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If the 20th century was the American century, the 21st century may be a time of reckoning for the United States. Chalmers Johnson, an authority on Japan and its economy, offers a troubling prognosis of what's to come. Blowback--the title refers to a CIA neologism describing the unintended consequences of American activity--is a call for the United States to rethink its position in the world. "The evidence is building up that in the decade following the end of the Cold War, the United States largely abandoned a reliance on diplomacy, economic aid, international law, and multilateral institutions in carrying out its foreign policies and resorted much of the time to bluster, military force, and financial manipulation," writes Johnson. "The world is not a safer place as a result." Individual chapters focus on Okinawa (where American servicemen were accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in "Asia's last colony"), the two Koreas, China, and Japan. The result is a liberal-leaning (and Asia-centric) call for the United States to disengage from many of its global commitments. Critics will call Johnson an isolationist, but friends (perhaps admirers of Patrick Buchanan's A Republic, Not an Empire) will say he simply speaks good sense. All will agree he is an earnest voice: "I believe our very hubris ensures our undoing." --John J. Miller
Book Description
The term 'blowback,' invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended results of American actions abroad. In this incisive and controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail the dangers faced by our overextended empire, which insists on projecting its military power to every corner of the earth and using American capital and markets to force global economic integration on its own terms. From a case of rape by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa to our role in Asia's financial crisis, from our early support for Saddam Hussein to our conduct in the Balkans, Johnson reveals the ways in which our misguided policies are planting the seeds of future disaster. In a new edition that addresses recent international events from September 11 to the war in Iraq, this now classic book remains as prescient and powerful as ever.
Customer Reviews:
Astonishingly good.......2007-10-10
I came across this book when I was looking for the recently published book by Profs. Mearsheimer and Walt on the Israeli lobby. I was familiar with Chalmers Johnson's name, but knew nothing about his work. I just read Blowback and am eager to read the other two in his trilogy. I have a generally good awareness of the idiocy of most American foreign policy simply from reading newspapers regularly and well-researched books occasionally on foreign policy or political science or history - as well as from spending some time outside the USA at various times and in various roles.
The disparity between how the USA as an entity and through the citizens (mostly soldiers) it sends abroad to perform official roles behaves outside the confines of its borders and how the average citizen goes about his/her daily life and therefore perceives his/her country is frighteningly wide. However, I was truly stunned at the well-written, clearly well-researched and even-handed account that Prof. Johnson gives of USA policy and USA actions in regard in particular to Asia. I do not doubt the accuracy of his analysis and reporting. In support of his recounting of the utter waste of citizens' tax dollars on most military and military-related activity (so-called intelligence-gathering, covert undermining of non-dictatorial governments and the like) I noted that the Bush Administration recently (summer 2007) had one of its flunkies start blathering about the fact that the USA maintains bases throughout the world, notably in Western European countries, Okinawa and Korea even though there are no "hostilities" there.
The inadvertent raising of a pertinent issue regarding the USA military presence (in less polite words, occupation) in those countries was quickly excised from the arguments for establishing a permanent military presence in Iraq. Good point. Why does the USA maintain a military presence in these countries? Mr. Johnson's book admirably traces the why and thereby makes clear the horrible impact our presence in these countries has had on many people in the world and in turn on innocents in the USA, such as those who died at the hands of Tim McVeigh and the suicide airline pilots. It is books like Mr. Johnson's that should be on the forefront of discussion among politicians, editorial-writers and any others who attempt to make or debate policy. As the inanities, nonsense and outright lies that have no basis whatsoever in fact emanating from the current roster of right-wing, know-nothing Republicans in Congress - abetted on occasion by poorly informed Democrats - attest, the current unending propaganda regarding events and conditions in the rest of the world, notably in Iraq and in the Middle East in general, is likely to continue to overwhelm outstanding analyses such as this. I wish it wouldn't. I hope that those with some curiosity about the wonders and diversity of the world - not to mention facts about how the USA and other countries behave in the world - will discover this book as I did.
Blowback? Nah---mainly just Blow........2007-08-23
Chalmers Johnson might very well have entitled this manifestly overrated little jeremiad of gloom, doom, and rice-paddy Manchurian manifest destiny "Everything I know about Geopolitics I learned from the Golden Rule".
That's "Blowback": do unto others, O Mighty Great Satan, as you would have them do unto you. Or as the learned geo-strategist and member of the Council on Foreign Relations grandmaster funk-flash rapper extra-ordinaire Jay-Z once put it (in verse, and to a funky hip-hop beat, which is *way* more than Johnson accomplishes in this nearly cranium-anesthetizing snoozer):
"now you shoot my my dog/
I'ma gonna kill yo' cat/
just the unwritten Laws/
in Rap."
Word. Basically, Johnson is saying that all those nasty, naughty, uber-meanie things the U.S. did (or might have done, deniability, baby, deniability) in the last century (and now, yes, tiresomely the first part of the 21st century) are gonna come back to haunt us. Payback's a bizzle, fo shizzle.
Or, to dip deeply into the cliche snuffbox, what goes around, comes around. Or better still, if you're up for Chinese---4th BC Chinese---: "if you sit by the River long enough, you will see the bodies of all your enemies float by."
There: in this review, you've gotten the gist of Johnson's 'argument', and you've saved yourself the misery of having "Blowback" inflicted on you. You should be grateful.
OK: so example---we helped supply, feed, & train the Mujahadeen to fight a nasty and ultimately successful insurgency against the Soviets. The Jihadis won, kicked the Soviets out, and replaced a doddering, backward, socially repressive & economically retarded 19th century system with a---get this---doddering, backward, socially repressive & economically retarded 7th century system.
Progress? Yes. Blowback? NO! Not Blowback, not that bit anyway. Blowback was what happened when the Taliban and their buddies (including our Bon Ami et Frere Amicable Osama bin "Gin & Juice" Laden) got tired of crushing homosexuals beneath stone walls, blowing up ancient Buddha statues, and strangling dogs. Those crazy Talibs! We got 9/11, the ultimate "blowback.". Or blowup. Or something like that.
Now, it's true that Chalmers Johnson's 'idea' has a nice, simple symmetry to it, in the same way the delightful childrens' potty book "Everything Poops" does: it's, well, true. And obvious.
But seen from a different angle (say, that of adulthood), it's a bit retarded. Or, let's be kind, simplistic. It says, if you, as an Empire, or Republic, or whatever you are---if you do something, something's going to happen. Man, go tell it to the Spartans! (or Newton). Actions have consequences. If you read "Blowback", for instance, the blowback might be that you hear your brain cells scream as they die.
Take the British, who for years now have done everything they can to pretend to be a stodgier, duller, more moldy version of Canada, & what has that gotten them? Flaming gate crashers at Glasgow airport and having their Royal Marines publicly humilated and dressed by Tehran's answer to Today's Man.
