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Civilization and Success
Culture is to the group what personality is to the individual. Civilization is to the group what enlightenment is to the individual.
 "In my opinion it is a book which can be put into the hands of a child. It teaches the gospel of love in place of that of hate. It replaces violence with self-sacrifice. It pits sould force against brute force. It has gone through several editions and I commend it to those who would care to read it. I withdraw nothing except one word of it, and that in deference to a lady friend. The booklet is a severe condemnation of “modern civilization”. It was written in 1908. My conviction is deeper today than ever. I feel that if India will discard “modern civilization”, sha can only gain by doing so." here "These ideas were not controversial before the 1960s. Leftists such as Karl Marx would refer to various groups as being civilized or uncivilized and backward. The secular saint Mohandas Gandhi wrote that several ethnic groups within India were "jungli" and would have to be dealt with militarily after independence. Jungli is a rough Indian equivalent for uncivilized and has the same root as the Indian word jungle, which has been adopted by English speakers. Gandhi clearly believed that the term jungli was disparaging because he later apologized for calling the Assamese jungli, claiming that he had been misinformed by others. In the past no one ever argued whether or not some were jungli and some not, they only argued over who was jungli and who was not." here "While fifty-one per cent of the people have their eyes on the goal of integrity, our investments are secure; but with fifty-one per cent of them headed in the wrong direction, our investments are valueless. The first fundamental of prosperity is Integrity." here
 "The historian Jacob Burckhardt wrote, "The development of personality is essentially involved in the recognition of it in oneself and others." This comment was made in his "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy." Considered one of the great works of history it lays out his belief that the Renaissance was the time when man fully discovered himself, and came to see and develop himself as an individual. Burckhardt felt that, "To the discovery of the outward world the Renaissance added a still greater achievement, by first discerning and bringing to light the full whole nature of man. This period, as we have seen, first gave the highest development to individuality, and then led the individual to the most zealous and thorough study of himself in all forms and under all conditions." here
 "Max Weber's claim that Protestantism is more conducive to success than Catholicism and that Calvinism is in particular more successful is widely made and oddly immune to the charges of bigotry which would most often be attached to similar claims. For example, any claim that white culture is more conducive to success than black culture would be immediately attacked despite the fact that this would appear to be identical to the claim being made by Weber and others, specifically that one set of voluntarily chosen ideas is more conducive to success than another set of voluntarily chosen ideas. here
By the Numbers
A careful examination of the numbers is necessary for understanding the relationship between culture and success.
 "There are two common ways of presenting per capita income data. One way is to adjust for the cost of living in each country. This is usually called the PPP method which stands for Purchasing Power Parity. Most of the per capita income figures thrown around are PPP figures whether or not that is stated. The second method is the Atlas method. These figures are adjusted for currency values and inflation according to various schemes." here
 "It is relatively simple to find statistics documenting the incomes of Blacks and whites in America. It is more difficult to find information on Hispanics and Asians. It is even more difficult to find data on the incomes earned by the ethnic groups within each race and by religious denominations. This lack of data concerning ethnic and denominational incomes makes researching the influence of culture and voluntarily chosen beliefs on economic success more difficult. One of the few data sources for ethnic and denominational incomes is the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center." here
The Third World and the Underclass
The Third World is the one part of the world where everything worthy of being called "historical forces" are more at work, and more naked, than anywhere else.
 "Current events in Zimbabwe are giving us an unprecedented opportunity
to measure and judge the effect of white settlement and colonization in Africa.
Zim is now the world's largest test tube. The country is undergoing a massive
nation wide experiment on the effects of white settlement in Africa. The effect
of this settlement are varied, but I want to focus on the economic effects.
The settlement of Zim by whites and their movement into the economy took decades. The elimination of whites from the economy and their likely elimination from the country will be over with in a few years. Mugabe started this process
a year ago and I expect him to be finished before the next planting season
in November. This is an incredibly rapid migration by historical standards.
Most migrations occur so slowly that it is difficult to separate the impact
of the migration from other historical changes. This will not be the case
with the elimination of whites from Zim's economy. The impact will be clear
and quantifiable." here "The Government must remain in civilised and responsible hands, because any Government worth the name must be acceptable both internally and externally. In the civilised world there are constitutions and standards set so that as far as humanly possible equilibrium should be the share of all concerned. Our aim, young as we are as a nation, is peace, law and order. Our background is God our Creator. Anything short of this is not acceptable. Ancestral worship as such has no place in our conventions and standards."
here " Africa is the poorest place in the world. Outside of South Africa and the Arab countries to the north the average African makes $1,000 a year while the worldwide average is over $6,500. This poverty has not gone unnoticed and it does not lack for explanations. We all know that the only accepted explanation for African poverty is to say that it is caused by the lingering effects of colonialism. This is the only explanation a public figure can speak of without having his career and reputation intentionally destroyed. That does not make it true."
