A Creative Reflective Essay Relating My Understanding of an Article from the Cross-Cultural Journal of Psychology:
A Creative Reflective Essay Relating My Understanding of an Article from the Cross-Cultural Journal of Psychology:
TWO DECADES OF CHANGE IN CULTURAL VALUES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN EIGHT EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND NATIONS
(MICHAEL W. ALLEN, University of Sydney, Australia; SIK HUNG NG, City University of Hong Kong, China; KEN'ICHI lKEDA, University of Tolcyo, Japan; JAYUM A. JAWAN, Universiti Putra Malaysia; ANWARUL HASAN SUFI, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh;
MARC WILSON, Victoria University, New Zealand; KUO-SHU YANG, Fo Guang College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Taiwan)
This article is the result of the authors’ desire to answer the question: ‘Do cultural values and cultural change accompany economic progress?’ and; they endeavoured to do so by duplicating Ng et al.’s (1982) cross-cultural survey in 2002 and comparing the variances the passing of 20 years may have wrought.
Additionally, they sought to determine whether a) cultural determinism drove economic development; b) economic determinism drove changes in cultural values or; c) whether a third school of thought being ‘a middle ground’ between cultural and economic determinism held the answer. Interest in the answer to this question from the 1980’s has been rekindled (partly) as a result of the rapid economic growth of the East Asian countries of Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (Yeh & Lawrence 1995).
The authors refer to research by Hofstede, 1980; Hofstede & Bond, 1988 and Franke, Hofstede & Bond, 1991 who had presented statistical evidence contending to demonstrate the link between a nation’s culture and its economic growth. However, I am inclined to agree with Yeh & Lawrence (1995): the answer is far more complex and the influence of other important factors such as a stable political environment and market orientated economic policies cannot be ignored. Yeh & Lawrence (1995) also refer to a report by the World Bank (1991a), which attributed China’s rapid growth
TWO DECADES OF CHANGE IN CULTURAL VALUES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN EIGHT EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLAND NATIONS
(MICHAEL W. ALLEN, University of Sydney, Australia; SIK HUNG NG, City University of Hong Kong, China; KEN'ICHI lKEDA, University of Tolcyo, Japan; JAYUM A. JAWAN, Universiti Putra Malaysia; ANWARUL HASAN SUFI, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh;
MARC WILSON, Victoria University, New Zealand; KUO-SHU YANG, Fo Guang College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Taiwan)
This article is the result of the authors’ desire to answer the question: ‘Do cultural values and cultural change accompany economic progress?’ and; they endeavoured to do so by duplicating Ng et al.’s (1982) cross-cultural survey in 2002 and comparing the variances the passing of 20 years may have wrought.
Additionally, they sought to determine whether a) cultural determinism drove economic development; b) economic determinism drove changes in cultural values or; c) whether a third school of thought being ‘a middle ground’ between cultural and economic determinism held the answer. Interest in the answer to this question from the 1980’s has been rekindled (partly) as a result of the rapid economic growth of the East Asian countries of Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (Yeh & Lawrence 1995).
The authors refer to research by Hofstede, 1980; Hofstede & Bond, 1988 and Franke, Hofstede & Bond, 1991 who had presented statistical evidence contending to demonstrate the link between a nation’s culture and its economic growth. However, I am inclined to agree with Yeh & Lawrence (1995): the answer is far more complex and the influence of other important factors such as a stable political environment and market orientated economic policies cannot be ignored. Yeh & Lawrence (1995) also refer to a report by the World Bank (1991a), which attributed China’s rapid growth
References: CIA World Factbook, USA, 2008, 19 October 2009, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, 2005, Houghton Mifflin Company, USA 25 October 2009, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socioeconomic status United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organisation, Canada, 2009, 19 October 2009, http://www.unesco.org/en/education U.S. Library of Congress, USA, 2009, 19 October 2009, http://countrystudies.us/bangladesh/26.htm Yeh, R S, Lawrence, J J, 1995, ‘Individualism and Confucian Dynamism: A Note on Hofstede 's Cultural Root to Economic Growth’, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 26, Issue 3, pp 655 – 669