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TThhoomm WWoollff,, PPhh..DD.. Professor of Global Studies
University Institute New Delhi, India
1 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
Social Change and Development: A Research Template
By Thom Wolf
Copyright © 2010 by Thom Wolf
All rights reserved. The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
Published by
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Website: w w w.u ni vers i t yi ns t i t u te . i n
Email: [email protected]
© 2010 University Institute educational edition 2
Social Change and Development:
A Research Template
Abstract
Drawing on eight dimensions of Mariano Grondoña’s Cultural
Typology of Economic Development, with supplements from a similar
discussion by Lawrence Harrison, the Cultural Typology of Humane
Development is presented as a tool for comparison of progress-prone and
progress-resistant societies. Attention is drawn to the prescient 19th century
positions of comparative sociology in the writings of Mahatma Jotirao Phule
(d. 1890) which preceded Max Weber’s discussions on the significance of
religious dynamics on social and economic configurations; and which
anticipated the 20th and 21st century research of Alain Peyrefitte, Elvin Hatch,
Daniel Etounga-Manguelle, Mahub ul Haq, Theodore Malloch, Robert
Edgerton, Jerry Sternin, and others.
Hatch’s four common dimensions in the global discussion of social
change and development (the existence of unsuccessful societies, a humanistic
standard for evaluation, a general consensus on human flourishing, and the
question of improvement) are considered as part of a template for research.
This article argues that by building on the writings of Phule and the research
and observations of Edgerton, Hatch, and Sternin, the eightfold Cultural
Typology of Humane Development gives a research template for
collaborative research.
Such research, it is contended, will help discover cultures of positive
deviance and examine progress-resistant settings where socially reinforced
traditions and behaviours are maladaptive. Social change can be facilitated by
(1) identifying unsuccessful worldview perceptions and social practices; (2)
advocating a humane standard for normative conduct; (3) concentrating on
centralist proposals that a considerable portion of humanity agrees on; and (4)
pursuing the improvement question: are there other ways of thinking and doing
that offer more vibrant and flourishing life alternatives?
3 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
Mariano Grondoña Director of the Department of Political Science, La Universidad del Centro de Estudios Macroeconómicos de Argentina
Social Change and Development:
A Research Template
By
Thom Wolf, Ph.D.
Introduction
Argentinean sociologist and macroeconomist Mariano Grondoña developed a
cultural typology to analyse what he painfully called his
country’s ‚disappointing history.‛ He presented his ‘Cultural
Typology of Economic Development’ as a clarification of his
conclusion: ‚The paradox of economic development is that
economic values are not enough to ensure it<.The values
accepted or neglected by a nation fall within the cultural field.
We may thus say that economic development is a cultural
process.‛1 Grondoña was mindful that his conclusions were
controversial in the midst of the cultural relativism prevalent in
the thinking of so many—the view that all cultures are
essentially equal and all comparative value judgments are
equally invalid. But as he pointed out, the fact remains that some
cultures show themselves to be resiliently progress-prone while others are
persistently progress-resistant.2
1 Mariano Grondoña, “A Cultural Typology of Economic Development” in Culture Matters: How
Values Shape Human Progress, eds. Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington (New York: Basic Books, 2000), p. 46. 2 Mariano Grondoña, The Triangle of Development. Unpublished manuscript. See also Darrell
Delamaide, “Roman Teaching and Latin Enterprise,” pp. 80-83, “From Lisbon to Venice,” pp. 88-90,
and “Mare Nostrum: The Mediterranean Rim,” pp. 90-95, in The New Superregions of Europe (New
York: Plume Penguin Books, 1994), pp. 4-21 and 281-289; and G. Hofstede, Exploring Culture
(Bangalore: Intercultural Press, 2002).
© 2010 University Institute educational edition 4
Cultures of Cultivation, Cultures of Constraint,
and Human Flourishing
University of California anthropologist Robert Edgerton challenges ‚the myth
of primitive harmony‛ by revisiting socially reinforced traditions and behaviours
that are ‚maladaptive‛. Edgerton concludes that ‚some beliefs and behaviours serve
human needs and social requisites better than others.‛
Harvard University’s Lawrence E. Harrison says, ‚I believe that cultures that
nurture human creative capacity and progress are better than those that don’t. Some
may be offended by this assertion, but it is, I believe, corroborated by the persistent
flow of immigrants from cultures that suppress progress to those cultures that
facilitate it.‛3 In other words, more people want to immigrate to Canada than to
Cameroon, to Boston than to Bhopal, to Costa Rica than to Cuba, to London than to
Lagos.
