Civil Culture Research Articles

Values of physical culture: structure, characteristics

Target development and justification of established theories, technologies, and structures of educational systems is the formation of cultural characteristics of the individual at all stages of continuous education, which reflects the mentality of society and the state (as a result) development of the value-oriented overbiological programs of human activities, knowledge, abilities and skills of their practical and creative use. It is very important to develop components (their characteristics) of the individual basic culture, which include moral, aesthetic, labor, civil, intellectual (cognitive) and physical cultures. Nowadays, the structure of physical culture values can be represented by a group of material (the human body, sports equipment, sports facilities, mass media, scientific equipment, environmental natural factors), spiritual (physical, intellectual, pedagogical, mobilization, intention) and artistic (a set of artistic images and works that reflects the values of the material and spiritual spheres of the society) values. The optimum ratio of the used physical culture values is believed to ensure the quality of the content of sports activity and as a consequence the development of culture among students.

Aspects of the Structure and Corrosion Resistance of Materials Used in Tongue Piercings

For centuries, piercing was an expression of art around the world and constituted a significant part of the culture and rituals of many different civilizations. This study evaluated the microstructure and the corrosion resistance in artificial saliva of two newly implantable devices used in tongue piercing. We investigated materials microstructure by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), followed by an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis in order to determine elemental composition. The corrosion resistance was determined by linear polarization technique. The corrosion tests were performed in artificial saliva Fusayama Meyer (composition: 0.4 gl-1NaCl, 0.9 gl-1 KCl, 1 gl-1 urea, 0.69 gl-1 NaH2PO4, 0.795 gl-1 CaCl * 2H2O) with a pH = 5.2 at temperature of 37 ± 0.5°C. The materials used for these types of implants were identified as Ti-6Al-4V alloy (sample 1) and austenitic stainless steel (sample 2). From corrosion resistance evaluation point of view, sample 1 showed the most electropositive value and hence better corrosion behavior compared to sample 2, having the Ecor potential -398.24 mV but this is clearly according the chemical composition of these two metallic biomaterials.

Geopolitan Democracy in the Anthropocene

The proposed new epoch of the Anthropocene, whereby humans have become the dominant geological force shaping Earth systems, has attracted considerable interest in the social sciences and humanities but only scant attention from democratic theorists. This inquiry draws out the democratic problems associated with the two opposing narratives on governing the Anthropocene – Earth systems governance and ecomodernism – and juxtaposes them with a more critical narrative that draws out the democratic potential of the Anthropocene as a new source of critique of liberal democracy and a new resource for democratic renewal. While Ulrich Beck welcomed reflexive cosmopolitan democracy (understood as a civil culture of responsibility across borders) as the appropriate response to the world risk society, this narrative develops an account of hyper-reflexive ‘geopolitan democracy’ based on a more radical extension of democratic horizons of space, time, community and agency as the appropriate response to navigating the Anthropocene.

Development of the civil society as a factor of the implementation of «good governance» principle in Ukraine

Principles of «good governance» have been investigated in the article and the impact of civil society development on their effective implementation has been determined. In a broad sense, “good governance” is understood as democratic, responsible, effective, transparent and accountable governance. It has been emphasized in the study that “good governance” is an effective form of public participation in the implementation of public policies, establishing proper coordination and cooperation between the government and the society on the principles of “subject - subject” partnership relations. Unlike the public administration, which implements already made decisions, “good governance” takes care of policy of society’s participation in decision-making and transparency of the process of the decision-making. Principles of “good governance” have been analyzed in the article, as there are defined in the European Strategy for Innovation and “good governance” at the local level, UN Program “Governance and sustainable development of human potential” and the UN Program for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT). Based on this analysis, the influence of the civil society development on the effective implementation of the principles of “good governance”, quality of decisions adopted and approved decision, which were made with the involvement of civil society, have been proved. Taking this into account, the complex problems that characterize the state of civil society in Ukraine have been examined in the article. They include: lack of institutional, financial and human resource capacity of non-governmental organizations; underdeveloped civil and political culture, low political literacy; high level of the public support for the paternalistic nature of the state; distrust between the authorities and the public society; inadequate implementation of mechanisms for public participation in the formation and implementation of public policy. The following conclusion has been made that these problems prevent the effective implementation of standards and the principles of “good governance” in Ukraine and they must be solved. The next solutions have been suggested in the article: to support the creation of high political, civil and legal culture of the population, who understand its rights and levers of influence over the authorities; to change the government’s attitude to the public society being a partner, not the opponent; to intensify the process of privatization of all spheres of social life, the development of different forms of public authorities and social initiatives; to expand public levers of influence at the government. As a result, the assumption has been made that the implementation of these steps will influence positively the further development of civil society and the effective implementation of the principles of “good governance” in Ukraine.