But like Paul Kennedy yammering, with yen besotted yuppies back in the early eighties, that the Land of the Rising Sun was about to make us all eat sushi and do Shinto devotionals before our morning calisthenics prior to ruling the World---well, Blowback is just not all that. It's too elementary, man: it's thermodynamical.
And in politics, in affairs of state, in war and manipulation & sabotage, in all of that, it's not even necessarily true. The point being: if you're brutal enough, there will be no blowback.
Think about that for a moment: you don't even have to consult antiquity for examples where if you're willing to play around in a little bit of blood and crack some skulls, there will be no real `blowback'. Russia has ruthlessly crushed & decimated Muslim movements in its former Asian provinces and puppet states, the latest being the pathetic instance of Chechnya. And for all that, I have yet to hear Russia denounced by any imams as even a moderate-sized Satan. Hell, Russia & Iran are great buddies, so long as the latter keeps those rent checks coming on the old Bushehr reactor.
China is another great example: for more than five decades, China has occupied Tibet and taken every step possible to destroy its society and culture. For all of that, wanna know China's "blowback" from this merciless, honestly fascist occupation? The 2008 Olympic Games, a few thousand pathetic "Free Tibet" bumper sticker affixed to the bumpers of liberals' Priuses, & Richard Gere.
To dragoon Orwell's delicious little phrase, if you stomp on a man's face long and hard enough---you know, until you hear bone snap & soft tissue turns to jelly and the eyeballs pop out---there ain't gona be enough to---well, blow back.
In summary: Chalmers gets a big fat F for his stupid "Blowback" and should wear a duncecap in public.
That said, I can find one example---right here, right now!---that supports Johnson's thesis. Are you ready?
Johnson writes his tired, pathetic, dull little ratturd of a book.
In return, I gut his book like a sick fish in a quick and deadly online review.
Now that's what I call blowback.
JSG
Enlightening.......2007-08-17
The book's idea is that US foreign policy, made to win the cold war, has consequences. For instance, in '53 when we installed the Shah of Iran to act as a puppet for the West (overthrowing the democratically elected Mosaddeq because of oil) he repressed the people until he was overthrown in Jan. 1979. We'd be crazy to believe that the people who overthrew Persia's most ruthless dictator not be anti-American (since we installed that dictator). To this day I see people asking why Iran's government dislikes the US - "Do they hate us for our freedoms?" Taking this idea of "unintended consequences," Johnson talks specifically about East Asia and its history during the Cold War and after. In particular, he mentions Indonesia, Korea, China, and Japan.
I found the book very enlightening. Since 9/11 the US news and media's idea of international news coverage has been Middle-Eastern news coverage (except for natural disasters around the world and other frivolous events). Also, I went to public-school - I didn't know anything about Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries (and I took all AP history classes). So, there was this vacuum of knowledge about East Asia I had, which this book filled quite nicely.
Also mentioned in the book, briefly, are neoclassical economics, WTO, IMF, World Bank, 1997 economic crisis, Hungarian revolution, and the '73 Chilean coup as well as some other US interventions in the Middle-East.
Very informative, but drawn out and wordy............2007-08-04
This book is very informative and the first and last chapters are worth paying for the entire thing just to read them. Not the most Pro-American book I've ever read, but will give you an interesting take on things. Very in depth and revealing. Certainly shows how our American Empire can throw our weight around when necessary - and when not. Not bad, but a bit too wordy for me. Still good though.
Pull Your Head Out or Die With It In The Sand.......2007-07-17
This book deserves five stars, but I can tell you it's nothing like listening to this man speak in person. As in "Blowback" he lays it all out on the table. Sadly he says, "We just may have gone pass the point of no return." Americans now know that authors like Chalmers Johnson, Norm Chomsky, Webster Griffin Tarpley and Paul Waldman are not just over-educated nay sayers. We know that we're in real trouble, we just don't know what to do about it. If 9/11 proved nothing else, it proved that aircraft carriers, F16's, and smart bombs are useless against terrorists and apathy.
Dr. Johnson summarizes the status quo: "We have a strong civil society that could, in theory, overcome the entrenched interests of the armed forces and the military-industrial complex. At this late date, however, it is difficult to imagine how Congress, much like the Roman senate in the last days of the republic, could be brought back to life and cleansed of its endemic corruption. Failing such a reform, Nemesis, the goddess of retribution and vengeance, the punisher of pride and hubris, waits patiently for her meeting with us."
I am without the education to travel in the circles of the aforementioned authors, but I can in my own way address my fellow blue collar workers... The media has dubbed me one of America's most controversial writers. I think it's because I criticize my own party, the Republican Party, instead of the Democrats. This unorthodox approach of mine gives people the wrong idea about me. I don't hate predators. If there weren't hawks in this country, those in other countries would show up here. Do not misinterpret "Hawk" to mean I approve of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney and their Hermann Goering protégés in the Pentagon. Bush is a mouth and a pen; he's in a different league altogether than his vice president. Cheney is a vulgar, immoral, sadistic subhuman. Does that make me a Libertarian?
Average customer rating:
- Great Work on Real World Issues
- Interesting and easy read
- The rigorous brain of a Nobel Prize winning economist
- Unlike any of Schelling's other works..
- How to think
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Choice and Consequence
Thomas C. Schelling
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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The Strategy of Conflict
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Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life
ASIN: 0674127714 |
Book Description
Thomas Schelling is a political economist "conspicuous for wandering" an errant economist. In Choice and Consequence, he ventures into the area where rationality is ambiguous in order to look at the tricks people use to try to quit smoking or lose weight. He explores topics as awesome as nuclear terrorism, as sordid as blackmail, as ineffable as daydreaming, as intimidating as euthanasia. He examines ethical issues wrapped up in economics, unwrapping the economics to disclose ethical issues that are misplaced or misidentified.
With an ingenious, often startling approach Schelling brings new perspectives to problems ranging from drug abuse, abortion, and the value people put on their lives to organized crime, airplane hijacking, and automobile safety. One chapter is a clear and elegant exposition of game theory as a framework for analyzing social problems. Another plays with the hypothesis that our minds are not only our problem-solving equipment but also the organ in which much of our consumption takes place.
What binds together the different subjects is the author's belief in the possibility of simultaneously being humane and analytical, of dealing with both the momentous and the familiar. Choice and Consequence was written for the curious, the puzzled, the worried, and all those who appreciate intellectual adventure.
Customer Reviews:
Great Work on Real World Issues.......2006-04-29
This book consists of 15 chapters and Shelling intends to make use of his line of economic reasoning to throw light on a considerable variety of intriguing real world issues such as organised crime, circumstances of dying, policy ethics, vicarious problem-solving, self-command, and mind consumption.
To him, economists are used to tilt towards the efficacy of money. Compromising between the hard question of efficiency and equity, public policy is always concerned with the distribution of income and wealth to the unfortunate and the disadvantaged and it is used to involve the question of `how much'. The line of economic reasoning helps decision makers to compare identifiable or something better alternatives in order that distributional objectives can be accomplished in a least wasteful way. It also contributes to the clarification of issues that involve misplaced or misidentified ethics.
