Market cultures
Subtitle: society and morality in the new Asian capitalisms
By: [edited by] Robert W. Hefner.
Contributors: Hefner, Robert W., 1952-
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Boulder, Colo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 328
Subjects: Capitalism -- Moral and ethical aspects -- East Asia; Economic anthropology -- East Asia; East Asia -- Moral conditions; East Asia -- Social conditions; East Asia -- Economic conditions
Description: One of the most remarkable developments of our time has been the spectacular growth of capitalist enterprise among overseas Chinese and Southeast Asians. Market Cultures examines this event, not in terms of formal models and faceless abstractions, but in light of the institutions through which local people give meaning and moral value to business enterprise.

The chapters show that some Chinese and Southeast Asians have welcomed new forms of enterprise and consumption, but others regard both with strong ethical reservations. Eschewing talk of a uniform Asian "miracle," this volume argues that Chinese and Southeast Asian societies had cultural precedents for and against market capitalism, reflecting subcultural heritages of religion, ethnicity, gender, and class.

Market Cultures will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, political economists, and students of Asian history and culture, as well as those concerned with the economic ascent of modern Asia and its implications for our world.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
"This book is the product of a dialogue that began with a conference at the Fairbanks Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University in October 1994 and then continued in meetings and correspondance for another two years. The 1994 conference was sponsored by the Joint Committees on Southeast Asia and China of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC)"--P. vii.