Culture and Public Action (Stanford Social Sciences) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0804747865 ISBN 13: 9780804747868

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Led by Amartya Sen, Mary Douglas, and Arjun Appadurai, the distinguished anthropologists and economists in this book forcefully argue that culture is central to development, and present a framework for incorporating culture into development discourse. For further information on the book and related essays, please visit www.cultureandpublicaction.org.

About this title

About the Author

Vijayendra Rao is senior economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. Michael Walton is adviser on poverty reduction and human development in the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the World Bank.

From the Back Cover

"The observation that cultural norms affect economic development has been made repeatedly, yet it has been very hard to use it effectively, whether for policy or for prediction. The essays in this volume present authoritatively the present state of knowledge and point out new aspects which hold out the prospect of greater usefulness."--Kenneth Arrow, Stanford University, and Winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Economics
"The editors are to be congratulated on having attracted three heavy hitters to their enterprise--Amartya Sen, Mary Douglas, and Arjun Appadurai. And these luminaries have come up with the goods, writing papers any one of which would attract readers. This book will have a diverse readership and it will deserve to do so."--Dr. Keith Hart, University of Aberdeen

From the Inside Flap

How does culture matter for development? Do certain societies have cultures which condemn them to poverty? Led by Arjun Appadurai, Mary Douglas, and Amartya Sen, the anthropologists and economists in this volume contend that culture is central to development, and that cultural processes are neither inherently good nor bad and never static. Rather, they are contested and evolving, and can be a source of profound social and economic transformation through their influence on aspirations and collective action; yet they can also be exploitative, exclusionary, and can lead to inequality.
Culture and Public Action includes case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which examine the role of culture in community-based development, ethnic conflict, famine relief, gender discrimination, and HIV-AIDS policy. The editors conclude by proposing how a "cultural lens" can better inform future research and public policy on development. Accessible, balanced, and engaging, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the relationship between culture and economics, and the design and implementation of development policy.
For further information on the book and related essays, please visit:
http: //www.cultureandpublicaction.org
For orders from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, please e-mail
Permanent Black at perblack@ndb.vsnl.net.in.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804747865
• ISBN 13: 9780804747868
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Rao Vijayendra, Walton Michael