Although Argentina is Grondoña’s example of development resistance, his
implication includes all Iberian/Catholic-based cultures that share the same operative
characteristics, whether México or Macao, Spain or El Salvador, Portugal or Peru,
Belgium or Brazil.4 He is not alone. Carlos Montaner, Mala Htun, Elizabeth Brusco,
and Octavio Paz have made similar arguments, documenting the same kinds of
phenomena.5
Weber, Peyrefitte, and Etounga-Manguelle on
Progress/Development Prone Countries
Conversely, Alain Peyrefitte, French Minister of Finance, and Max Weber,
one of the founders of sociology, among others, connect Protestant culture
with progress/development-prone countries. Examples include
Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, West
Germany, Australia, Finland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, not
to mention British-influenced Hong Kong and Singapore.6
3 Lawrence E. Harrison, Who Prospers: How Cultural Values Shape Economic and Political Success
(New York: Basic Books, 1992), p. 16; and Robert Edgerton, Sick Societies: Challenging the Myth of
Primitive Harmony (New York: The Free Press, 1992), pp. 144, 65-74, 101-104, and 202-209. 4 Grondona, “A Cultural Typology of Economic Development,” pp. 2-13. 5 For an accessible introduction to the arguments and literature see Carlos Rangel, The Latin
Americans: Their Love-Hate Relationship with the United States (Trenton: Rutgers The State
University and Transaction Publishers, 1987\2002), pp. 3-8, 25-29, 142-148, and 288-298; Carlos
Alberto Montaner, “Culture and the Behaviour of Elites in Latin America,” pp. 56-64; Mala Htun,
“Culture, Institutions, and Gender Inequality in Latin America,” pp. 189-199; and Michael Fairbanks,
“Changing the Mind of a Nation: Elements in a Process for Creating Prosperity,” pp. 268-281, in
Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington (Eds.), Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human
Progress (New York: Basic Books, 2000); as well as David Stoll, Is Latin America Turning
Protestant?: The Politics of Evangelical Growth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990) pp. 24-41; Elizabeth E. Brusco, The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical Conversion and Gender in
Colombia (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010), pp.14-30; Octavio Paz, “Mexico and the United
States” The New Yorker Magazine September 17, 1979; and David Martin, “Evangelical Expansion
and „Progressive Values‟ in the Developing World” pp. 117-136, in Lawrence E. Harrison and Jerome
Kagan (Eds.), Developing Cultures: Essays on Cultural Change (New York: Routledge, 2006). 6 Alain Peyrefitte, The Trouble with France (New York: New York University Press, 1985); Max
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (New York: Scribner, 1985); Peter Berger and Samuel P. Huntington (Eds.), Many Globalizations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002);
5 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
Daniel
Etounga-Manguelle
Take the cultural value of social distance, for example. Social distance is
perceived differently by progress-resistant and progress-prone cultures. In the
cultures of Southern Europe, Africa, and South Asia, social distance is a priority
value.
Daniel Etounga-Manguelle of Cameroon is president of the Société Africaine
d’Etude, d’Exploitation et de Gestion (SADEG). Building on the
global surveys of D. Bollinger and G. Hofstede, he comments
on the cultural value of hierarchical distance, the degree of
social verticality in a nation’s worldview.
Hierarchical distance, Etounga-Manguelle explains, is
‚generally substantial in tropical and Mediterranean
climates<. In countries with substantial hierarchical
distances, the society tends to be static and politically
centralized. What little national wealth exists is concentrated
in the hands of an elite. The generations pass without significant change in mind-
set.‛7 Examples include the Latin sisters of Southern Europe—Greece, Italy, Spain,
and Portugal (the European PIGS or PIIGS, with Ireland, of the 2010 Greece-triggered
euro financial crisis) as well as the nations of West, Central, and South Africa,
including the Caribbean countries of the West African hegemony.8
and Thom Wolf, “The Empty Chair: Democracy in the Middle East.” (New Delhi: University Institute,
2004). In reverse, on the issue of sustainability without the traditional worldview underpinnings to
Western democracies, see C. John Sommerville, The Decline of the Secular University (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2008); Herbert London, America’s Secular Challenge: The Rise of a New
National Religion (New York: Encounter Books, 2008); and Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007). 7 The Société Africaine d‟Etude, d‟Exploitation et de Gestion (SADEG), is currently involved in more
than fifty development projects in Africa; and Etounga-Manguelle is a former member of the World
Bank‟s Council of African Advisors. Citing D. Bollinger and G. Hofstede, Les différences culturelles
dans le management (Paris: Les Editions Organisation, 1987); and Alassane Ndaw, La Pensée
Africaine—Research on the Foundations of Negro-African Thought (Paris: Nouvelles Editions
Africaines, 1983).
See also Ronald Inglehart, Cultural Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1990); Ronald Inglehart and Wayne E. Baker, “Modernization, Cultural Change, and
the Persistence of Traditional Values,” American Sociological Review 65 (February 2000), pp. 19-51;
Stephen J. Kobrin, “Back to the Future: Neomedievalism and the Postmodern Digital World
Economy,” Journal of International Affairs 51 (1998): pp. 361-86; and G. Hofstede, Culture’s
Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations
(Beverly Hills: Sage, 2001). 8 For the Southern Europe Sisters, see the historical and cultural contrasts of Northern and Southern
Italy, cf. Edward Banfield, The Moral Basis of a Backward Society (Chicago: Gateway, 1958); Robert
Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1993); and D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). On the euro financial crisis, see Daniel McDowell,
“Greek Debt Crisis and the PIIGS: Europe‟s Financial Swine Flu” World Politics Review 06 May 2010
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/5502/greek-debt-crisis-and-the-piigs-europes-financial-
swine-flu.
