Culture Matters in Russia—and Everywhere

Lawrence Harrison is visiting scholar, retired, at Tufts University’s Fletcher School and author of Jews, Confucians, and Protestants: Cultural Capital and the End of Multiculturalism.Evgeny Yasin is academic supervisor at the National Research University—Higher School of Economics and author of Will Democracy Survive in Russia?

• Part One: IntroductionChapter 1: Introduction to the Moscow Symposium Collection, Lawrence HarrisonChapter 2: Transformation of Countries in Transition: Culture and the State, Evgeny YasinPart Two: Regional/Civilizational/National CulturesChapter 3: European Culture: What It Was, Where It Is Going, Josef JoffeChapter 4: Quo Vadis, Latin America? Four Cultural Obstacles to Economic Development, Oscar Árias SánchezChapter 5: Janus in Latin America, Mariano GrondonaChapter 6: How Can African Cultural Capital Prosper?, Daniel Etounga-ManguelleChapter 7: Cultural Stability and Long Run Economic Performance, Deepak LalChapter 8: China’s Quest for a New Cultural Identity from a Confucian Humanistic Perspective, Tu WeimingChapter 9: Economic and Political Development in Slovenia: Betwixt and Between Europe and the Balkans, Katherine TaylorPart Three: Religions and DevelopmentChapter 10: Contemporary Russian Orthodoxy: From the Social Paradoxes to the Cultural Model, Boris KnorreChapter 11: Religious Affiliation and Individual Economic and Political Attitudes in Ukraine, Maria SnegovayaChapter 12: The Cultural Revolution in the Islamic World and What It Means for the Future of Muslim Societies, Pervez HoodbhoyChapter 13: “Creation Theology” in Economics: Several Catholic Traditions, Michael NovakChapter 14: Fight Ethos versus Work Ethos: The Role of the Catholic Church in Fostering Pro-Development Values in Poland, Damian PyrkoszChapter 15: Holy Ghost Fire! Pentecostal Religious Culture in Africa, Rachel Okunubi Part Four: Culture’s Influence on Economic VariablesChapter 16: The Role of Culture in Understanding the Process of Economic and Social Change, Douglass NorthChapter 17: Culture, Cooperation, and Repeated Games, Eric MaskinChapter 18: The Effect of Culture on the Functioning of Institutions: Evidence from European Regions, Mariaflavia Harari and Guido TabelliniChapter 19: Culture and Economic Growth: Getting the Theory Right, William EasterlyChapter 20: An Appraisal of the Cultural Change Institute Factors Typology, Matteo MariniPart Five: Culture, Psychology and EconomicsChapter 21: Cultural Values Influence and Constrain Economic and Social Change, Shalom SchwartzChapter 22: Cognition East and West: Fundamental Differences in Reasoning and Perception, Richard NisbettChapter 23: American Culture and the 2008 Financial Crisis, Geert HofstedeChapter 24: Culture of Horizontality and Personal Autonomy: A Humanistic Approach to Culture Change, Valery Chirkov and Nadezhda LebedevaPart Six: Measuring Culture and Cultural ChangeChapter 25: Measuring Culture and Cultural Change: An Introduction, Ronald InglehartChapter 26: Measuring Cultural Capital and Change: Axiological Diagnosis, Miguel BasáñezChapter 27: Trust and Cultural Change in Argentina: A Latin American Comparison, Marita CarballoPart Seven: The Russian CaseChapter 28: The Economic Wonder: Market and Culture, Oleg ChirkunovChapter 29: “All Are Guilty, Which Means That Nobody Is!”--Continuing the Talk on Progress in Russian Culture, Andrei KonchalovskyChapter 30: Basic Human Values of the Russians: Different from and Similar to Other Europeans, Vladimir Magun and Maksim RudnevChapter 31: Socio-Cultural Modernization in Russia: Norms and Values System Shift, Natalya TikhonovaPart Eight: Promoting Progressive Cultural ChangeChapter 32: The Role of the Family in the Acquisition of Values, Jerome KaganChapter 33: Can Teachers Empower Youth for Democratic Citizenship? Evaluating Civic Education Pedagogies in Mexican Secondary Schools, Fernando Reimers, Maria Elena Ortega, Mariali Cardenas, Armando Estrada, and Emanuel GarzaChapter 34: The Me to Everyone Cable, Reese Schonfeld with Erica ShusasChapter 35: New Occasions Teach New Duties: Social Change and Leadership, Richard Lamm Chapter 36: Economic Policy and Cultural Change, James Fox Chapter 37: Culture and Legal Dogmatism in an Era of Immaterial Wealth: The Case of Latin America, Octavio Sánchez Chapter 38: A Culture of Profitability, Robert Kleinbaum

This is a superb compendium for anyone wanting to understand the vital role cultural values play in the achievements and failures of any tribe, society, or nation. Only Lawrence Harrison could have brought together thirty-nine of the world’s preeminent experts in human culture to present their work at this historic Moscow Conference. Thanks to Harrison, these are all now captured in this book.Among presenters, Russia’s former Minister of Economic Development, Eygeny Yasin, now Academic Supervisor at the Higher School of Economics, led a group of eight prominent Russians. Their excellent papers (chapters in the book) cover: the role of the Orthodox church; the status of Russia’s market economy; Russians’ views on work; entrepreneurship; private property; security; stability; and other cultural values important in that country—and in all the others as well.