"Economists agree about many things--contrary to popular opinion--but
the majority agree about culture only in the sense that they no longer
give it much thought." So begins the first chapter of Cultures
Merging, in which Eric Jones--one of the world's leading economic
historians--takes an eloquent, pointed, and personal look at the
question of whether culture determines economics or is instead
determined by it.
Bringing immense learning and originality to the issue of cultural
change over the long-term course of global economic history, Jones
questions cultural explanations of much social behavior in Europe, East
Asia, the United States, Australia, and the Middle East. He also
examines contemporary globalization, arguing that while centuries of
economic competition have resulted in the merging of cultures into fewer
and larger units, these changes have led to exciting new syntheses.
Culture matters to economic outcomes, Jones argues, but cultures in turn
never stop responding to market forces, even if some elements of culture
stubbornly persist beyond the time when they can be explained by current
economic pressures. In the longer run, however, cultures show a fluidity
that will astonish some cultural determinists. Jones concludes that
culture's "ghostly transit through history" is much less powerful than
noneconomists often claim, yet it has a greater influence than
economists usually admit.
The product of a lifetime of reading and thinking on culture and
economics, a work of history and an analysis of the contemporary world,
Cultures Merging will be essential reading for anyone concerned about
the interaction of cultures and markets around the world.