On the animistic worldview of Africa and its societal effects see, K. Koech, “African Mythology: A
Key to Understanding African Religion,” pp. 117-139, in N. S. Booth (Ed.), African Religions: A
Symposium (New York: NOK Publishers, 1977); Jacob K. Olupona, African Spirituality: Forms,
Meanings, and Expressions (New York: Herder and Herder, 2001),pp. 3-25; and Stephen Ellis and
Gerrie ter Haar (Eds.), Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa Studies in
Contemporary History and World Affairs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 11-26 and
49-69.
© 2010 University Institute educational edition 6
Mahbub ul Haq
By contrast, different cultural values, making almost all the difference, create
a different kind of social order.9 In fact, ‚it is the reverse in countries with short
hierarchical distances. Technological changes happen in these countries because the
people need technical progress. The political systems are decentralized and based on
a representative system. The nations’ wealth, which is substantial, is widely
distributed; and children learn things that their parents never knew.‛10
Grondoña’s Weberian position is close to the position maintained by Landes
and Haq. David Landes, economic historian at Harvard University,
argues, ‚Culture makes almost all the difference.‛
Pakistani economist Mahub ul Haq concluded that the human
development paradigm of research ‚embraces all of society—not just
the economy. The political, cultural and social factors are given as
much attention as the economic factors.‛ ‚In fact,‛ he emphasised,
‚study of the link between the economic and the non-economic environment is one
of the most fascinating and rewarding aspects of this new analysis.‛11
Landes’s research also readily acknowledges the interface of many factors, all
making varying contributions and differences. But the fact continually surfaces that,
in the midst of the political, economic, social, and cultural dynamics, ‚culture makes
almost all the difference.‛ That is the argument that interests me here.
The creation of alternative social space in Africa is discussed by Ruth Marshall, “Power in the Name of
Jesus,” Review of African Political Economy 52 (1991): pp. 21-37. The animistic rooting of Nepal‟s
worldview and the nature of South Asian religion in general is laid out by David N. Gellner, “What is
the Anthropology of Buddhism About?‟ pp. 45-60; “Weber on Nepal,” pp. 87-105; and “For Syncretism: The Position of Buddhism in Nepal and Japan Compared,” pp. 319-335, in The
Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes (New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2001). 9 For South America and Eastern Europe, see David Martin on different spiritual values creating an
alternative social experience in Forbidden Revolutions: Pentecostalism in Latin America, Catholicism
in Eastern Europe (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), pp. 37-39; George Weigel, The Final Revolution
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); and Elizabeth Brusco, The Reformation of Machismo (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010), pp.1-11, and 135-146. For Africa, see Ruth Marshall,
“Power in the Name of Jesus,” Review of African Political Economy 52 (1991): pp. 21-37; and
Matthew Parris, “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God” The Times December 27, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece. 10 See Etounga-Manguelle, “Does Africa Need a Cultural Adjustment Program?” pp. 56-77 in
Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington (Eds.), Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human
Progress (New York: Basic Books, 2000), p. 68. Some nations are an odd fit: France, Italy, and Japan.
But even in this odd-nations category, again, cultural makes almost all the difference. For example, France, Italy (particularly in the south), and Japan are also countries of high hierarchical distance, but
manifest blended characteristics of progress-prone cultures.
Many argue that it is by particular cultural values, chosen at particular points in their history, that these
odd-category nations gain a fit with the progress-prone short hierarchical distant cultures. For example,
on France‟s indecision to go with Northern Europe or remain attached to Southern Europe culture, see
Peyrefitte 1985. For Japan‟s 19th-century Meiji Restoration and Japan as an Asian version of Weber‟s
Protestant ethic thesis, see Landes 2000, pp. 2-3, 7-10; and Loren Cunningham, The Book that
Transforms Nations (Honolulu: YWAM Publishing, 2007), pp. 139-149. 11 Mahbub ul Haq, “The Human Development Paradigm”. In Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and A. K. Shiva
Kumar (Eds.), Readings in Human Development: Concepts, Measures and Policies for a Development
Paradigm, Foreword by Amartya Sen. United Nations Development Programme (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2003), pp. 17-34.
7 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
A Cultural Typology of Humane Development
Grondoña includes 20 factors in his Cultural Typology of Economic
Development. From those 20 factors I have created eight cultural dimensions, with
supplements from a similar discussion by Lawrence Harrison. For as Grondoña
indicates, his list is ‚not definitive. It could be amplified by additional contrasts or it
could be reduced, seeking only the most important differences.‛ But those 20 factors
he considers ‚sufficient to obtain some idea of the contrasting visions‛ from which
the two value systems of progress-engendering and progress-hindering flow.12
Therefore, following Grondoña’s lead, I have chosen eight central dimensions for
thinking critically (as well as with compassion and concern) about progress-prone
and progress-resistant societies, cultures of cultivation and cultures of constriction.
