112/10/9/004 


“The Stem Gap: Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” AAUW, 29

     Aug. 2023, www.aauw.org/resources/research/the-stem-gap/.


Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121–

    125., https://doi.org/10.1162/002409401750184672.


Zandt, Florian, and Felix Richter. “Infographic: Stem College Degrees Still Male-Dominated.” Statista Daily Data, 11 Oct. 2023, www.statista.com/chart/31013/stem-degrees-conferred-in-the-us-by-gender/#:~:text=Here%2C%2071%20percent%20of%20degree,studies%20remained%20virtually%20the%20same.

“The Stem Gap: Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” AAUW, 29 Aug. 2023, www.aauw.org/resources/research/the-stem-gap/.

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