Man takes control : cultural development and American aid

This is an inquiry into the causes of cultural behavior, the nature of its development, and problems of for eign aid in relation to cultural devel opment. Professor Erasmus exam ines technical assistance programs in some of the underdeveloped areas of the world and relates the significance of such programs to a general concept of cultural change. Most of the examples are drawn from his own experiences. He pre sents a case study of cultural devel opment in northwestern Mexico, where road and irrigation projects have created new opportunities for commercial expansion. The study is based on his observations in Sonora, Mexico, made while he was associ ated with the University of Illinois Culture Change Project.

Before presenting the case study, Professor Erasmus discusses his theories of cultural causality and cul tural development. He projects an original theory of cultural causality with the causal components of cog nition, motivation, and limitation. In a modification of Thorstein Veb len's concepts of conspicuous con sumption and invidious comparison, he offers a three-level view of cul tural development which includes conspicuous giving, conspicuous ownership, and conspicuous produc tion, with their corresponding types of invidious comparison.

Professor Erasmus is a member of the department of sociology-anthro pology at the University of Califor nia, Santa Barbara. He has served as an anthropologist for American aid programs in Latin America, studying various health and agricultural projects in Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Chile, and has been a field eth nologist for the Institute of Social Anthropology of the Smithsonian In stitution. He also has taught at the University of North Carolina, Yale University, and the University of Ilinois.