Pioneering anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner is renowned for her work on the Sherpas of Nepal. Now she turns her attention homeward to examine how social class is lived in the United States and, specifically, within her own peer group. In New Jersey Dreaming , Ortner returns to her Newark roots to present an in-depth look at Weequahic High School's Class of 1958, of which she was a member. She explores her classmates’ recollected experiences of the neighborhood and the high school, also written about in the novels of Philip Roth, Weequahic High School’s most famous alum. Ortner provides a chronicle of the journey of her classmates from the 1950s into the 1990s, following the movement of a striking number of them from modest working- and middle-class backgrounds into the wealthy upper-middle or professional/managerial class. Ortner tracked down nearly all 304 of her classmates. She interviewedabout 100 in person and spoke with most of the rest by phone, recording her classmates’ vivid memories of time, place, and identity. Ortner shows how social class affected people’s livesin many hidden and unexamined ways. She also demonstrates that the Class of ‘58’s extreme upward mobility must be understood in relation to the major identity movements of the twentieth century—the campaign against anti-Semitism, the Civil Rights movement, and feminism. A multisited study combining field research with an interdisciplinary analytical framework, New Jersey Dreaming is a masterly integration of developments at the vanguard of contemporary anthropology. Engaging excerpts from Ortner's field notes are interspersed throughout the book. Whether recording the difficulties and pleasures of studying one's own peer group, the cultures of driving in different parts of the country, or the contrasting experiences of appointment-making in Los Angeles and New York, they provide a rare glimpse into the actual doing of ethnographic research.

This reader is intended to fill the urgent need for up-to-date materials on the Gorbachev era and to provide scholars and students with source materials and interpretations not available in standard texts. In addition, the book will be regularly revised and updated to take account of rapidly changing events. Alexander Dallin and Gail Lapidus have brought together outstanding Western analyses, as well as Soviet documents and commentary, dealing with developments in the USSR's politics, economy, society, culture, and foreign policy since 1985. The collection covers the full spectrum of views--skeptical and enthusiastic, ideological and pragmatic--offered by journalists, politicians, observers, and participants. Introductory and concluding material by the editors provides the essential context to help students understand the myriad opinions put forth on the vast changes in the USSR and where its future may lie.

The twentieth century has brought considerable political, social, and economic change for South Africa. While many would choose to focus only on the issues of race, segregation, and apartheid, this book tries to capture another facet: its drive towards modernisation and industrialisation. While considering the achievements and failures of that drive, as well as how it related to ethnic and racial policy making, Bill Freund makes the economic data come alive by highlighting people and places. He proposes that South Africa in the twentieth century can actually be understood as a nascent developmental state, with economic development acting as a key motivating factor. As a unique history of South Africa in the twentieth century, this will appeal to anyone interested in a new interpretation of modern South African economic development or those in development studies searching for striking historical examples

The second volume includes three main essays. The first, titled "Immigration and the Foreign Born," was Kuznets' first work on immigration and discusses the impact of the general foreign born on the U.S. Kuznets and his co-author, Ernest Rubin, offer the essay as a quantitative antidote to the misinformation that led many Jews to support the restrictions ending Jewish migration in the 1920s. The second, "Israel's Economic Development," discusses the impact of mass immigration and other factors on Israeli productivity, providing in English for the first time one of the first detailed studies of the economic development of the state of Israel. The final essay, on "Immigration of Russian Jews to the United States," is the most famous of Kuznets' writings and provides a clear view, backed by a seminal paper that launched the contemporary social scientific study of Jewry. It discusses the details of the labor force, skills, and general structure of Eastern European Jewish immigrants to the U.S."--Provided by publisher.

The railways of Manchuria offer an intriguing vantage point for an international history of northeast Asia. Before the completion of the Trans-Siberian railway in 1916, the only rail route from the Imperial Russian capital of St. Petersburg to the Pacific port of Vladivostok transited Manchuria. A spur line from the Manchurian city of Harbin led south to ice-free Port Arthur. Control of these two rail lines gave Imperial Russia military, economic, and political advantages that excited rivalry on the part of Japan and unease on the part of weak and divided China. Meanwhile, the effort to defend and retain that strategic hold against rising Japanese power strained distant Moscow. Control of the Manchurian railways was contested in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5; Japan's 1931 invasion and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo; the second Sino-Japanese War and World War II in Asia; and, the Chinese civil war that culminated in the Communist victory over the Nationalists. Today, the railways are critical to plans for development of China's sparsely populated interior. This volume brings together an international group of scholars to explore this fascinating history.