In discussing on how people think, behave, and act for themselves, Shelling suggests that people do not always adopt the individualist-utilitarian approach and they can have different goals and tastes at different times. It is not surprising that an individual can make a rational choice at a time but he finally does not act accordingly. For instance, an individual knows that smoking is detrimental to health but he cannot keep himself from smoking because an alternate self is in command. Moreover, people loves reasoning their way into a menu of beliefs and disbeliefs they know to be false. Human mind is something of an embarrassment to economists and other social scientists who have believed that people are used to act as rational consumers in making orderly successive comparisons of products. He suggests that the deprivation of `pareto superior' through physical constrains or coercive environment can minimise opportunity abuse and maximise prediction of human behaviour.
In dying, Individual life saving or reducing individual death is viewed by Shelling as a moral judgement instead of an economic consideration because economists cannot completely assign values to it. Children are different from livestock so that it is difficult to assess their costs and benefits as a result of death. Nor does the US have a national policy on human life so that the cost of human death cannot be substantially reflected. The employment of discounted lifetime earnings to estimate how much an individual should pay for death avoidance is not too relevant. Putting morality aside and using the consumer point of view as an analytical framework, Shelling likes the idea of being allowed to die provided that an individual can relieve others of the emotional burden and the expense.
In addressing the issue of organised crime, Shelling believes that organised crime involves huge social costs such as tax evasion and corruption but it is more preferable to disorganised crime because it internalises some of the costs that falls on the underworld itself if criminal activity is decentralised.It thrives because it provides goods and services the public demands. However, organised crime cannot survive when the market mechanism functions well in a highly competitive manner. To him, prohibition of goods and services in the markets can create organised crime.
In this book, Shelling also adopts game theory to identify a variety of alternatives for analysing arms bargaining and inflicting costs. In conclusion, each chapter is witty and erudite and this book provides readers with insightful and competing evaluation of different real world issues that are surrounded by rationality, sentiment, moral consideration, and economic impact.
Interesting and easy read.......2006-04-25
Quite fun book, collection of essays on all kinds of topics. Some repetition occurs, it's not written as one volume, but it's fine, and the repetition is usually pretty limited.
It's relatively easy to grasp what he's saying here, and it's also great fun from time to time, especially one of the essays regarding self-control.
All in all a nice and interesting book, always fun reading the musings of smart people.
The rigorous brain of a Nobel Prize winning economist.......2006-01-12
Thomas Schelling was awarded the 2005 Nobel prize for economics, and readers of this book will be able to tell you why. Choice and Consequence represents a collection of 15 essays written by Schelling between the late 60s and early 80s, covering a broad range of subjects such as governments' social policies, how to deal with death, how game theory applies to weapons treaties, and organized crime.
Schelling is an academic, and it shows in his writing: his ideas are brilliant, his thinking is extremely logical and rigorous, but his prose is sometimes obtuse. It is not the easiest read, but what is lacks in readability it more than makes up for in intellectual interest. I have rarely, if ever, come across a book whose ideas are more clearly articulated, all while being applicable to situations that readers can understand and in many cases identify with.
This is definitely not a book for everyone; if you are looking for an easier book that discusses everyday situations with economic thinking, read Freakonomics. However, if you are looking for something a little more intellectual, this is your book. It will be extremely useful to anyone who wishes to improve their rational thinking.
Unlike any of Schelling's other works.........2003-04-09
Most people reading this review will know Schelling as a renowned game-theorist/economist, and perhaps as a nobel-prize winner. This is bound to lead to an impression that his books must most likely be economic discourses full of the metrics and highfalutin theoretical abstractions that usually pervade the field in academic circles.
I'll dispel that myth and have you know that Schelling's books -- notably this one and his seminal "Strategy of Conflict" (SOC) -- are as close as you'll come to a readable yet gripping compendium of his fascinating economic thinking. His writing is purposefully simple, and his sharp arguments evoke thoughts about matters that can and will appeal to just about any Joe Bloggs.
But this book is different from any of Schelling's other published works.
SOC for instance was a compilation of roughly a dozen essays discussing negotiation, conflict and strategy...the applications of which were international -- diplomacy, deterrence, arms control, foreign aid, environmental policy, nuclear proliferation, organized crime, racial segregation and integration, tobacco and drugs policy, and ethical issues in policy and business.
While most of Schelling's work including SOC has been of a macro-economic bent, the essays in this book extend his theories to a more personal, social level -- things such as how people maneuver in traffic jams, how parents negotiate with their kids (toughest customers in my book), how they behave when confronted with ransom demands, or file suits, or devise agendas for a meeting or their daily lives. I would draw your attention in particular to chapter 6, "Strategic Relationships in Dying" which touches upon some very interesting subjects such as the relationship between a patient and his doctor, especially a terminally ill patient -- where significant human "choices" need to be made to withhold information, to authenticate assertions, and the conflict of interest that arises within small groups. This article truly underscores that apart from being a leading political economist, a métier Schelling has clearly excelled at, he is also at heart a fabulous thinker and writer.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in strategy, or economics, or negotiation, or even a basic thought-provoking intelligent read.
Shashank Tripathi
How to think.......1998-10-14
This book taught me nothing less than how to think correctly about social and political issues - not through instruction, but by example. I was lucky enough to have it assigned to me, and in introduction the professor said, "Schelling is my guru." Count one more acolyte.
Average customer rating:
- Greatful
- Happy
- One of the better textbooks on American ethnic groups
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American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination
Adalberto, Jr. Aguirre ,
Adalberto Aguirre , and
Jonathan Turner
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
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Rethinking the Color Line: Readings in Race and Ethnicity
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Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood
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ASIN: 0072824263 |
Book Description
This brief and inexpensive text provides a concise introduction to the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations. After summarizing key concepts and theories, the authors develop a simple theoretical framework that guides the presentation of data on each of the prominent ethnic groups in America. As a result, the book examines each ethnic group from the same perspective, allowing students to compare the dynamics of discrimination against African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, white ethnics, and Latinos. Moreover, this framework provides a way to examine ethnic relations around the world and to compare the dynamics in other parts of the world with those operating in America.
Customer Reviews:
Greatful.......2007-06-27
The book was promtly shipped and I was able to complete my summur cours assignment early.
Happy.......2006-03-22
I have no concerns with the product and am happy with what I've paid for.
One of the better textbooks on American ethnic groups.......2005-04-17
All in all, I'd have to say that this is one of the better textbooks on the market today dealing with American ethnic groups (but that's not really saying much). My biggest critique with such textbooks is that, all to often, they engage in culturalist essentialism. Furthermore, it is often implied that all members of said group behave in this fashion and "practice" this culture. The obvious fallacy of such an approach is that it fails to acknowledge that ethnicity is an emergent (rather than primordial) phenomenon, and that culture changes over time.
