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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.

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© 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)