The Three Worlds: Culture and World DevelopmentA major, eclectic work of extraordinary scope and unprecedented vision, The Three Worlds is much more than a study of the contemporary Third World. It examines the constituents of development—cultural as well as political and economic—throughout the world from prehistory to the present. Peter Worsley first considers existing theories of development, synthesizing the Marxist approach with that of social anthropologists and identifying culture—in the sense of a shared set of values—as the key element missing in more traditional approaches to the sociology of development. Worsley then examines successive forms of rural organization, develops a new definition of the urban poor, considers the relation of ethnicity and nationalism to social class and to each other, and, finally, discusses the nature of the three worlds implied in the term Third World. |
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Africa agriculture argued became become Bolsheviks bourgeois bourgeoisie Brazil Britain capitalism capitalist cent central centres China colonial communist concept countries countryside culture distinctive dominant economic Ecuador élite estates Europe European existence exploitation farm feudal force household hunters and collectors Ibid ideology immigrants independence Indian individual industry institutions intellectual kind labour labour aristocracy land landlords Latin America liberation living major marginal Marx Marxist mass material Mexico Mexico City military million mode of production modern movements nineteenth century organization parties peasantry peasants political poor population populist poverty proletariat radical regimes relationships religious revolution revolutionary rural São Paulo Second World Second World War sector shanty-town simply smallholders social socialist society Soviet structure struggle subculture Tanzania theorists theory Third World trade traditional underdeveloped urban USSR values village West Western whole workers