American Ethnicity for the most part is a decent textbook for courses focusing on racial and ethnic relations. I still think the best textbook in this area is Martin Marger's "Racial and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives." However, American Ethnicity is much cheaper in price. The authors employ a power-conflict perspective in their analysis of inter-ethnic conflict; tensions between groups are seen as an outgrowth of competition for access to jobs, education, housing, health care, and other services and institutions. For instructors, the book has an excellent Instructor's Resources CD-Rom, loaded with chapter outlines, multiple choice/essay/true-false quizzes and tests, and a list of films relating to the chapters.
However, there are some key criticisms of this book. Arab Americans are completely omitted, save a few lines about September 11 early in the book. As one of the fastest growing communities in the U.S., I would think textbooks would be inclusive of Arab Americans. Second, I really wish the photographs would be printed in full color, rather than black and white. Third, I would like to see a section on racial and ethnic relations in a few other nations (a la Marger's Racial and Ethnic Relations).
However, if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive textbook for a social science course on racial/ethnic relations, you should consider taking a look at American Ethnicity.
Book Description
What do these major record-setting events have in common?
• The ten costliest insurance events in U.S. history • The twelve costliest hurricanes in U.S. history • Three of the four largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history • The two largest terrorism events in U.S. history
All of these major catastrophes and many others occurred or began on the very same day or within 24-hours of U.S. presidents Bush, Clinton and Bush applying pressure on Israel to trade her land for promises of "peace and security," sponsoring major "land for peace" meetings, making major public statements pertaining to Israel's covenant land and /or calling for a Palestinian state.
Are each one of these major record-setting events just a coincidence or awe-inspiring signs that God is actively involved in the affairs of Israel?
In this book, Bill Koenig provides undeniable facts and conclusive evidence showing that indeed the leaders of the United States and the world are on a collision course with God over Israel's covenant land.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem" (Zechariah 12:9)
Customer Reviews:
scary thought.......2007-06-19
This book shows how dangerous it is to base political decisions on fundamentalist religious ideas. Aside from the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu, nothing caused more pain, suffering, and death than nutcases who rampaged the world clinging on their absolute belief of right and wrong...
It's a really scary thought that the Middle East is being reshaped on both sides by lunatics.
Very Eye Opening and an excellent read.......2007-06-11
The book starts with a lot of history and it seems that I keep picking it up when I am not 100% in the mood to learn history and that I have to keep going back over areas already read. This makes it hard to keep moving! I am enjoying learning about where we have come from and where we are headed. The book relates so much current information with the reality that if things do not change, then we are headed for a real eye opening on American soil. God bless you for reading this...it is time for America to open their eyes and understand truth.
YOU CAN'T PLAY AROUND WITH GOD.......2007-06-01
When I wrote to the USA for Bill Koenig's book I knew I was going to receive a blessing! The author's spiritual perception intrigued me and often when cross checking his Scripture references I kept discover more "gold" in God's Word. Sad to say many Christians brush off the authors interpretation of the consequences of dividing the land of Israel. In the light of this unique book I can now understand why Britain no longer "rules the waves". Her treatment of the Jews and Israel has been a disgrace historically. Many nations are heading in the same direction! You can't play around with God! Israel is the apple of God's eye.
Eye to Eye is Certainly an Eye Opener.......2007-03-22
This book follows the history of Israel and the effects of this history on various nations and their leaders. His thesis, well researched, is that God watches Israel and all who interact with her. It is a point of view that most news persons never investigate or consider. The book underlines God's promise to Abraham: to bless those who bless his seed and curse those who curse him.
EYE TO EYE.......2007-03-19
I have not begun to read this book. I received two others in the same time period. However, the sub-title Facing The Consequences of DIVIDING ISRAEL. This title and the material in this book has historical, current and prophetic signifance as found in such Old Testament Passages of the Old Testament, i.e. the book of Zechariah especially chapters 12 and following.
I want to thank you for carrying such books which are of great importance for the believer, the seeker and the unbeliever who is willing to explore some Eternal Truths.
Thanks for this opportunity,
Harold E. Grubbs
Average customer rating:
- A map to understanding culture
- Valuable? - Perhaps for somebody who has never had a real eye for other cultures
- Very valueable, if taken as Hofstede has meant it
- A Train Wreck
- A Nemisis of Knowledge
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Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations
Geert Hofstede
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
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ASIN: 0803973241 |
Book Description
"An important, sophisticated and complex monograph . . . Both the theoretical analysis and the empirical findings constitute major contributions to cross-cultural value analysis and the cross-cultural study of work motivations and organizational dynamics. This book is also a valuable resource for anyone interested in a historical or anthropological approach to cross-cultural comparisons."
--PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY
--PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY
The
Second Edition of this classic work, first published in 1981 and an international best seller, explores the differences in thinking and social action that exist among members of more than 50 modern nations. Geert Hofstede argues that people carry "mental programs" which are developed in the family in early childhood and reinforced in schools and organizations, and that these programs contain components of national culture. They are expressed most clearly in the different values that predominate among people from different countries.
Geert Hofstede has completely rewritten, revised and updated
Culture's Consequences for the twenty-first century, he has broadened the book's cross-disciplinary appeal, expanded the coverage of countries examined from 40 to more than 50, reformulated his arguments and a large amount of new literature has been included. The book is structured around five major dimensions: power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism versus collectivism; masculinity versus femininity; and long term versus short-term orientation.
Customer Reviews:
A map to understanding culture.......2006-11-22
I am currently an expatriate in France, and have also lived in the United States, Mexico, Spain. Hofstede's book is a good guide to better understand culture. As with a map, we recognize that it is not (nor is it intended to be reality) rather a tool to help guide us. The information on cultures in this book is our "first best guess" to understanding business norms in that culture, and then once we get to know the individuals we are working with, we can adapt. We recognize that these "norms" may change depending on the industry, the region, sub-culture, or other various factors. This book is extremely helpful in creating our "first best guess."
Valuable? - Perhaps for somebody who has never had a real eye for other cultures.......2005-10-08
Hofstede's work was and is not really helpful; perhaps fascinating for those who deal with the issues from the comfortable space of their warm home of office in a western country.
For all who want to get a fundamental insight to understanding espec. Asian behavior and cultural differences, I highly recommend to start with: "The Geography of Thought : How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why -- by Richard Nisbett".
That's the stuff that will bring you where Hofstede could never dream to be.
Very valueable, if taken as Hofstede has meant it.......2005-05-11
Although many comments have already been accumulated let me add something, since some of the reviews tend to get out of focus. Hofstede never claimed to have studied cultures in general, he studied effects of culture on work-related values. For this topic his work is still the standard. The starting point is like this: a large company like IBM tries to establish a strong corporate identity shared among all of its worldwide employees ("We are IBM" kind of thing). However, if you ask them a couple of questions about their work-related values, they answer differently. Turns out, the differences can be explained to some degree by the employee's country-of-origin, that is his or her culture. Hofstede then goes on and tries to find dimensions in order to describe the differences between cultures, - and it has to be said again and again - dimensions for "work-related values" and not for culture in general! This observation was and is tremendously important for multinational companies. It means that we are still influenced even when we work at a multinational firm by our cultural traditions and that this cannot easily be exchanged by the company's culture. Of course if you are more interested in other aspects of culture, than Hofstede's books might not the prime choice for you to study.