A Cultural Typology of Humane Development
Qualities of Progress-Prone and Progress-Resistant Cultures Chart
Cultural Dimensions
Progress-Prone Culture
Progress-Resistant Culture
1. Time focus Present & Future Oriented
activistic arrow-time
create the future
Past or Present Oriented
fatalistic cycle-time
receive the future
2. Work Foundational: Central to Good Life
satisfaction & self-respect, noble & indispensable in workplace
savings invested for subsequent consumption
Festive: A Necessary Evil
real satisfaction & pleasure is outside workplace
savings redistributed thru ceremonial consumptions
3. Merit Achievement-Oriented
merit rewarded
conduct counts
Ascription-Oriented
relationships rewarded
connections count
4. Education Socially Central
literacy for all
endeavour of all
Socially Peripheral
literacy for some
entitlement by elites
5. Women Gender equality
formal status of parity
relationships of respect
Gender inequality
formal status of disadvantage
relationships of non-respect
6. Sense of Community
Universalistic
wider society beyond
family trusting of others
public concerns
Particularistic
individualistic & familistic
nontrusting of others
non-public concerns
7. Ethics Rigorous Code
uniform application of principles to all persons
Flexible Code
preferential application of principles to known persons
8. Worldview & Civic Pluralism
Public Worldview & Religious Pluralism
conversion in and out
low social violence between groups
Public Worldview & Religious Monopoly
conversion in, not out
high social violence between groups
Source: Thom Wolf, A Cultural Typology of Humane Development: Qualities of Progress-Prone and Progress-
Resistant Cultures Chart. San Francisco: University Institute, 2000. ©2000 Thom Wolf. Adapted from Harrison, The
Pan-American Dream 1997 and Grondoña, A Cultural Typology of Economic Development 2000.
12 Grondoña, “A Cultural Typology of Economic Development, p. 53; and Lawrence E. Harrison, The
Pan American Dream (New York: Basic Books, 1997).
© 2010 University Institute educational edition 8
Jotirao Phule (1827-1890)
Father of Indian Comparative Sociology
& Social Transformation
Jotirao Phule: Indian Father of Comparative Sociology
Jotirao Phule (1827-1890) was a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, Charles
Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. In today’s 21st century India, Phule
holds a special place because of the continuing relevance of his applications of
dignity, equality, and justice to the education13 and life predicament of the backward
castes and scheduled castes populations of India.14
Mahatma Phule, for example, practiced in the mid-to-late 1800s what today is
called comparative sociology, the cross-national comparison of commonalities and
contrasts of systems and processes that underlie the
social order in different societies. As such, Phule is a
rare, early, and non-western comparative-and-
participant observer of India’s Brahmin culture of
worshipview-shaped inequality.
In 1905 Max Weber’s Protestantism and the Rise of
Capitalism drew attention to the power of worshipview
and the spiritual capital it generates or inhibits on a
society’s worldview and worldvenue. ‚Weber’s
achievement was not to definitely answer a riddle,‛
says Peter Baehr, professor of human rights, Utrecht
University, Netherlands, ‚but to stake out...the claim
that religious forces, not simply economic
ones, paved the way for the mentality
characteristic of modern, Western
capitalism. On Weber’s account, our secular and materialistic culture is
partly indebted to a spiritual revolution: the Protestant Reformation of
the sixteenth century.‛15
13 See Lawrence Harrison, The Central Liberal Truth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006); Samuel
P. Huntington, “The West Unique, Not Universal,” Foreign Affairs 75, 6 (Nov-Dec 1996); R. J. House, P. J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P. W. Dorfman, & V. Gupta (Eds.), Culture, Leadership, and Organizations:
The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2004); and the review by Thom Wolf,
“Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies,” Journal of Applied
Christian Leadership 1, 1 (Spring 2006): pp. 55-71. 14 “Backward class people is a collective term, used by the Government of India, for castes which are
economically and socially disadvantaged and face, or may have faced discrimination on account of
birth. Most of them do not have any land ownership or economic independence and are dependent on
Forward Castes for employment, mostly as farm hands or menial labour; or derive income from self employment on caste-dependent skills assignment. They typically include the Dalits, the Scheduled
castes, and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). They live mainly in rural India and perform hard
physical labour such as agriculture and janitorial work.” “Other Backward Classes” Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Backward_Classes.
For Phule‟s voice in current debates, see Thom Wolf, “Progress-Prone and Progress-Resistant Cultures:
Worldview Issues and the Baliraja Proposal of Mahatma Phule” Journal of Contemporary Social Work
(Department of Sociology, University of Lucknow) Volume 1 April (2007): pp. 1-52; and Rosalind
O‟Hanlon, Caste, Conflict, and Ideology: Mahatma Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). 15 Max Weber, Peter Baehr, and Gordon Wells, The Protestant Ethic and the ‘Spirit’ of Capitalism and
Other Writings (New York: Penguin, 2002), p. ix. For Phule, see Gail Omvedt, Seeking Begumpura:
The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals (New Delhi: Navayana, 2008), 159-184.
9 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
Some also argue that Weber’s insight into the spiritual dynamic of the
Protestant worldview is not limited to the West or to Christian background societies.
