Synopses & Reviews
Revealing that the key to successful economic development in late industrializers rests in the state's capacity to discipline capitalists, this study sheds light on why certain countries (South Korea and Taiwan) have the capacity to discipline capitalists, while others (Mexico and Argentina) find themselves at the receiving end of industrialists' political and economic power. Closer examination of middle classes, especially rural middle classes, reveals the extent to which they achieve sufficient political sway in politics and society, and thus are able to impose such discipline.
Review
"The highest praise that most historical sociologists can give is that a book is in the same league as Barrington Moore's Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. This book may well be in that league with its grand comparative sweep, its subtle attention to methodological issues, and its command of the literature. Postmodern it is not. It offers theory, it grapples with evidence, it comes to strong conclusions that point forward as well as backward." --Leslie Sklair, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics
Synopsis
The key to successful economic development in late industrializers rests in the state"s capacity to discipline capitalists in the service of national economic growth. What gives certain countries (South Korea and Taiwan) the capacity to discipline capitalists, while others (Mexico and Argentina) find themselves unable to do so? The answer rests in a closer examination of middle classes, especially rural middle classes, and the extent to which they achieve sufficient sway in politics, society, and thus the state, in order to impose such discipline.
Synopsis
An examination of South Korea"s and Taiwan"s economic successes and Argentina"s and Mexico"s relative 'failures" through their rural middle classes.
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. An introduction to middle classes, discipline and development; 2. Middle classes and development theory; 3. Discipline and reward: rural middle classes and the South Korean development miracle; 4. Disciplinary development as rural middle class formation: proletarian peasants and farmer-workers in Argentina and Taiwan; 5. From victors to victims? Rural middle classes, revolutionary legacies, and the unfulfilled promise of disciplinary development in Mexico; 6. Disciplinary development in a new millennium: the global context of past gains and future prospects; Appendix A; Appendix B; Appendix C; Bibliography; Index.