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Lawrence E. Harrison

Who Prospers: How Cultural Values Shape Economic And Political Success Hardcover – August 4, 1992

by Lawrence E. Harrison (Author)

4.7 11 ratings

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What lies behind America's economic and social decline? Can racism explain the ghetto tragedy if two-thirds of America's blacks have made it into the middle class? Why have Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrants done so much better than Mexicans? According to Lawrence E. Harrison, the key to answering these and other questions is culturethe values of a people with respect to work, education, frugality, community, fair play, and progress.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

August 4, 1992
Dimensions

1.1 x 5.9 x 8.4 inches
ISBN-10

0465016340
ISBN-13

978-0465016341
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Lawrence E Harrison
81
Paperback
$21.37
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4.7 out of 5

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Gregory

a very important and honest work

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2016

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I have read the book in 2016 as I have become interested in the subject (as an amateur) only recently. In my opinion the book is a must for anyone interested in sociology and related fields. The book is extremely informative with an overall excellent insight reflected in its subtitle. The author is grossly politically incorrect and he is apparently uncomfortable with it as a life-long Democrat according to his admission. Therefore he apologizes for his analysis here and there in the text. His political bias overwhelms the last chapter, all of which except perhaps few initial pages can (and perhaps should) be omitted as either unfounded in the body of the book, or currently obsolete and irrelevant.
In the last chapter, mindful of a political labeling (Prof. Harrison describes how President Reagan has been called “a fascist” in an academic discussion), the author nonetheless cannot avoid bashing Reagan and Bush without a single relevant fact. Prof. Harrison reflects the prevailing vague and inconsistent notions of political ‘right” vs. “left” (that, e.g., commonly ascribe fascism to the “right” whereas it is a left-wing phenomenon).
Another interesting for me aspect of the authors work is not in the book. As I understand, Prof. Harrison is a highly knowledgeable person with a life-long career of a professional essentially promoting “liberal democracy” in variety of countries. Reading his book I am curious how he evaluates an application of democracy in various cultural backgrounds. Perhaps, this is reflected in his other books.
Overall, the book is a very important and honest work.

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Ralph D Arnold Jr.

How culture influences us.

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2020

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Enjoyed the perspective that culture has alot to do with our standard of living and what we can expect from our kind of government and from ourselves.

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David Eberle

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2017

Great

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2007

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This one is worse than "Culture Matters" (same author).

Know the code before you dive in -- income is distributed, not earned. Japan is the pre-eminent business climate ( because the government is so closely involved, you see). Progress = leftism. Stagnation = conservatism. America is fundamentally weak because some people get rich here.

Now that you have the decoder key, give it a read.

Sets you up for a good dose of Milton Friedman -- the perfect antidote to this kind of balderdash.

2 people found this helpful

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Dennis McNutt (dmcnutt@sccu.edu)

Character and culture do lead to wealth or poverty.

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 1998

An excellent discussion of the influence of culture on a nation's economic performance. It should be no surprise to learn that beliefs lead to acts and acts can lead either to prosperity or poverty. But given the eagerness of many analysts to blame the industrialized countries for the problems of the developing world, Harrison's work provides an invaluable correction. The beliefs of a people regarding such matters as the role of women, attitude toward the future, circle of trust, moral virtue, frugality, fair play, community and whether or not gaining wealth is a zero-sum game have a great impact on the potential of a county to escape poverty.

10 people found this helpful

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Y Wong

Well written and informative

Reviewed in Singapore on February 10, 2020

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In this well-researched book, Lawrence Harrison provides an unconventional yet convincing account as to why certain communities are more successful than others. Drawing extensively from his decades of working in Latin American countries, he contends that the gap in prosperity between North America and South America has to do with certain cultural predispositions, such as frugality, hard work, education, family or community. Similar observations are made about Chinese, Japanese and South Korea communities, which have, according to Harrison, all prospered as a result of their Confucian and Taoist heritage. Perhaps more could have been said about the actual policies implemented in those countries, explaining for example why China remained a poor country until enacting gradual reforms in the 1980’s despite favorable cultural endowments.

Although this book was written thirty years ago, it is not outdated. The erosion of American values which Harrison attributes to the rise of television and the difficulties of immigrants integrating into US society remain very relevant to this day. So do cultural factors in explaining the rise of countries such as China and India, factors that are largely absent from competing theories of economic development.

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