About the Book

Cultural Factors in Rural Development provides an insight into understanding the development perspective of the tribals and the images and experiences they have of the tribal development efforts of the government. In this background, cultural explanation of the tribal development is attempted. The book then analyzes the tribal belief structure relevant to development and change. An attempt is also made to measure cultural development as the rate of transition of the tribal belief structure from one based on traditional cultural belief to an emerging modern structure based on urban traditional beliefs. In the end, it is shown that a few cultural variables can explain a large portion of the variance in both economic and cultural development. The study is thus a modest but more systematic attempt to address the enduring question: “What difference do cultural factors make in shaping socio-economic development and adjusting to exchange induced by development?”

---

Contents

---

About the Author / Editor

Dilip Shah is Professor & Head, Department of Rural Studies, South Gujarat University, Surat. He is also Honorary Director of Gandhian Studies Centre sponsored by UGC at the same university. Author of a large number of research papers and articles appeared in professional journals and economic press media, Dr. Shah has participated in several national and international seminars. He has also visited USSR, USA, Japan and Thailand for academic pursuits. Syed Rahim has been the Senior Fellow at the Institute of Cultural Studies, East-West Centre, Hawaii (USA). He has obtained his Ph.D. from MIT, USA and also worked as Member, Planning Commission of Bangladesh. He has also published a plentiful of research papers in recognized journals.

---