Use of Muscle Strengthening to Treat Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of pain in the heel and sole of the foot. It affects approximately 10% of the population and accounts for 600,000 outpatient visits annually (9). The plantar fascia is a dense, fibrous tissue spanning the length of the foot. It originates at the medial calcaneal tubercle and attaches to the phalanges. The plantar fascia provides stability and arch support to the foot. Plantar fasciitis is defined as inflammation of this tissue from excess stress, and predisposing factors include overtraining, obesity, pes planus, decreased ankle dorsiflexion, and inappropriate footwear (2,4). Our current society is a civilized culture of supporting feet with shoes, insoles, and even orthotics. Sore feet, a common problem and precursor to plantar fasciitis, are generally treated with rest, stretching, and more support (1,2,4,10,11). Shoes and such supports may lead to atrophy and weakening of the splinted muscles (6,7). Unappreciated in modern medicine, feet have similar intrinsic muscles as hands. Feet have four layers of intrinsic muscles all designed to provide strength and support (5). The plantar intrinsic muscles may be among the most unknown and neglected muscles in the human body. Feet are capable of grabbing things and even writing. People born without upper limbs have been able to live long and fulfilling lives after training themselves to be just as dexterous with their feet as many are with their hands. To maintain hand strength, gripping things will strengthen the muscles. The same can be done with feet. In the 1960 Summer Olympics, Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila made history when he won the gold medal while running barefoot. Many African marathon runners today still train without shoes (3). In the 1970s, running shoes were thin-soled, and the feet of great runners were very strong. Zola Budd, the women’s 5,000-m world record holder in 1985, trained and raced barefooted. Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard and an avid runner, states “A lot of foot and knee injuries that are currently plaguing us actually are caused by people running with shoes that make our feet weak…” (6). McDougall (7) gathers an impressive array of sources to harshly criticize the running shoe industry for creating shoes that weaken our feet, causing runners to rear-foot strike rather than forefoot/mid-foot strike before bringing down the heel, leading to a more evenly spread force of impact across the foot. He states that the “habitually shod runners” have caused a decline in American running performance that we are only now getting out of (7). Largely because of his book and others, there is an emergence of barefoot and minimalist running shoes that improve performance but require strong feet. Recent research has shown that strength training improves outcomes in patients with plantar fasciitis compared with traditional therapy of stretching and supports (3,8). Pain and inflammation in the plantar fascia could be due to weakness of the intrinsic muscles of the foot adjacent to this fascia. We have had success in treating patients with plantar fasciitis with muscle strengthening and have used a simple exercise, the foot grip, which can be done anywhere and anytime. The patients were prescribed a simple foot muscle exercise, the foot grip (Figure). Patients are instructed to tighten the muscles of the foot as if they were going to pick something up with the bottom of the feet. They hold this contraction for a few seconds and then relax. They are asked to do this 100 times a day, and it can be done in shoes and while standing, sitting, or lying down.Figure: Foot grip exercise.Typically, improvement occurs in 1 to 2 weeks, with resolution of the problem in approximately 4 weeks. One benefit of this muscle strengthening is that the feet become stronger, allowing the person to continue sports. Another benefit is that patients who perform these exercises are much less likely to experience a relapse. Because strong feet would be less likely to get plantar fasciitis, foot grips may play an important role in the prevention of this condition. We are performing an ongoing study on the use of foot grips to treat plantar fasciitis. Other exercises may be helpful as well in preventing and treating plantar fasciitis. These would include tiptoeing and barefoot walking. Wearing thong-type sandals that require gripping also may lead to strong feet. All training should be increased gradually to avoid overuse that may lead to plantar fasciitis muscle and tendon strains. We suggest that promoting stronger feet become a part of patient education in sports medicine.