here "White farmers produce 4 times as much corn per acre as the black farmers on the communal lands. Zim's commercial farms average 4 tons of corn per hectare and the communal lands average 1 ton per hectare(1 hectare = 2.47 acres). Both the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture use these yield numbers. The FAO has a nice graph of white and communal corn yields from 1980 to 1998. I've never seen this difference in corn yields mentioned in a single news report, despite the fact that corn is the staple food of the country." here "Communally owned property always has and always will suffer from the 'tragedy of the commons' problem.The most clear example of this is in what is likely the largest system of communally owned land in the world, the 16 million hectares(40 million acres) of communal land in Zimbabwe. This land is severely degraded, as can be seen from satellite photo above and from the other photos linked to. The red areas indicate vegetation and the white areas are bare patches. If you look at a map showing the communal land borders you will see that they are contiguous with the bare patches. The degradation of these lands is well known and studied. The average rate of soil formation in Zim is .4 tons per hectare per year." here
 "Sub-Saharan Africa receives over $15 billion a year in in foreign aid. The people whose taxes pay for this have a right to know what we are getting for it. The answer is that at the very most we are getting a 6.6% correlation with growth for it and are most likely getting much less."
here
Politics and Success
The central political dispute of our time is whether or not culture influences success.
"(4/8/01) I have had to spend my entire life listening to people tell me that in America the great taboo subject is race, and that no one is willing to discuss this issue or it's implications. I've also had to spend my entire life listening to people talk about race and it's implications. Very often they would start their little speeches by saying, "no one ever talks about race," and then would go on to talk about race for an hour. There exists in this country an entire industry devoted to nothing more than talking about race and yet this race industry itself insists that "no one ever talks about race.""
here
 Bourgeoisie is more than just a term of abuse used by the Left, it refers to a real people who led real lives and without understanding who these people once were and why Karl Marx hated them one cannot understand his ideas or deeply understand the Left. To simply leave the term unexamined and treat it as a mere insult or as a broad term for the wealthy, or all "capitalists" is to misunderstand Marx and the world he lived in and thus to misunderstand the entire Left, including the forms more moderate in their antagonism to the hated group of the day than the extreme example provided by their spiritual ancestor, Karl Marx." here
 The moral justification for welfare is supposed to be that we are temporarily helping out our fellow man through a rough stretch of road or helping the disabled permanently. If it is to become a system for continually transferring wealth from one group to another the people behind this change owe us an explanation." here
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www.success-and-culture.net
The purpose of this site is to try and get the world to start dealing with the
interaction between culture and success
in a mature and intelligent manner.
Poll: Do you believe culture influences success?
Yes 67.03%
No 17.5%
Uncertain 15.3%
- Newest Articles -
Per Capita Income Around the World
Per capita income figures for the countries and regions of the world.
Hind Swaraj, by M.K. Gandhi
While rarely read this is Gandhi's most important written work.
Civilization and Success
The traditional explanation for the noticeable differences in income across cultures was to say that they differed in their level of civilization.
- Categories -
Civilization and Success
Culture is to the group what personality is to the individual. Civilization is to the group what enlightenment is to the individual.
By the Numbers
A careful examination of the numbers is necessary to understand the relationship between success and culture.
Third World and the Underclass
The Third World is where the relationship between success and culture is revealed in the most brutal manner.
Politics and Success
The central political issue of our time is whether or not culture influences success.
- All Articles -
Per Capita Income Around the World
Per capita income figures for the countries and regions of the world.
Hind Swaraj, by M.K. Gandhi
While rarely read this is Gandhi's most important written work.
Civilization and Success
The traditional explanation for the noticeable differences in income across cultures was to say that they differed in their level of civilization.
Fundamentals of Prosperity
This 1920 work by Roger Babson is a classic with in its genre. It promotes the traditional, pre-1960s explanation for the connection between success and culture.
Zimbabwe: the World's Largest Test Tube
Current events in Zimbabwe are giving us an unprecedented opportunity to measure and judge the effect of white settlement and colonization in Africa.
US Incomes by Race, Ethnicity and Religion
Average US Incomes by Race, Ethnicity and Religion.
Are Calvinists Predestined to Succeed?
Max Weber's claim that Protestantism is more conducive to success than Catholicism and that Calvinism is in particular more successful is widely repeated and rarely examined.
Wealth and the Recogniton of Culture
We need to recognize that culture is the personality of a group or race and we must see culture and having seen it, make it a work of art.
The Recipient Class
The moral justification for welfare is supposed to be that we are temporarily helping out our fellow man through a rough stretch of road or helping the disabled permanently. If it is to become a system for continually transferring wealth from one group to another the people behind this change owe us an explanation.
Culturalism
The great taboo of our age is not speaking about race, but speaking about culture.
Bourgeois
Bourgeoisie is more than just a term of abuse used by the Left, it refers to a real people who led real lives.
Selections from the Federal Outlook
Selections from a 1960's Rhodesian newspaper.
How Africa Underdeveloped Africa
Africa is the poorest place in the world. Why?
Will Famine Come to Zimbabwe?
The end of commercial farming in Zimbabwe could plunge the country into famine.
The Tragedy of the Zimbabwe Commons
Communally owned property always has and always will suffer from the 'tragedy of the commons' problem.
Band Aid
Africa recieves $15 billion a year in aid. Is it helping?
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