Consider, for example, the interesting and enduring social phenomenon of the
Iranian ‚Islamic Protestantism‛ movement.
Though largely unnoticed in Western media, the Islamic Protestantism
movement of Iran is an example of global hybrid thinking by Muslim intellectuals.
For over a century (1905-2005), the possibility for a progress-cultivating ‚Islamic
Protestantism‛ has been researched and articulated by leading Iranian scholars and
activists, from Akhundzadeh, Khan, Kermani, and Afghani to Shariati, Aghajari, An-
Na’im, and Mahdavi.16
Theodore Malloch, research professor, Yale University, argues that
historically, the spiritual capital of Protestant business persons focuses on the three
virtues of faith, hope, and charity. A Jesus-shaped worshipview, Malloch explains,
yields a worldview triad of leadership discipline (faith), social compassion (charity),
and persevering justice (hope), and manifests in its materialistic worldvenue.
Such J-shaped societies cultivate progress by (1) giving the creation of wealth
a transcendent meaning (2) making wealth not an end in itself but a resource for
human accomplishment and (3) translating that spiritual capital triad into socially
responsible action. Thus, Malloch and others see the 1990s impoverishment and
implosion of the Communist empire, the 2008 systemic sickness of the American
economy, and the 2010 Greek-generated crisis of the Eurozone as West-wide
indicators that it is time for Western societies to retrieve, restate, and revitalize the
Jesus-shaped spiritual capital of the West.17
Jotirao Phule, some 50 years before Weber’s 1905 publication, had already
considered and critiqued, India’s progress constricting worshipview and worldview.
Phule reacted against the society-wide exclusion of 90% India (‚backward‛ castes
and ‚untouchable‛ outcastes) from sharing in education and literacy; and Phule
rightly saw that it was an exclusion conceived from and enforced by the minority
(4%) Brahmin forward caste mythmakers.18
16 See Ali Shariati, Collected Works, Vol. 20: Where Shall We Begin. Tehran 1981,
http://www.shariati.com; Abbas Amanat, “From ijtihad to wilayat-i faqih: The Evolving of the Shi‟ite
Legal Authority to Political Power” Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture 2.3 Summer
2003, http://www.logosjournal.com/issue2.3.pdf ; Mojtaba Mahdavi, “Max Weber in Iran: Does
Islamic Protestantism Matter?” University of Western Ontario, Canada, http://www.cpsa-
acsp.ca/papers-2005/mahdavi.pdf; and A. Kadir Yildirim, “Islam and Democracy: A Critical
Perspective on a Misconstrued Relationship” The Fountain Issue 61 January-February 2008. 17 Theodore Malloch, Spiritual Enterprise: Doing Virtuous Business. (New York: Encounter, 2008);
and see Nicholas Capaldi (editor), Business and Religion: A Clash of Civilizations? (Salem, MA: M &
M Scrivener, 2005); Nicholas Capaldi, John Stuart Mill: A Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2004); http://www.business.loyno.edu/faculty-staff/nicholas-capaldi; Philippe Nemo,
“Europe‟s Endangered Soul: Can the Continent survive the EU‟s expansion?” City Journal (vol. 20, no.
2) Spring, 2010 at http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_snd-eu-expansion.html; and on the “moral
hazard” of the Euro crisis, see “Debt crisis exposes the euro‟s flaws but divorce is not an option” at
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5668869,00.html. 18 See Suzana Andrade and Thom Wolf, Savitribai and India’s Conversation on Education (New
Delhi: University Institute, 2008) http://www.universityinstitute.in/images/savitribai.pdf; Krishna
Kumar and Joachim Oesterheld (Eds.), Education and Social Change in South Asia (New Delhi: Orient
Longman, 2007); and Francisco Ramirez and John Meyer, “National Curricula: World Models and
National Historical Legacies” (Palo Alto: Stanford University Comparative Sociology Workshop,
2002) http://www.stanford.edu/group/csw/frameset.html.
© 2010 University Institute educational edition 10
If we use Edgerton’s terminology, Phule had concluded that his India was a
‚maladaptive‛ social order which forbade education to all the girl children of India
and to 90% of his countrymen; he saw the Brahmin-generated worldview as the root
of India’s political oppression, economic backwardness, social injustices, and non-
existent education system for its people. In other words, to Phule, the Brahman
pundit’s worshipview was clearly the ‚cruel religion‛ birth-mother of India’s all-
encompassing and perennial worldview which had for centuries sustained South
Asia’s progress-resistant political, economic, and social worldvenue structures.
For that reason, 150 years before Edgerton articulated the concept of societal
‚maladaptive practices‛, Phule raged against what he called a Brahmin-built ‚prison
house‛, a jailhouse constructed of cruel karma bricks. It was a maladaptive social
venue that was conceived, condoned, and re-enforced by what Phule condemned as
a slavery system; a system, he wrote, that was based on superstitious speculations,
magic mantras, and grievous oppression, and maintained by cruel oppression and
injustice.19
Unsuccessful Societies, a Humane Standard,
and the Improvement Question
As such, Phule’s passionate thinking provides an intriguing 19th-century
Indian case study for the weighty observations about change by another 20th century
University of California anthropologist, Elvin Hatch. Hatch documents what he calls
the ‚ubiquity of moral evaluation of behaviour‛ across cultural boundaries, the core
moral sense of humane human behaviour.20 Then, in the light of that humanity-wide
core of moral sensibility, Hatch notes that there are generally agreed to be at least
four common dimensions in the global discussion about change.