Влияние духовно-нравственных ценностей молодежи на формирование гражданской культуры российского общества

The authors conducted a sociological analysis of the spiritual and moral values of the youth and their impact on the civil culture, which largely determines the forms of individual and group social activity and the functioning of social institutions. The implementation of the key function of values, i.e. the achievement of material goods and the spiritual development, to a certain extent, will allow to overcome the cultural gap between elites and common citizens, which is considered one of the main reasons for the failure of reforms in Russia. The study of transformation processes determined great interest in the social potential of the youth as a subject of social reproduction, and the civil culture is a key factor and element of modernization for it changes and activates value orientations of the younger generations and leads to the qualitative transformations of all spheres of society. The article is based on the empirical data of a number of sociological surveys conducted in 2016 in five cities of the south of the Tyumen Region. The empirical data prove that there is an obvious emerging shift from paternalistic expectations, passivity and low estimates of the future to the rationality, individualization and self-reliance. The authors emphasize the influence of mass media as one of the factors of the civil culture formation, which is evident in the impact of media on the moral and spiritual values of the younger generations.

Achebe’s defense of civilized Ibo culture via proverbial language in Things Fall Apart

This paper is an attempt to explore the proverbial language of Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart in support of the civilized Ibo culture. Chinua Achebe has put many proverbs in his mouth pieces. All the proverbs used in this novel belong to the Ibo culture. The proverbs used by Ibo people in the novel are worthy enough to claim that they have a strong heritage and history which is symbol of civilized culture. The language of the Ibo people when compared with whites, it becomes crystal clear that whatever they say is proved or followed by strong arguments of proverbs. Whites say things imperatively and lack strong arguments in their talks. The questioning of Ibo people during their discussions with whites is as rich as their day to day conversations. Language is one of the basic traits of a culture, the culture having language saturated with proverbs and rich vocabulary is considered to be civilized culture. Ibo language is rich in both these aspects therefore it is presented as a civilized and strong culture not mere the culture of barbarians as considered by the West. This is a text-oriented study which is focused on the language of Things Fall Apart in which proverbs are used in abundance and the purpose of this paper is to prove that Chinua Achebe wants to reveal the civilized side of Africans in general and Ibo people in particular.

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE IMPLICATIONS OF PHILATELY IN ECOLOGICAL EDUCATION

For more than 150 years postcards all over the world have three main roles: a value-added receipt for a postage payment in advance, a means of celebrating and promoting national heritage and a collection of pieces. But above all, the postage stamp is a true ambassador of human history, culture and civilization, because its form and function give it freedom of movement and the ability to transmit information all over the world. Through this paper, the authors want to open a series of presentations of what has given valuable, over time, the philately of civilization and human culture and which is reflected in philatelic collections. There are fractions of images - as far as a stamp can be - with people and places, with flowers and landscapes, animals and protected habitats, with what we want to remain alive in the memory of our descendants - as an essential component of environmental policy And sustainable development.

