Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress

by Lawrence E Harrison, Samuel P Huntington

Overview

Prominent scholars and journalists ponder the question of why, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world is more divided than ever between the rich and the poor, between those living in freedom and those under oppression.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465031764
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	04/05/2001
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.92(h) x 1.03(d)

About the Author

Lawrence E. Harrison is a senior fellow at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies and the author of Who Prospers? and The Pan-American Dream.

Samuel P. Huntington is the Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor of Government at Harvard University and the author of The Clash of Civilizations and The Remaking of the World Order.

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating book. Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress proclaims the secret in its title and, in a series of twenty-two essays by scholars, journalists, and global-business experts, studies the record of societies' success and failures in the light of their cultural inheritances and internalized mental models.—Time

Lance Morrow

In exposing the tangle of causality and processes that link culture and economics, these essays put the debate on a constructive path.

Foreign Affairs

Offers hope of an important countercurrent to today's received wisdom about poverty and the fate of ethnic minorities. —Wall Street Journal

Tamar Jacoby

Why do some cultures achieve economic success while others languish? Why do some countries develop successful democracies while others continue to undergo political upheavals? Are these discrepancies because of the cultural values of a people and their country? How important are these values, and can they be modified? These questions and others are discussed within the wide-ranging, thought-provoking, and sometimes quite controversial essays presented here. Drawn from a symposium sponsored by the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, essays by David Landes, Lucien Pye, Barbara Crossette, and others cover a wide variety of topics, from the effect of culture on various countries throughout the world to a discussion of culture and its role in gender issues. Also of interest are essays on how cultural issues may be the root cause of African American underachievement in the United States. Those interested in economics, cultural studies, international studies, and political science will find much to think about in this challenging collection. For academic libraries.--Danna Bell-Russel, Library of Congress Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

Scholars and journalists from around the world consider the political and economic differences around the world, and the relationship between these elements and the values of a culture. Specific essays focus on economic development, political development, anthropological debates, gender issues, the status of American minorities, the Asian crisis, and the possibility of change. The analysis emphasizes cultural causes rather than traditional explanations relating to colonialism, racism, and dependency. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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