Cultural Perspective is for people who want to understand the world, not just react to it
Most news tells you what happened.
Cultural Perspective focuses on why it’s happening — and what it means for what comes next.
Every edition looks at global events through culture, history, and long-term historical patterns. Instead of hot takes, you get clear, structured analysis you can use to think, plan, and talk about the world with more confidence.
I make complex global affairs accessible. Not dumbed down—accessible. That’s an important difference.
If you feel like the news is getting louder but less useful, you’re in the right place.
Who this is for
Cultural Perspective is built for people who:
Want more than outrage or team politics
Care about how culture, values, and history shape power
Need reliable and real information to navigate an unstable world
Are trying to make sense of the world and the emerging multipolar order
Want to protect their families, careers, and communities from noise and panic
Whether you’re a student, a professional, a policymaker, or simply globally curious, the goal is the same: to give you tools to interpret what’s happening, not just headlines to react to.
What you get when you subscribe
Free subscribers
As a free subscriber, you’ll receive:
The Daily Editions
A week-long series on culture, historical patterns, politics, and economics. Short, clear explainers that help connect current events to deeper cultural and historical patterns.Selected deep dives
Occasional long-form pieces that unpack a specific question, conflict, or themes in detail.Comments and community
The chance to read and participate in thoughtful discussions with others asking similar questions.
This is enough to stay grounded, informed, and ahead of the basic news cycle.
Paid subscribers
Paid subscribers get everything above, plus:
Full access to all deep dives
Long-form explainers that connect multiple stories across time and geography, and help you see the bigger pattern behind the week’s headlines.The Core Brief
A synthesis of the Daily Editions series that pulls the threads together and asks: What does this actually mean for where we’re headed?Full archive access
The complete back catalog of analyses and series, so you can trace how patterns evolve over time.Priority questions and replies
When you comment or reply with a question, you go to the top of the queue. Your questions shape future pieces.Member-only Q&A and special pieces
Periodic sessions where I answer paid readers’ questions about specific countries, events, or long-term trends.
If the free tier helps you see the world more clearly, the paid tier is where we do the deeper work of connecting dots over months and years.
Why I started Cultural Perspective
I’m Way Yuhl, and Cultural Perspective began out of my need to make sense of the chaos in the world.
My love of culture, history, and politics began early in life.
I grew up in a remote mountain town in the Cleveland National Forest, in a house full of books, maps, and debates about history.
My father was a historian who chose the classroom over a political career because he didn’t want to miss our childhood. Our dinner table was often filled with his former students, colleagues, and friends from around the world.
From an early age, I watched adults compare elections in different countries, connect current events to past cycles, and debate whether a crisis was truly “unprecedented” or just another version of a very old story.
My mother was endlessly curious and loved language and ideas. She explored the natural world and the sciences with me, and she cared deeply about the words we use to describe what’s happening.
That combination — cultural patterns from my father, careful thinking and language from my mother — trained me to see the world as a web of repeating structures, not random chaos.
I studied cultural geography at university, then worked for an airline mostly for the travel. On days off, my friends and I would show up at the airport and take the next flight to wherever it was going. Later, I completed an MBA in International Business and taught at universities in the United States, China, and Thailand. I’ve lived in multiple countries and traveled through many more, learning how different societies think, act, and interact from their cultural perspectives.
In the classroom, I taught cultural theory, historical cycles, and the economic and political drivers of society. Over time, it became clear that these weren’t just academic frameworks.
They were practical tools for understanding the moment we’re living through right now — a rare global transition where long-standing power structures are shifting, and old assumptions are breaking down.
Cultural Perspective exists because I wanted to take those tools out of the university and put them into the hands of the people who need them most: people like you, who are trying to plan their lives, protect their families, and stay sane while the news cycle screams that everything is collapsing.
How I approach the work
Here’s what you can expect from every piece:
Culture first, headlines second
The story starts with values, norms, and narratives — not just polling data or partisan framing.Patterns over panic
I draw on historical cycles, cultural frameworks, and basic political and economic theory to show how similar configurations have played out before.Accessible, not dumbed down
I use ideas from thinkers like Hofstede, Ibn Khaldun, and John Nash, but in plain language, with clear examples. The goal is understanding, not impressing you with jargon.Global vantage point
I travel full-time and spend a significant amount of time in Southern Europe and Southeast Asia. Watching the world from different cultural angles makes it easier to see where Western assumptions are global assumptions.
Founders Page
I can’t predict the future with certainty. No one can. But I can show you the cultural drivers, historical patterns, and strategic incentives that make some futures more likely than others.
Why subscribe
We’re moving from a unipolar, US-dominated order toward a more fragmented, multipolar world. That change is driving everything from elections to wars, from supply chains to social movements.
You can experience this as a string of disconnected crises.
Or you can learn to see it as a pattern — one that you can understand, anticipate, and navigate.
Cultural Perspective is here to help you do the latter.
If you want to follow along, subscribe for free.
If you want the full picture — the deep dives, the synthesis, and the ability to shape what I cover — become a paid subscriber.
Either way, I’m glad you’re here.