Designing and Implication of Pictograms in Universities of Tehran (IRAN)

Pictograms have many implications nowadays and are used for simple and fluent pictorial interpretations. These concepts are usually informative, conductive and warning. These kinds of icons are used in order to simplify the communication in an environment as are used in airports, terminals, railroad stations, parks, zoo, hospitals, drug stores and so on. To provide an efficient contrast, pictograms are often in black and white. Nowadays in different public places and landscape design pictograms are used for perfect communication. By the ways these icons are related to the civilization and tribal culture. Designing pictograms need a permanent search for better plan for better information transfer. In this project researcher designed and executed pictograms for better conduction in some selected Universities in Iran at 2015. The project was done for internal and external places of selected universities. Absence of informative and pictorial icons in universities environments causes wandering about for novices and they are not able to find different places like libraries, restaurant, and offices and so on. This study resulted in better communication in campus environments. Researcher hope pictograms will find their real and proper role in Iranian art area.

Faust Populär: zur Transformation ‘Klassischer’ Stoffe in der modernen Massen- und Populärkultur

Literary subjects often develop in long-term periods, transcending the established macroepochal boundaries of literary historiography. This article focusses on the transformations wrought by the rise of mass civilization and mass culture in the nineteenth century. The Faust subject shows that this process goes hand in hand with fundamental aesthetic and sociocultural changes. Faust — as well as other literary subjects — becomes an integral part of a totally new cultural system in which art and literature are primarily commercial products in a broadly differentiated market and media society.

The ecumenical dialogue: issues and answers by John Paul II

The article of Sergiy Prysukhin «The ecumenical dialogue: issues and answers by John Paul II (on the occasion of 15th anniversary of Pastoral Visit to the Ukraine, 2001)» is devoted to theology works of John Paul II in relation to the analysis of substantial characteristics of concept «ecumenical dialogue», role and value of ecumenical dialogue in overcoming of interdenominational conflicts, solidarity of Christian churches and transformation of ecumenical dialogue on the factor of advancement of religious culture of modern civilization.

Influence of the RN-BSN Student in Creating Healing Environments: Breaking the Cycle of Incivility

Much research has been conducted internationally on the prevalence of incivility in the academic and practice settings. The enduring patterns emerging from the research suggest that incivility is a repeating cycle. Very little dialogue—and no published research—explores <italic>how</italic> to break the cycle of incivility. Research on <italic>whether</italic> incivility exists, to what degree, and between whom is no longer warranted. Some say that a culture of civility is needed, when in reality it is a culture of <italic>caring</italic> focused on how to change the academic-practice environment that will break the cycle. The RN-BSN student may be the vital link to create healing environments in strengthening reciprocal relationships grounded in caring science and to break the cycle of incivility.

Transformaciones contemporáneas de la relación entre política, cultura y religión en Europa occidental. Un apunte para el caso español

Según Tilly dos leyes definen el proceso de transformación de las sociedades europeas occidentales desde la Paz de Westfalia hasta fi nales del siglo XX: la de la progresiva homogeneidad interna de cada una y la de la progresiva heterogeneidad entre todas ellas. La homogeneización cultural interna primero ocurre en relación a los grupos étnicos coexistentes dentro del territorio del Estado. La fase siguiente de homogeneización tendría lugar en relación con las poblaciones inmigradas tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial; proceso que siguió diversos modelos según los países, pero que la crisis de los años setenta, la del petróleo, mostró su general falta de éxito. Durante este último cuarto del siglo XX, estas sociedades se ven así atravesadas por dos lógicas globales, progresivas y contradictorias: la de homogeneización cultural a escala planetaria (ya no de cada sociedad) y la de re-creación cultural llevada a cabo por la población de origen inmigrante, que, responden al fracaso integrador con la búsqueda de fuentes de estima personal y social en su universo cultural-religioso. Este trabajo trata de poner en claro todos estos procesos desde las teorías de la diferenciación social y de la representación política. Esta última se hace necesaria porque los citados procesos ocurren en un momento en el que estas sociedades están atravesando por una crisis radical de la estructura de relación –de comunicación– entre la sociedad civil y la esfera política democrática. Se traza así un esbozo de las complejas relaciones entre sociedad civil, cultura, religión y política en estas sociedades europeas occidentales.