A collection of papers assessing the economies of the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, prepared by a large number of government and private experts at the request of the Joint Economic Committee, US Congress. The volume is divided into six sections: the transition to market economies; integration into the world economy; key sectoral developments (energy/agriculture/environment/science/ transportation); defense and conversion; human resources affecting the economy; and political- economic profiles. Each section is introduced with an overview essay. Paper edition (unseen), $35. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The World Bank and the IMF dominate policy-making in Africa today. This book considers the consistency between their adjustment policies and long-run development needs, with an analysis of country experience. An alternative development strategy is proposed.

"For over 20 years, the developing world has been adjusting to the agendas of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In the 1990s, Structural Adjustment Programmes were repackaged and marketed as the coming of the golden age of globalisation, promising benefits to countries that adopt neo-liberal policies. Whether by convention or apparent absence of viable alternatives, Caribbean governments have been quick to implement policies of deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation. In this they have been supported by their intellectuals who have been equally quick in embracing globalisation and too ready to concede the end of national sovereignty. Kari Levitt argues that it is time to reclaim the right to development and the right of nations to engage in the international economy on their own terms. She advocates an international rule-based order which permits space for member countries to follow divergent paths to development according to their own philosophies, institutions, cultures and societal priorities. This book represents a historic sweep of Caribbean thought and personalities over the past 30 years drawn against the background of the changes in the international political economy. Whether in her collaboration with Lloyd Best on the Plantation Economy Model, her analyses of Debt and Adjustment, or her insistence on the right of sovereign nations to pursue their own development path, Kari Levitt remains consistent in her conviction that development, whether of individuals or nations, must be rooted in time and place and cannot be imposed by external prescription. "

"This book brings together a number of previously published articles by Stanley L. Engerman and Kenneth L. Sokoloff. Its essays deal with differences in the rates of economic growth in Latin American and mainland North America, specifically the United States and Canada. It demonstrates how relative differences in growth over time are related to differences in the institutions that developed in different economies. This variation is driven by differences in major institutions - suffrage, education, tax policy, land and immigration policy, and banking and financial organizations. These factors, in turn, are all related to differences in endowments, climate, and natural resources. Providing a comprehensive treatment of its topic, the essays have been revised to reflect new developments and research"--

A leading political and business thinker identifies the greatest threat to our economic future: the things we think we know--but don't. In the face of global competition and rapid technological change, our economy is facing its most severe test in nearly a century. Yet our leaders have failed to prepare us for what lies ahead because they are in the grip of a set of "dead ideas" about how a modern economy should work. These ways of thinking--dubious at best and often dead wrong--are on a collision course with irreversible economic developments. Here, Matt Miller offers a blend of business-world acumen and public-policy vision to lay bare how this conventional wisdom holds our country back, and he introduces us to a new way of thinking--what he calls "tomorrow's destined ideas"--that can reinvigorate our economy, our politics, and our day-to-day lives. --From publisher description.

Product Description The latest edition of this accessible economic history presents a comprehensive survey of Britain's economic history in the twentieth centry. Extended to provide an overview of the Thatcher years and an examination of the government's radical departures in economic policy during the years 1979-1990, the text has also been revised to incorporate the latest findings from a wide range of literature and comment. Review 'Pollard's book should continue to serve its audience well.' Business History; 'The extraordinary breadth of Professor Pollard's reading and research will make the book indispensable for those interested in the economic history of the period.' English Historical Review About the Author Sidney Pollard is at Bielefeld University.

Book by Pollard, Sidney

This collection of papers by some of the world's leading development economists is remarkable for its wide scope. It covers such varied topics as stagflation in the third world; the extension of free trade to include international investment; the early 1980s in Latin America; the economic growth of Africa and communal land tenure systems and their role in rural development. As well as representing important contributions in themselves, the papers acquire unity from a similarity in approach - always giving priority to reality if it comes into conflict with theoretical bias.

This book focuses on economic relationships within the eight counties in the Philadelphia Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area. Long-term economic developments, changes in socioeconomic profiles between 1960 and 1980, and patterns of employment are examined on a county by county. Special attention is given to the spread and growth of employment in high-technology industries, the interdependencies between jobs and residents in the city and suburbs, and the roles of federal and state aid to the region.

Ivan Berend uses a vast range of sources, as well as his own personal experience, to analyze the fortunes of the postwar socialist regimes in Eastern Europe. His comparative approach stretches beyond the confines of economic history to produce a work of political economy, encompassing the cultural and personal forces that have influenced the development of the "Eastern Bloc" countries over the past fifty years. The book is distinguished by its unique combination of time, region and topic, and is a major contribution to the economic history of the twentieth century.