First, there are recognizable ‚unsuccessful‛ societies. Not all societies are
equally successful in nurturing life flourishing; some societies are perpetually
‚unsuccessful‛ on a comparative scale globally.
Second, there is a humanistic standard, a generally approved set of normative
human principles for life and societal flourishing. These normative principles yield a
‚humanistic standard‛ for humane conduct: health not illness, prosperity not
poverty, peace not conflict, dignity not disrespect, truthfulness not deceit, integrity
not corruption.
Third, there is considerable agreement on the core dimensions of a moral
society. There is, Hatch points out, a ‚considerable portion‛ of humanity which
agrees to this basic moral standard.
Fourth, there is the ‚improvement‛ question: What ways of thinking and
doing in more successful societies would improve this society’s success? That is, if a
19 See Jotirao Phule, Cultivator’s Whipcord. Collected Works of Mahatma Phule Volume 3 (Mumbai:
Government of Maharashtra, 2002), pp. 35, 47, and 113-114; and G. P. Deshpande (Ed.), Selected
Writings of Jotirao Phule (New Delhi: LeftWord, 2002), pp. 26-35, 71-73, 98, 129-130, and 178. 20 Elvin Hatch, Culture and Morality: The Relativity of Values in Anthropology (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1983). See also James Q. Wilson, The Moral Sense (New York: Free Press, 1993);
and Henry J. Steiner, Philip Alston, Ryan Goodman, International Human Rights in Context: Law,
Politics, Morals. 3rd Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
11 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
society is deficient in delivering decent living to its people, what are the
commitments, concepts, and conducts in other cultures that might offer an
‚improvement‛ to the proposals-and-solutions of its own culture?21
What Hatch designates as ‚unsuccessful societies‛ approximates Edgerton’s
global worst practices or ‚maladaptive behaviours‛. Further, he helpfully and
profoundly locates the change discussion within a deep moral framework and a
normative human standard. But perhaps most helpful of all, Hatch gives what I am
calling here ‚the improvement question‛, the ability through comparative
sociological research and an open public square discussion, to search for ‚successful
societies‛. In this understanding, ‚successful societies‛ are those venues and views
that might offer viable solutions for the hurtful practices and perspectives that
dominate and direct ‚unsuccessful societies‛. In other words, to use Phule’s 19th
century Indian image, what can those in ‚prison house‛ societies learn from those
who live in ‚pleasant house‛ societies?
Mahatma Phule’s writings, however, were not limited to library insights; he
was a street-level advocate for the poor and marginalized. Phule’s 1870’s
Gulamgiri|Slavery and Shetkaryacha Asud|Cultivator’s Whipcord remarkably anticipate
the 1970s nutrition research development of Positive Deviance by medical doctors
Jerry and Monique Sternin in Southeast Asia.22 Positive Deviance’s approach to
behavioural and social change is based on the observation that there are often a
minority of people (Positive Deviants) in poor communities whose uncommon but
successful behaviours or strategies enable them to find better solutions to a problem
than their peers, despite having no special resources or knowledge.
For example, researchers in poor countries in Southeast Asia observed that
despite a community’s poverty, some poor families had well nourished children.
They were individuals who had devised uncommon but successful strategies to
avoid the problems afflicting their neighbours. In the words of J. Sternin, ‚Instead of
going into a village and looking at the 70 percent of malnourished kids, P.D. flips it
21 Elvin Hatch, Theories of Man and Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974. See also Melford E. Spiro, Culture and Human Nature, edited by Benjamin Kilborne and L. L. Langnes (New
Brunswick: Transaction, Rutgers—The State University, 1994); “Anthropology and Human Nature.”
Ethos 27, no 1 (March 1999); Vernon Ruland, Conscience Across Borders: An Ethics of Global Rights
and Religious Pluralism (San Francisco: University of San Francisco, 2002); and Arvind Singhal and
James D. Dearing (Eds.), Communication of Innovations: A Journey with Ev Rogers (New Delhi: Sage,
2006).
For a historical example of universally commended behaviour and a compelling record of extraordinary
moral rightness, consult all of Emmy E. Werner, A Conspiracy of Decency: The Rescue of the Danish Jews During World War II (Cambridge: Westview Press, 2002), with special attention to the
worldview-related moral and spiritual fountains that fed such acts, pp. 167-181. See also Leo Goldberg,
The Rescue of the Danish Jews: Moral Courage Under Stress (New York: New York University Press,
1988); along with Kevin Spicer (editor), Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007); and John L. Campbell, John A. Hall, and Ove Kaj
Pedersen (Eds.), National Identity and Varieties of Capitalism (Toronto: McGill-Queen‟s University
Press, 2006).