How Civilian Control May Breed the Use of Force

This article is about a puzzle: strong civilian control of the military may promote the use of force not lessen it. Existing theories about civil–military relations and militarism do not adequately resolve this puzzle because they neglect the link between civilian control and the legitimacy to use force. The argument here is that an increase in the civilian control of the military may promote the use of force by legitimizing it under specific cumulative conditions: the existence of a previous militaristic infrastructure in the civilian political culture, which is triggered by an external event, and is augmented by three mechanisms deriving from civilian control that increase the legitimacy of using force by reducing deliberative decision-making. These three mechanisms are: (1) the depoliticization of the military caused by reinforcing civilian control, so the professional opinion of the military reigns supreme; (2) the militarization by inflating threats and setting ambitious war goals to remove such threats, which balances out the aversion to sacrifice for war that civilian control produces; and (3) the transition produced by civilian control to a volunteer, technology-intensive, downsized military that reduces the stake of citizens in military policies. The plausibility of this argument is explored by reference to the cases of the United States, Israel, and Russia.

Kulturmanöver: Das k.u.k. Kriegspressequartier und die Mobilisierung von Wort und Bild ed. by Sema Colpan, Amália Kerekes, Siegfried Mattl, Magdolna Orosz, and Tatin Teller

Reviewed by: Kulturmanöver: Das k.u.k. Kriegspressequartier und die Mobilisierung von Wort und Bild ed. by Sema Colpan, Amália Kerekes, Siegfried Mattl, Magdolna Orosz, and Tatin Teller John E. Fahey Sema Colpan, Amália Kerekes, Siegfried Mattl, Magdolna Orosz, and Tatin Teller, eds., Kulturmanöver: Das k.u.k. Kriegspressequartier und die Mobilisierung von Wort und Bild. Budapester Studien zur Literaturwissenschaft 18. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2015. 374pp. One of the most fascinating aspects of war is how it allows military culture and events to suffuse through and dominate civilian culture and life. In Austria-Hungary during the First World War, one of the most important shapers of both military and civilian culture was the Kriegspressequartier (kpq). Started in July 1914 as a branch of the General Staff, the kpq had the responsibility to coordinate press and propaganda throughout the war. Colpan et al. in Kulturmanöver: Das k.u.k. Kriegspressequartier und die Mobilisierung von Wort und Bild show the wide variety of ways that the kpq affected soldiers and civilians. After a short overview of the kpq by Walter Reichel, Kulturmanöver dives into analysis of the written activities of the kpq. Most of the notable authors of Austria-Hungary spent time as war correspondents, propagandists, or supporters of the war through other literary means. Specific authors like Alice Schalek, Ferenc Molnár, Margit Vészi, and Felix Salten are discussed by Bernhard Bachinger, Boldizár Vörös, Katalin Teller, and Alfred Pfoser, respectively. There are also excellent overviews of Hungarian literary attitudes regarding Serbia and women’s writings about the war by Edit Király and Alexandra Millner. Larger-profile authors such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Karl [End Page 129] Kraus are not explicitly covered, as they have been well studied elsewhere, but Kraus in particular is a frequent foil for many of the kqp’s writers. More ephemeral but perhaps more influential on troops and audiences, theater was also controlled by the kpq. Kulturmanöver’s authors do an excellent job of showing the ties between theaters in the various parts of the empire and the front. For example, Eva Kirvanec shows the large number of plays and theater groups that traveled between Vienna and Budapest, helping to unify cultural expression within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Multiple chapters address theater on the front lines, looking at cultural transmission from the core to the frontier. Mirella Csiszár and Marianna Sipőcz go further and examine theaters in prisoner of war camps in Russia. Since around two million Habsburg soldiers ended up in pow camps, this is a huge potential area for study. Internment also proved to be a fruitful field for acting practice—many interwar stage actors got their start in pow camps. Audio-visual propaganda was also extremely important. Obviously, this includes patriotic paintings, wartime photography, and propaganda films. Siegfried Mattl’s chapter takes wartime propaganda in a new direction by looking at wartime clothing and style. The Vienna Werkstätte worked hard to create a distinctly Viennese fashion in contrast to Paris and the other fashion powerhouses. Joachim Schätz examines a fascinating subgenre of wartime propaganda films—factory films. He argues that the kpq produced documentaries showing how ammunition, weapons, and other war material was produced to inspire confidence that Austria-Hungary could compete in the newly industrialized battles of World War I. Though not directly a product of the kpq, memory and memorialization of the war was heavily influenced by wartime propaganda. Section five of Kulturmanöver addresses memory. Some of the chapters show direct connections to the kpq. For example, many of the photographs stored in archives discussed by Tamás Lénárt in were taken by kpq photographers. The control and use of archival photographs is an important aspect of archival politics. Likewise, Sabine Zelger discusses novels written by, or heavily influenced by, authors who had worked at the kpq. Finally, Attila Ferenczi analyzes war memorials in Budapest. Memorial slogans and tablets are invariably reflective of wartime propaganda, with terms like fatherland, sacrifice, and honor extremely common in both media. The kpq continued to influence Central Europe through these residual memorials, novels, and materials well...