Hofstede's work is scientifically sound. The choice of IBM as a case is reasonable given his prime motivation. Sample sizes are impressive for all who have tried similar studies (besides, representativity is not a function of sample size but given by the radomness of the sample draw. Sample size has an effect on standard error but this can be taken into account with a test of significance). Quackery is how other people have used Hofstede's data in contexts other than work-related.
A Train Wreck.......2004-11-01
Reading the previous reviews, several things are evident. The West Palm Beach review is nothing more than an ad hominen attack on a previous review. Furthermore, the Palm Beach reviewer mistakes sticking to the subject with "we're the only game in town" argument/counterargument assertion. It is very easy to ignore Hofstede's work completely, start from zero and perform a real cross cultural analysis, 2-3 three countries at a time, starting IN the native language and then making a comparison that speaks in its own voice. This is NOT the same as Hofstede's doing the surveys in English and then translating them twice. The Palm Beach reviewer also falls into the argumentum ad ignorantium fallacy (must be true because it hasn't been proven false) by saying "I mean that no reputable research on cultural values will fail to include Hofstede's work because it has been so influential" as well as appeal to celebrity.
While Dr. Littrell tends to lecture, he fails to address the problems of sample sizes in Hofstede's work. As for Schwartz's work, folks who speak read and write Japanese, Korean or Chinese and who have lived in one of the respective countries for more than 3 years know that Schwartz's "prototypical structure of value systems" as well as his 1997 "Influences on Adaption.." paper don't come near East Asian thinking.
The odd fact is that the Palm Beach reviewer and Littrell both admit that Hofstede's work falls short. The Palm Beach reviewer states," I don't mean that I think it is good" and "I have only read probably half of it" but then gives the book a five star rating. Littrell tangents on Hawkings but then covers for Hofstede by saying, "Theories are not facts".
Well statistics, when done right, reinforce theories enough to become a reliable base for future work but several reviewers clearly point out, with references, the shortcomings of Hofstede's statistical methods which again is odd considering the tone of these two reviewers.
Hofstede's work is useless and his defenders should work harder at dealing with the specific criticisms raised rather than pontificating or making condescending innuendo. Sampling just students or just company employees should ring alarm bells for statistical skewness. Furthermore, it is absolute cultural condescension to assume that a non native speaker of a given language can think like a native by using his own language and bring out a mere handful of qualities that are both universal and consistent across not just a few cultures but all at the same time. The Eurocentric hubris running through this study undermines the credibility of the assumptions and conclusions.
The researcher must not speak for the culture. The culture must speak for itself and this is the main point where Hofstede and his followers have failed completely. For those with critical thinking skills, read the reviews that are negative and the journal responses between McSweeney and Hofstede and then construct your own model. For those who dare, remember, no one man or woman can complete this project by himself because no one in this world has such a Tower of Babel level of experience of the cultures expressed in their native languages.
Universalism is a big lie. That's your starting point. 100% matching of traits across 200 nations will not happen when the study is properly conducted nor will the study's "voice" be censored by one corporate culture with statistically unreliable sample sizes. Understand this and you are on your way to a true understanding of cross-cultural phenomenon.
A Nemisis of Knowledge.......2004-10-01
Hofstede's book is essential reading for anyone interested in cross-cultural studies. The reviewer, Nemesis (Washington D.C.), demonstrates a rather appalling lack of knowledge of the current state of cross-cultural research. The original studies of Geert Hofstede were in fact carried out in English within the IBM Corporation, as Hofstede was an IBM employee at the time. However, since then a considerable number of studies have been completed, with the survey administered in English and in local languages, demonstrating the usefulness and consistency of Hofstede's cultural value constructs. Most responsible cross-cultural research today that uses surveys is carried out with data collection in local languages. The reader is referred, for example, to the extensive body of work on values across cultures based upon the Shalom Schwartz value survey. You can look it up.
In the social sciences, of which business is one, a theory is a model or framework for understanding phenomena. The term generally is taken to mean a framework derived from a set of basic principles capable of producing experimental predictions for a given category in a system. Humans construct theories in order to explain, predict and master phenomena (e.g. inanimate things, events, or the behaviour of animals). In many instances, it is seen to be a model of reality. A theory makes generalizations about observations and consists of an interrelated, coherent set of ideas. A theory has to be something that is in some way testable; for example, one can theorize that businesses progress from local to international markets by always implementing a certain set of processes in a fixed order. Then the process of internationalization of businesses is studied, and the theory is confirmed or revised in a continuous feedback system.
According to Stephen Hawking, a physicist, in A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, "a theory is a good theory if it satisfies two requirements: It must accurately describe a large class of observations on the basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements, and it must make definite predictions about the results of future observations." He goes on to state..."Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis; you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory." This also applies to business theories, including Hofstede's, from which one can make definite predictions that have been verified. Theories are not facts, but tools.
Product Description
Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control covers in detail the effects of trauma on the body-mind and how trauma alters childrens behavioral responses. The first four chapters help parents and professionals clearly understand the neurological research behind the basic model given in this book, deemed, The Stress Model. While scientifically based in research, it is written in an easy to understand and easy to grasp format for anyone working with or parenting children with severe behaviors. The next seven chapters are individually devoted to seven behaviors typically seen with attachment-challenged children. These include lying, stealing, hoarding and gorging, aggression, defiance, lack of eye contact, and yes, even a chapter that talks candidly about how parents appear hostile and angry when they work to simply maintain their families from reaching complete states of chaos. Each of these chapters talks in depth on these specific behaviors and gives vivid and contrasting examples of how this love-based approach works to foster healing and works to develop relationships, as opposed to the fear-based traditional attachment parenting approaches that are being advocated in todays attachment field. The authors end with a Parenting Bonus Section. True testimonials from parents who have been able to make significant changes in their homes with this model of parenting, giving real-life examples of how they have been able to find the healing, peace, and love that they had been seeking prior to working through the techniques outlined in this book.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read for Parents and Social Workers!.......2007-10-05
As a mother of two adopted children, one from birth and the other from a Russian orphanage, this book was a REVELATION, and the first of its kind! I can't even number the helpful books I have read on adoption and attachment, but this one truly understands the child from his/her perspective and life experiences. It just makes perfect sense. However, the work does not stop here. The authors encourage us parents of challenging children to look deeper within ourselves. Until we begin to heal of our own past wounds, we can not fully be present in theirs.
This book offers practical ideas for loving our children where they hurt. I see my children differently now, but not only them but everyone I know, including myself. This book is NOT just for attachment-challenged children, but any child with ongoing issues, adopted or biological! And tell me, who doesn't have issues???
