This argument, politics vs. culture is exemplified in Pye's article on Asian Values. .
In Asian culture and past history the values instilled by their society were Confucianism and mostly traditional beliefs. Before industrialization swept the nation, it complemented their rural way of life. After WWII and the rebuilding of industrialization for Japan, the cultural values of Asian life stayed the same yet produced different results for the Japanese because of the ability to adapt to the changing environment and changing culture as a result of political reform. After being under Monarchial rule with the Emperor and religion as the utmost importance in their cultural beliefs, the rise of westernization and a democratic capitalist society influenced Japan to become westernized. .
While this is an example of politics affecting Japanese development, " In this book, however, we are interested in how culture affects societal development" (p. xiv). A perfect example of this is the comparison of the GNP of Ghana, vs. South Korea in the beginning of the book. In the 1960's these two countries" .
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economies were very similar and yet thirty years later, South Korea developed into the fourteenth largest economy in the world not because of their political and economic power exactly, but mostly it can be best explained in their values or their culture. They valued such things as hard work, education, and discipline to name a few, therefore it can be said, " In short, cultures count" (foreword). .
Furthermore, to fully comprehend how culture and economic development take place I will take a look at the intrinsic versus instrumental values of economic development stated in Mariano Grondona's article, "A Cultural Typology of Economic Development" The idea that economic development is, " An unending sequence of decisions favorable to investment, competition, and innovation that are made whenever the temptation to diverge arises" (Grondona, p.