Friendship, Trust, and Politics: Shifting Meanings of a Complex Relationship in Democracies

In modern society, friendship seems to be relegated to the private realm. When friendship enters the public space, it is usually associated with corruption. This is particularly the case when speaking about friends in politics, where friendship is part of informal politics which is focused on accessing or keeping political power. This relational aspect of political friendship must be distinguished from a more structural and institutional aspect of political friendship, which political philosophy presents in terms of civic friendship. This is the very meaning of the political, where a public space exists with the conditions that must be guaranteed for conflictual political communication or collective political action. In this sense, the idea and the theory of civic friendship points to the relational and organizational aspects of collective action, as well as to those shared norms that are expressed and negotiated in the public sphere. No serious sociological theory can ignore the fact that, nowadays, democracies in many regions of the world are put into question because it is no longer clear where the boundaries of trust, and therefore of citizenship are, or what holds people together, particularly in the context of globalization and immigration. In relation with the theories of trust, civic friendship is civil society, the civic and political culture about the practices and expectations in society about how to live, how to work together, how to communicate politically in order to influence politics, or how to change things. Finally, the political theory of friendship is also a warning against the abuse of power and the reintroduction of unity and enemies in a society based on the differences and multiplicity of perspectives.

Pengchun Chang’s Contributions to the Drafting of the UDHR

The Universal Declaration of human rights (UDHR) has turned out to be a truly remarkable instrument, serving as a landmark in the history of mankind. P.C. Chang, the chinese representative, participated in the leadership and the drafting work, and made an outstanding contribution in the drafting process: He defined the nature of the declaration accurately, successfully integrated confucianism into the declaration, solved many disputes relevant to human rights origins, made the declaration a rigorous structure, creatively broke the deadlocks and resolved conflicts, dominated the drafting process of the right to speak in the proposed mutual tolerance and harmonious social philosophy, and expounded china’s views on human rights to the world. These contributions were marked down in history, and his contributions were also the contributions of chinese civilization, national intelligence, and traditional culture.

“Mais vous savez, c'est un peu degoutant, ça”: Katherine Mansfield, Food, and the Indiscretions of the Great War

The short fiction of modernist author Katherine Mansfield, in particular her work written during World War I, provides a distinctive glimpse into the civilian culture of war. Mansfield uses food imagery in her writing to accentuate a shifting sensibility and profoundly emotional response to her own experience of the war. Embedded throughout her letters, notebooks, and short fiction written during and soon after the Great War, are references to food, especially to meat. Mansfield's food imagery and her artistic manipulation of the act of consuming food politicizes her work and compels a reconsideration of several pieces of short fiction which engage the event of war.

