Portrait of a Nation: Culture and Progress in Ecuador

Description

A case study of why Third World countries are still poor, the premise of this book is that while some progress has been made in transforming the political economy of Ecuador, certain behaviors, beliefs and attitudes have kept the country from developing in ways that otherwise would have been possible. As the author asserts, for almost five centuries the cultural habits of Ecuadorian citizens have constituted a stumbling block for individual economic success. Still, he concludes, people's cultural values are not immutable: inconvenient customs can be changed or influenced by the economic success of immigrants. This is the challenge that Ecuador faces in the twenty-first century. CONTENTS FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISHLANGUAGEEDITION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Ch01. CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OFTHE AUDIENCIA OF QUITO Ch02. CULTURAL VALUES IN THENINETEENTH CENTURY Ch03. CULTURAL CHANGESIN THE FIRST HALF OFTHE TWENTIETH CENTURY Ch04. CULTURAL CHANGESIN THE SECOND HALF OFTHE TWENTIETH CENTURY Ch05. IN PURSUIT OF ECONOMIC SUCCESS FINAL REFLECTIONS NOTES GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY ABOUT THE AUTHOR