The cultural context of South Asian education is discussed by Leslie Stevenson and David L. Haberman, Ten Theories of Human Nature 4th Edition. (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006),
pp. 27-46; G. H. Ghurye, “Features of the Caste System” pp. 38-59, in Ghanshyam Shah (Ed.), Caste
and Democratic Politics in India (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004); and Dietmar Rothermund,
India: The Rise of an Asian Giant (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 162-195. 22 See Thom Wolf, Phule in His Own Words (An English|Hindi publication). New Delhi: Aspire
Prakashan, 2010.
© 2010 University Institute educational edition 12
around. There are 30 percent who are not malnourished — same socioeconomic
status, same risk, but they’re not in trouble. Why?‛ In operationalizing the Positive
Deviance concept, it was suggested that information gathered from these outliers be
used to plan nutrition programs to benefit those who are malnourished.
The Positive Deviance approach is a strength-based approach applied to
problems requiring behaviour and social change. It provides community members
‚social proof‛ that an uncommon behaviour can be adopted by all because it is
already practiced by a few within the community. Since solutions come from the
community, the ‚immune response‛ – the community resistance that can occur when
outside experts enter a community with best practices that are often unsuccessful in
promoting sustained change – is avoided.
The three core processes in Positive Deviance are: (1) discover positive
deviants and document precisely what the positive deviants are doing different; (2)
encourage the positive deviants minority to educate the negative dominant majority;
and (3) document and celebrate significant changes in group behaviour. The process
of community discovery of Positive Deviants in their midst remains vital to the
acceptance of new behaviours, attitudes, and knowledge; and the application of
Positive Deviance for social change has been demonstrated in various fields: hospital
infections, public health, child protection, education, and the private sector.23
Conclusion
By building on the research and observations of Edgerton and Hatch, the
Grondoña cultural typology can function as a research-and-recommendation
template to explore the improvement question. The eightfold Cultural Typology of
Humane Development gives a research template to discover and document agents and
cultures of positive deviance, to practically investigate progress-resistant settings
where socially reinforced traditions and behaviours are maladaptive by (1)
identifying unsuccessful worldview perceptions and social practices; (2)
advocating a humane standard for normative conduct; (3) concentrating on
centralist proposals that a considerable portion of humanity agrees on; and (4)
pursuing the improvement question: are there other ways of thinking and doing
that offer more vibrant and flourishing life alternatives?
So then, Edgerton’s estimation, perhaps, is not too far off the mark in
summarizing the global situation in the pressing arena of social change and
development: All societies are sick. But some societies are sicker than others.24
23 See Jon Gertner, “Positive Deviance” New York Times December 14, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/magazine/14ideas-section3-t-00t.html?r=2&partner=permalink; R. Tuhus-
Dubrow, “The Power of Positive Deviants: A promising new tactic for changing communities from the
inside” Boston Globe November 29, 2009; G. Hamel, The Future of Management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007; and R. Pascale, J. Sternin, & M. Sternin, The Power of Positive
Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems. Boston: Harvard Business
School Press, 2010. 24 Robert Edgerton, Sick Societies: Challenging the Myth of Primitive Harmony (New York: Free Press,
1992), p.1; Kancha Ilaiah, Post-Hindu India (New Delhi: Sage, 2009) with Mark Tully, “Angst of the
Outcaste” India Today February 22, 2010, pp. 73-74; Vesselin Popvski, Gregory Reichberg, and
Nicholas Turner (Eds.), World Religions and the Norms of War (Geneva: United Nations University Press, 2009); Meera Nandan, The God Market (New Delhi: Random House India, 2009); and Duncan
13 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
Also, Grondona’s cultural typology provides a
useful paradigm, and the Wolf eightfold cultural typology
of humane development creates a manageable comparative
research template. Thus, the Grondoña-Edgerton-Hatch-
Wolf mix offers a kind of café global conversation for a cup
of cultures contemplation. It is a sidewalk discussion table
for considerations and recommendations on change
ranging from Phule’s discussions of prison-house cultures to the Sternins’
documentations of positive deviance for sustained social change and development.
For in the global world, the most crucial question for all of us to research,
ponder, and answer is: what is the best way to live life on this planet? And, what kind of
spiritual and social capital can be drawn on to source and shape our social,
economic, and political issues?
That is: it seems that all persons and societies must deal with the same basic
issues of making a living and of living life. Therefore, are there, and if so, where are
there other cultures – other friends and sojourners – facing the same life issues that
confront us all, but which offer improvements to unsuccessful groups, groups that
are currently working from maladaptive worldview formulations? If so, what and
where are those improvements for living? And, most importantly, how do we access
and replicate them to the benefit of those who remain persistently oppressed,
impoverished, and entrapped?
The Author
Thom Wolf, D.Lit., Ph.D. (Andrews University), is international president and
professor of global studies of UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, New Delhi, India; adjunct professor
of global leadership, Andrews University; and adjunct professor of sociology, Charleston
Southern University.
He is an international fellow of Canyon Institute for Advanced Studies, Phoenix, USA; a
life member of the Indian Sociological Society; and a contributing editor of Forward,
India’s first fully Hindi|English news magazine.
UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE is focused around the crucial question of the 21st century’s global
conversation: what is the best way to live life on this planet?
To further the global conversation and to promote sustainable environments for life
flourishing worldwide, UI convenes, connects, and collaborates educational experiences
throughout South Asia, Southeast and East Asia, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East,
Europe and the Americas. With a research library of over 10,000 volumes, UI partners
for-credit education for USA universities and adult learning experiences for participants.
A social entrepreneur and leadership educator, Dr Thom has designed Master of Arts
programs for four USA universities. His campus lectures|speaking engagements include
Indiana University, University of California Berkeley, Universidad Autónoma del Estado
de México, Kunming University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Princeton
University, Stanford University, Harvard University, American University of Dubai; the
Finance & Budget Academy, Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation; Kabul
Green, From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States Change the World (New
Delhi: Academic Foundation, 2008).
© 2010 University Institute educational edition 14
University and Kateb University, Afghanistan; Quaid-i-Azam University and Iqra
University, Islamabad, Pakistan; Kashmir University, Lucknow University, Delhi
University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University.
With a sustained interest in the ethical dimensions of comparative worldviews, his ideas
have been published by Far Eastern Economic Review, Journal of AC Leadership, Journal of
Contemporary Social Work of Lucknow University, the Ministry of Culture|Government of
India, and Nava Nalanda Mahavihara University. His probing India Progress-Prone: The
Baliraja Proposal of Mahatma Phule (2008) is translated into Hindi and Marathi, and his
highly acclaimed ‚The Mahayana Moment: Tipping Point Buddhism‛ (2009), into
Tibetan (2010).
Dr. Wolf’s writings include:
‘The Mahayana Moment: Tipping Point Buddhism’ in B. Mungekar (ed.),
Buddhism in the 21st Century (2009; Tibetan, 2010)
India Progress Prone: The Baliraja Proposal of Mahatma Phule (2008; Hindi, 2008;
Marathi, 2009)
Savitribai: India’s Conversation on Education, with Suzana Andrade (2008)
‘Three Challenges of 21st Century Buddhism’ in B. Mungekar & A. Rathore
(eds.) Buddhism and the Contemporary World (2007)
Phule in His Own Words, with Sunil Sardar (2007)
His public lectures and engagements include:
Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan; Kateb University, Kabul, Afghanistan;
Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan; Iqra University, Islamabad,
Pakistan. Invited Lecture: ‘Social Change and Development: A Research
Template’ (Fall, 2010)
Finance & Budget Academy of the Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation,
Moscow, Russia. Invited Lecture: ‘Progress-Prone and Progress-Resistant
Societies: Mariano Grondoña’s Paradox and A Cultural Typology of Humane
Development’ (Summer, 2010)
India International Centre, New Delhi. From Gulamgiri to Asmita: Jyotiba
Phule and Social Reform Movement – A Discussion. Paper read: ‘Phule’s Voice
and Venue in Contemporary India’. Other panel members: V S Sirpurkur, Judge
of the Supreme Court of India; Dr Gail Omvedt, Ambedkar Chair, IGNO
University; Dr Y S Alone, School of Arts & Aesthetics, JNU (Spring, 2010)
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Invited Lecture: ‘Mahatma
Jotirao Phule on Maharashtrian and Indian History: Insights for 21st Century
Issues’. Maharashtra @ 50: Ideas of India National Conference (Spring, 2010)
University Institute, India. Fall Educational Seminars: ‘The Mahayana Moment:
Tipping Point Buddhism Seminar’. Based on essay in Buddhism in the 21st Century
by Government of India and Nava Nalanda Mahavihara University (Fall, 2009)
University of Kashmir, India. Business School, Invited Lecture: ‘India Progress
Prone: A Case Study’ (Spring 2009)
Arizona State University, USA. The Canyon Institute of Advanced Studies
Lecture, Old Main (1898) Hall. Lecture: ‘India Progress-Prone: Phule’s Baliraja
Proposal’ (Spring 2009)
Azusa Pacific University, USA. The Current Issues in Leadership Guest Lectureship
Lecture: ‘Leaders, Ideas, and Social Change: A Case Study from India’ (Fall 2008)
15 © 2010 University Institute educational edition
American University of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Invited Lecture:
‘Progress-Prone and Progress-Resistant Cultures: A Template for Research’
(Spring 2008)
Chair, ‘International Practices of Buddhism’ Session, 2550th Anniversary of
Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha, International Conference at Bodhgaya, birthplace
of Buddhism. Government of India, Ministry of Culture (Spring 2007)
Baylor University, USA. Sociology Department, Lecture: ‘Hindu/Buddhist and
Hebrew/Christian Meditation: A Gender Studies Comparison’ (Fall 2006)
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, USA. School of Business Distinguished
Speaker Series 2006 with Dr Ken Blanchard and 41st USA President, the Honorable
George H W Bush. Invited Lecture: ‘GlobalShift: The New History Vectors’ (Fall
2006)
Lucknow University, India. Sociology Department, Invited Lecture: ‘Progress-
Prone and Progress-Resistant Cultures: Worldview Issues’ (Fall 2006)