This book is a MUST READ for any parent who is raising a child in the 21st Century who pushes our "hot buttons" from time to time, or like me, on a daily basis! And a MUST READ for all child psychologists and social workers!
The authors, however, do not stop at just helping us with their insightful wisdom and knowledge. They invite us to attend an all-day seminar with them for FREE! I can't wait to attend one near where we live and bring all my new questions and have them answered, personally!
Relationship before performance and behavior!.......2007-09-23
This book puts relationship before performance,which in my way of thinking, is unconditional love. Is there anything more important than relationship? We don't want "robot children." We want children who can feel and connect in meaningful ways with others, beginnning with their parents. In a word, this book communicates grace-based technniques.
Beyond Consequences, Logic and Control.......2007-09-03
This is a must read for foster parents and pre/post adoptive parents who have attachment deficit children who have also suffered trauma. The authors have years of experience with such children and have had great success in helping the children and parents facilitate a deeper relationship. Understanding the child and how to effectively do what it takes to help the child heal is everything! Behavior is just a symptom; find out how to help the child move from fear and shame into love.
A MUST READ!.......2007-06-02
I bought this book for a class book review and I couldn't be more thankful. I loved the love-based approach. The book is set up in a very fast, easy, and understandable format. The first part of the book is about the brain and what memory is responsible for our reactions to daily situations. The next part of the book is about different behaviors that children exhibit and how the traditional view approaches the behavior and the love based approach approaches the behavior. This is the best part of the seven chapters. There is a scenario and then two columns of one side tradiotional and the other love-based. There is also a chapter for parents that explains why parents react to the behaviors that their children exhibit. The last part of the book is real-life stories from families that are using the love-based approach. I really have changed since reading this book and have applied it to children that I work with. Although this book is geared toward children with severe attachment disorders I found this to be applicable for all children. Please read this book its worth the twenty dollars.
A great resource for foster parents.......2007-05-17
This book is a great resource for foster parents or any caregiver dealing with very difficult behaviors. The only problem is the text layout makes it a hard read and with no margins to write in, it is a hard text to make notes in for future reads.
Book Description
Alcohol and other drug use among teenagers is epidemic. Children as young as grade-school age are experimenting with mood-altering substances. One out of every four high school students drink to excess when they drink. Many teenagers are abusing alcohol and other drugs--and many will die prematurely if they don't get help. Choices and Consequences tells you precisely how you can help. Written for parents, teachers, family doctors, mental health professionals, school guidance counselors, social workers, juvenile justice workers, clergy, and anyone else who cares about teenagers, it describes a step-by-step process called intervention that you can use to stop a teenager's harmful involvement with chemicals. If you're worried about kids and alcohol or other drugs, you can do something. And you can start today.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Resource for Parents with Teens.......2006-12-10
I bought this book and read it before talking to a drug counseler. This was the #1 book recommended by them. I found it extremely useful, and helpful in that I felt much more in control after understanding the issues that teens face when facing an addiction. I particularly found the stage of use/abuse outlined in the book to be exactly like what the professional abuse counselers used. Highly recommend!
Choices and Consequences.......2006-11-15
This book tells you precisely how you can help and was selected by the board of directors for www.Parentshelpingparents.info as one of only two books recommended to our parents of teens. It describes a step-by-step process called intervention that you can use to stop a teenager's harmful involvement with chemicals.
Warren Pat Nichols
Founder
Parents Helping Parents, Inc.
Great Book!.......2005-07-17
This is truely an easy to read, step-by-step book. Explaining first the teenager's brain and thinking and what stresses a teenager has in their life, then going on to reasons for drug use, and practical, tangible ways to deal with it. This is a great book for any parent of a teenager to read, whether or not they have found their child trying drugs. It is a great "heads up" informative sourcebook. I esp liked the section on what special emotional needs that teens are looking to have fulfilled during adolescence. It is really helpful to read that as a parent of any teenager.
Author Survival Meditations for Parents of Teens.......2004-12-16
It's so important for parents to DO SOMETHING when they discover their teen using alcohol or other drugs. This no-nonsense approach is one of the best I've seen, and I've been counseling for over 20 years.
Know a drug using teen? Read this book--You can help!.......2000-05-18
Of all the books I've read on the subject of teenagers and drug/alcohol abuse, this is by far the best. The authors clearly spell out exactly why you're right to be worried and how to help. They explain how to conduct an "intervention" to cut through the teen's denial that drugs/alcohol is a problem for her or him. By presenting treatment options and contracts as her or his "choices," parents and others can also give up the sense of fear that leads to ineffectual efforts to control someone else's drinking or drug use. Once you let go and realize that--just as the teen you care about has a choice (including using)--you have a choice to impose consequences that range from mild to severe. The book is oddly reassuring and direct. A must-read for any parent or friend of a substance using teen.
Amazon.com
This is the book that made "innumeracy" a household word, at least in some households. Paulos admits that "at least part of the motivation for any book is anger, and this book is no exception. I'm distressed by a society which depends so completely on mathematics and science and yet seems to indifferent to the innumeracy and scientific illiteracy of so many of its citizens."
But that is not all that drives him. The difference between our pretensions and reality is absurd and humorous, and the numerate can see this better than those who don't speak math. "I think there's something of the divine in these feelings of our absurdity, and they should be cherished, not avoided."
Paulos is not entirely successful at balancing anger and absurdity, but he tries. His diatribes against astrology, bad math education, Freud, and willful ignorance are leavened with jokes, mathematical or the sort (he claims) favored by the numerate.
It remains to be seen if Innumeracy will indeed be able, as Hofstadter hoped, to "help launch a revolution in math education that would do for innumeracy what Sabin and Salk did for polio"--but many of the improvements Paulos suggested have come to pass within 10 years. Only time will tell if the generation raised on these new principles is more resistant to innumeracy--and need only worry about being incomputable. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
Why do even well-educated people understand so little about mathematics? And what are the costs of our innumeracy? John Allen Paulos, in his celebrated bestseller first published in 1988, argues that our inability to deal rationally with very large numbers and the probabilities associated with them results in misinformed governmental policies, confused personal decisions, and an increased susceptibility to pseudoscience of all kinds. Innumeracy lets us know what we're missing, and how we can do something about it.
Sprinkling his discussion of numbers and probabilities with quirky stories and anecdotes, Paulos ranges freely over many aspects of modern life, from contested elections to sports stats, from stock scams and newspaper psychics to diet and medical claims, sex discrimination, insurance, lotteries, and drug testing. Readers of Innumeracy will be rewarded with scores of astonishing facts, a fistful of powerful ideas, and, most important, a clearer, more quantitative way of looking at their world.
