ABSTRACT
An important factor affecting the rate of economic development in underdeveloped economies is the willingness with which people accept new ways of doing familiar tasks or undertake both new methods and new tasks. Economic development implies change, and a society receptive to change has a distinct advantage in this respect over one which resists it, other things being equal. Technical advisors have been conditioned to expect resistance rather than acceptance in primitive and peasant societies, and much attention has been devoted to this important point. However, the pendulum may have swung too far in this direction—at least, this appears to be the case in South Viet Nam.