Perceptions of New Nurses Concerning Incivility in the Workplace

Although an atmosphere of civility in which nurses respect and value each other is crucial to health care, incivility continues to be widespread. New graduate nurses completed an online questionnaire in which they described incivility and discussed its impact on new nurses and patients. Findings were categorized according to the impact of incivility on new nurses and patients. Embedded in these categories are rich descriptions of incivility in health care. The participants witnessed uncivil interactions that negatively impacted them emotionally, professionally, and physically. They also discussed the harmful effects of incivility on patients, whose care may be impeded or their faith in caregivers eroded in hostile, uncivil care environments. Nurses in professional development play a crucial role in promoting a culture of civility through raising awareness, supporting nurses new to the profession, and helping health care workers to better cope with incivility.

Economic History in a Russian Mirror: The Gaidar Variations

La philosophie triomphe aisement des maux passes et des maux a venir. Mais les maux presents triomphent d'elle. --La Rochefoucauld History Matter, and How? A parlor game played by economic historians, in which economists occasionally participate, is the Does History Matter? game. Somewhat like charades, it consists of describing an event or process as a riddle to which the answer is a principle of economic analysis; when the event confirms the principle that explains it. An alternative form of the game poses a specific event--preferably random and intrinsically unimportant--and asks whether it changed the course of history by sending it down a path otherwise not traveled. History matters if that path is irreversible. (1) In contrast to the first game, which is analogous to testing theories by comparing simulated theoretical outcomes with actualized ones, many economists find it difficult to accept the idea that history in the second sense matters to the ultimate outcome, because if the anticipated benefit of returning to the fork in the path is large enough, someone will find a profitable way to do it; in that sense, if history matters enough, in the end it not matter at all. (2) With notable exceptions, neither game engages with what most historians take to historical explanation, which is showing how something happened in a particular way at a particular time and place as a consequence of a congeries of antecedent time- and place-specific events and conditions. Economics provides some of the machinery for such an account, but its level of abstraction is usually too high to satisfactory. (3) A more common response to the does history matter? question is that the historical record supplies an inventory of lessons that can inform about what has worked and what has failed; what kind of social values and institutions have favored economic growth and what kind have impeded it; which policies to avoid and which policies might promote economic and social progress. For more than a century and a half, these lessons have largely been drawn from the economic history of northwest Europe and the United States, on the plausible grounds that they were the first societies successfully to achieve modern economic growth. (4) Such lessons commonly assume the form of morality tales expounding the superiority of Western institutions in regard to economic performance. Perhaps the most celebrated example is Max Weber's claim that Protestantism was exceptionally, perhaps uniquely, favorable to capitalistic development. Weber's opinion that (from an economic perspective) Western bourgeois individualism was superior to the culture of other literate civilizations has been affirmed in different ways by David Landes, Deirdre McCloskey, Gregory Clark, and Douglass North. (5) In a similar vein, Joel Mokyr attributes the great economic divergence of the 18th and 19th centuries to the European Enlightenment, which he takes as a particular manifestation of a culture predisposed to scientific investigation and freedom of thought. (6) In one form or another, then, such accounts associate the spread of modern economic growth with diffusion of Western cultural norms, of which the alleged sanctity of contract is not least. The lesson is be like us or follow these precepts, and you will get rich. It is very much like the message of the self-help books that, together with religious tracts, have long been a mainstay of U.S. publishing. The difficulty with such morality tales is that they are too general to of much help in informing actual policy, since they generally amount to little more than injunctions to do good and avoid evil--sound advice, to sure, but difficult to make operational in practical contexts. (7) That security of property, reasonably free access to remunerative occupations and the ability to exit non-remunerative ones, rule of law administered by an independent judiciary limiting opportunistic predation by public and private agents, and social mores inhibiting such opportunism where the law cannot reach are undoubtedly good for economic growth, but it is hard to specify specific policies certain to produce them. …