The Central Liberal Truth

"Which cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes best promote democracy, social justice, and prosperity? How can we use the forces that shape cultural change, such as religion, child-rearing practices, education, and political leadership, to promote these values in the Third World - and for underachieving minorities in the First World? In this book, a follow-up to his acclaimed Culture Matters, Lawrence E. Harrison offers intriguing answers to these questions." "Drawing on a three-year research project that explored the cultural values of dozens of nations - from Botswana, Sweden, and India to China, Egypt, and Chile - Harrison offers a look at values around the globe, revealing how each nation's culture has propelled or retarded its political and economic progress. The book presents 25 factors that operate very differently in cultures prone to progress and those that resist it, including one's influence over destiny, the importance attached to education, the extent to which people identify with and trust others, and the role of women in society. Harrison pulls no punches, and many of his findings will be controversial. He argues, for example, that Protestantism, Confucianism, and Judaism have been more successful in promoting progress than Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Islam."--Jacket.

First sentence: THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL VALUES, beliefs, and attitudes on the way that societies evolve has been shunned by scholars, politicians, and development experts, notwithstanding the views of Tocqueville, Max Weber, and more recently Francis Fukuyama, Samuel Huntington, David Landes, Robert Putnam, and Lucian Pye, among others.

Year

2006

Language

English

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Editions

4

Pages

272

ISBN

9780195300413

Data source: Wikidata