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The Divide Between Developed And Developing Countries Essay

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The Divide between Developed and Developing Countries. Why are Some Nations Richer than Others: Culture? I have chosen the above topic as the passage of reading to share on, briefly my thoughts. Economic historian David S. Landes argued that culture played a key role in the development of any region. He believes that the tenets of that culture especially its religion will determine its progress toward development. He supported his claim, by referencing that the history in the development of Germany, Netherlands, Britain, and the United States, is due to the nature and tenets of their early religion [protestant Christianity] which advocated “literacy and time conservation”. Consequently, these societies became very productive, resulting in rapid development (Landes, n.d., quoted in “Globalization 101”, n.d., p. 4, para. 4). I completely concur with this argument; however, I do not hold that it is the only factor, but rather one such contributing element. To further elaborate the point, one need only to look at countries [such as some African and the Middle East territories] where culture has negatively impacted the development of such regions. For example, in most African cultures that are highly patriarchal, women are often considered inferior to men. Also, women and children are often forbidden to take advantages of educational opportunities, making the younger generation unequipped to meet the new global changes and challenges, and, further preventing those [the women]

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