The three worlds

The first part of the book examines existing theories of development. None is sacred: using empirical material drawn from the historical experience of advanced capitalist and socialist states, China and the distinct regions of the Third World, Worsley evaluates and synthesises the Marxist approach with that of social anthropologists. He identifies culture -- in the sense of a shared set of values -- as the key element missing in more traditional approaches to the sociology of development and considers its use by writers as diverse as Coleridge, Eliot and Raymond Williams.