Amazon.com
Ever feel like you just can't get ahead with the bills? You're not alone. More than half of Americans believe the American dream has become impossible for most people to achieve. And two-thirds think this goal will be even harder for the next generation. (One reason for the gloominess--average full-time income has fallen 15 percent since 1975.) All this has Benjamin Friedman worried. In his hefty, 549-page tome, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the acclaimed Harvard economist and advisor to the Federal Reserve Board says economic stagnation is bad for the moral health of a nation. Friedman, a former chair of Harvard's economics department, argues that economic growth is vital to social and political progress. Witness Hitler's Germany. Without growth, people look for answers in intolerance and fear. And that, Friedman warns, is where the U.S. is headed if the economic stagnation of the past three decades doesn't soon reverse. It's not enough for gross domestic product to rise, he says. Growth also has to be more evenly distributed. The rich shouldn't be the only ones getting richer.
Friedman's arguments are provocative but at times lack rigor. In his comparisons of various countries, he offers no objective data to measure their levels of social progress, relying instead on his own--sometimes selective--interpretation of historical events. He glosses over the fact that China, where the economy has grown sevenfold since 1978, has seen little political change in that time. He also acknowledges that the Great Depression--which brought Americans together to achieve great social and political progress--tends to disprove his theory. Friedman makes a good case that the economy sometimes influences social movements, but the jury is still out on exactly when and how that happens. --Alex Roslin
Book Description
From the author of Day of Reckoning, the acclaimed critique of Ronald Reagan’s economic policy (“Every citizen should read it,” said The New York Times): a persuasive, wide-ranging argument that broadly distributed economic growth provides benefits far beyond the material, creating and strengthening democratic institutions, establishing political stability, fostering tolerance, and enhancing opportunity.
“Are we right,” Benjamin M. Friedman asks, “to care so much about economic growth as we clearly do?” To answer, Friedman reaches beyond economics. He examines the political and social histories of the large Western democracies—particularly of the United States since the Civil War—distinguishing times of generally rising living standards from those of pervasive stagnation to illustrate how rising incomes render a society more open and democratic. He shows, too, how our attitudes toward economic growth and its consequences have roots in the thinking of prior centuries, especially the Enlightenment, and also include significant strands of religious influence.
Friedman also delineates the role of economic growth in determining which developing nations extend the broadest freedoms to their citizenry. He makes clear that growth, rather than just the level of living standards, is key to effecting political and social liberalization in the third world. But he also warns that the democratic values of countries even as wealthy as our own are at risk whenever incomes stagnate for extended periods. Merely being rich is no protection against a society’s retreat into rigidity and intolerance once enough of its citizens lose the sense that they are getting ahead.
Finally, Friedman shows us why, if America is to strengthen democratic institutions around the world as a bulwark against terrorism and social unrest, we must aggressively pursue growth at home and promote worldwide economic expansion beyond what purely market-driven forces would create. And for the United States, he offers concrete suggestions for policy steps to achieve those objectives.
A major contribution to the ongoing debate on the effects of economic growth and globalization.
Customer Reviews:
The Chicken or the Egg?.......2007-02-06
Since the rise fascism and Bolshevism in the 1920s there has been the question of how political rights and civil liberties correspond to economic rights and growth. Amartya Sen has argued that the political rights and civil liberties should not be divorced from economic process (Development As Freedom). Sen's normative approach of equating economic rights to the freedoms one achieves with guaranteed civil liberties is one that many can respect.
Benjamin Freidman has taken a more positivist to the same issue. In doing so he asks, "Which came first the chicken or the egg?" Does economic growth in a capitalist setting require democracy and civil liberties or visa versa? Friedman's study looks back not only over all to this question in modern economic history. But, he also takes specific case studies from the United States, Germany, France and others to see the over all trends of the problem.
From this he develops a matrix on the issue. In times of growth political rights tend to expand. In times of stagnation they tend to contract. What is interesting his not how Friedman arrives at this basic framework, but his look into the exceptions of this common sense rule. Why in the 1930s was the political openness of the New Deal accepted, but the recent economic stagnation in France caused the rise of the right-wing Le Pen party?
Friedman is one of the foremost experts on the political economy. He has held a seat at Harvard since 1972. Yet, in this work for public consumption his writing is more along the lines of an historian. He does not delve too far into the economics or the political science of the issue, which many academics tend to - even for the lay reader. Instead, he sees to it that the main ideas are gotten across.
His prescriptions are simple. Maintain economic growth and we can maintain political and civil liberties. While Amartya Sen may find a problem with placing the chicken before the egg, after this work one must understand that economic stagnation helps noone.
Better than church: Economics, the joyful science.......2006-12-01
Economics is often considered a values-free discipline (and economists - well, a sperm cell has a better chance of becoming human). Economists have promoted this view with their emphasis on "positive" (scientific) economics. Economic theory must generate testable hypotheses which stand on their ability to predict the future and withstand the test of data. This is actually very important if economic theory is going to serve as the basis for policy. Without a rigorous and dispassionate analysis of the problems we face and their potential solutions, policy is more likely to be destructive than useful. But taken to an academic extreme, this approach makes economics rather arid, an extremely formal social science that looks more like a branch of mathematics. Indeed, some economics journals publish articles so arcane they might as well be about string theory for all the relevance they have to actual human beings.
Friedman understands that economics is much more than mathematics, that it deals directly with human happiness. It's the most optimistic and joyful of sciences, not simply a ruler by which we can measure policy. Its uses and conclusions are fundamentally moral (or immoral). Economic growth isn't just about GDP and reams of statistics, but about the expansion of opportunity, the lifting up of the poor and the powerless to prosperity and self-determination. Markets aren't just about money, but about liberty. It may be the responsibility of economic advisors to be cold, impartial and rational in their analysis and advice, but policy makers and citizens must apply moral reasoning and moral sense to the products of that analysis.
Friedman's book is a solid introduction to the moral relevance of economics. Friedman shows us that economics matters, though it doesn't matter in quite the way that physics matters. Physical knowledge may be used for moral or immoral purposes, but physics is fundamentally without morality. It also need not deal with anything that really matters to you and me. Economic theory can explain human behavior in ways similar to thermodynamic explanations of molecular motion, but humans aren't molecules. You can't simply describe the impact of globalization or tax policy on humans without a moral framework; an attempt to objectify humans as you'd objectify hydrogen molecules contains its own grim morality. It's the strength of Friedman's book that it makes clear that economic decisions and economic analysis are firmly embedded in a moral framework, no matter how hard we might try to ignore it in our pursuit of scientific and mathematical rigor.
Friedman's book isn't just a moral tract; he attempts to make a case for his moral stand. Friedman is a skilled economist, and he marshals historical data and comparisons of different nations and different periods in our own history to make his case. He provides some information useful for evaluating his thesis that economic growth is moral, he doesn't simply assert it. But herein is a weakness in his book. He doesn't provide nearly as much hard information as he should, and he scatters his supporting numbers throughout the text. It would be very helpful to the reader if data were gathered into charts and tables. There's but a single Figure in the book, no tables of data. It should also be noted that his national comparisons leave out some states (China, Singapore, Vietnam) that might contradict his thesis regarding the linkage between economic growth and political liberty. He's chosen his examples far too carefully.
