ABSTRACT
In this chapter; sociologist Alejandro Portes calls into question the value of the cultural explanations of development and underdevelopment that were the subject of Chapters 5 through 8. He begins by criticizing the proponents of this view for having misunderstood Max Weber’s explanation of the importance of the Protestant ethic for the rise of capitalism. Portes then enumerates three major flaws in the logic of the culturalists: (1) the failure to consider the importance of structural constraints on development; (2) the anti-developmental role that so-called modern values can have, and (3) the flaw of the “historical fiction” of development. Structural constraints will be elaborated on in greater detail in later chapters of this book dealing with dependency and the world system.