Another weakness of this book is a natural danger of the type of text Friedman has written. Because he is dealing with economics as a moral issue, he takes a moral stance, one that's clearly to the political left in many ways. I have no problem with this, even though I'm somewhat to the right of him, but we should be very clear on one point. While a trained economist like Friedman is in a much better position than the average person to analyze the effects of different policies, he's no more qualified than a pastry chef to comment on the relative desirability of those different policies once their effects have been laid out in terms the pastry chef understands. Friedman makes a number of policy suggestions in his book with which I disagree. He doesn't make it sufficiently clear that their potential effects aren't unambiguously better than those of alternative policies designed to create or enhance economic growth.
My final objection to this book is its length. Friedman is clearly a well-read man of wide interests, and he brings a great deal of his erudition to this book. It strengthens his case, but I'm not sure that the marginal benefits of the 400th page exceed the marginal costs. More than once I found myself wanting an executive summary of the chapter I was reading and wishing that he would just cut to the chase. But that's really a minor complaint. I benefited from reading this book. It's an interesting and thoughtful contribution to the issue of economic growth (and by extension to international trade and economic aid to developing countries), and I strongly recommend it.
Society and Economic Growth.......2006-11-05
Friedman explains how growth is good for promoting a freer, more tolerant and open society. The author gives good reasons for defending growth as the major objective of any government.
Interesting Thesis, but overlooking some important points.......2006-06-13
Mr. Friedman's book begins with an interesting thesis, defining morality and its definition within a context of economic growth. The idea that economic growth or stagnation effects the mindsets of the people living in that time period is a logical argument that Friedman often well supports with historical facts. However, the exceptions to his argument make me wonder if he really believes in his own thesis, or if he just felt the need to write a book. Furthermore, for every chapter in the book, there seem to be at least one or more flawed arguments or points that, with a little thorough thought or research, don't make sense or can easily be disproven. With these things being the case, I find Friedman's argument a little hard to buy. The entire book seems to build up to the final chapter, which Friedman uses to make policy recommendations that would aid in economic growth; this final chapter could have stood alone from the book entirely, however, because the evidence in the book an his arguments elsewhere in the book (ie. the importance of education) do not add or support his final policy recommendations. His policy recommendations could have easily been listed by students in an economics class as responses to the question "What should the government do to promote economic growth?" They don't push the argument forward or indicate anything that hasn't already been suggested in the past, nor do they give suggestions as to how to go about implementing his policies.
Puzzling.......2006-06-02
Friedman begins with a few troubling statistics, particularly the fact that except for a brief period in the late 1900s, most of the fruits of the last three decades of economic growth in the U.S. have accrued to only a small slice of the population. Further, after allowing for higher prices, the average 2004 worker in an American business made 16% less each week than 30+ years earlier. With more and more two-earner households and more individuals holding two jobs, most families' income have more than held their own. But nearly all the gain in the last three decades came only in the late 1990s. Young men entering the American job force in the 1970s started off earning two-thirds more, on average, than the generation starting out in the 1950s; by the early 1990s it was one quarter less than their parents.
Economic growth positively affects the character of the society as a whole, and because neither tolerance nor democracy is a good that private markets value, there is a role for government measures to seek growth beyond what the market would provide on its own. Improved transportation, crime reduction, safety from external attack, savings, education, and patent protection are examples of valuable government contributions.
Friedman asserts that declining investment is a problem in the U.S., and blames it on increased current consumption and government borrowing. (But what about the fact that much cheaper labor is available in Asia?) He goes on to posit that chronically large deficits' depressing effect on America's investment probably received a greater spur from change in the tax structure than the positive aspect of the tax reductions.
Friedman suggests improvement that begins with undoing the Bush administration high-end tax changes that provided 60% of the benefits to the top 10% (earning over $120,000) to reduce the deficit and improve society.
Fireman, like many others, very much wants to improve American education. He begins by focusing on improving the high school graduation rate - stable at about 90% over the last several decades - through more spending. (Friedman, however, forgets that enormous increases in inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending also occurred during this period, and that dropout rates closely correlate with race - ergo, positive home influence is probably a much more potent lever.) More government support for college education is also highly recommended because their incomes average some 70% more than those without a college degree. As for class sizes, Friedman is aware that most quality research has found reductions do NOT improve pupil achievement; nonetheless he suggests reductions would improve graduation rates, though the sources he cites seem to confound race and socio-economic status with class size as influences. He also supports competition within education, citing several inner-city positive examples such as Harlem Community Schools.
Another significant recommendation is raising the Social Security retirement age.
What is puzzling about "The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth" is that Friedman does not address a major issue of today's economic growth - the impact of free trade and illegal immigration on American incomes. Also, his treatment of economic development and population growth on environmental impacts is overly optimistic. These issues seriously limit the book's contributions.
Book Description
"The book provides an in-depth examination of the history and discipline of evaluation, as well as its treatment of the subjects of ethics, justice, and professionalism. . . . The strength of the book is, without question, Ernest R. House's many years of experience as an evaluator and his proposition that evaluation, as an institution, profession, and discipline, represents a strong and significant force in the process of social change." --Evaluation and Program Planning "This book pushes back the frontiers Ernest R. House has already established with his previous work in the political and social dimensions of professional evaluation. It represents the thoughtful reflections of an experienced evaluator with an unusual talent for original perspectives on this complex and vital emergent discipline." --Michael Scriven, Director, Evaluation Institute, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology "For 25 years, Ernest R. House has watched us who specialize in program evaluation, recording and interpreting in the best of qualitative ways, the maturation of our field. In this book, he portrays us as white collar migrant workers; carded, coddled, and manipulated by governments, reluctant to leave the comfort of social science but having outgrown that dependency, reaching toward what Michael Scriven called a transdiscipline. If Lee Cronbach once made us wince by revealing our political blood, House startles us, exposing neural ties with ethics, technocracy, capitalism, manifest destiny, even craniometry. Popping bluerock metaphors from liberal left to libertarian right, House declares us to be complex creature of nature and nurture, seldom acting of our own free will. It is a magical, mythological tour. "Never before has the special work of the program evaluator been shown to be immersed in and buffeted by such a diverse array of social, political, and philosophical currents. In an appealing mix of personal reminiscence and social commentary, Ernie House has collected a fine album of the early years of program evaluation." --Robert E. Stake, Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Why do we have evaluation? Is evaluation a discipline? How much impact does evaluation have on government, education, or politics? Can social problems, such as poverty, be solved like engineering problems by the application of resources and intelligence? By exploring how evaluation has evolved as a discipline, science, and profession, House examines how evaluation impacts modern societies and the issues that this impact (social force) raises for evaluators. Addressing such issues as pluralism vs. managerialism, quantitative vs. qualitative methodologies, the purpose of higher education for knowledge production vs. educating people for professions, clientism, and multicultural concerns, House traces how evaluation has evolved as a basis for determining where the field should go--and, how.
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