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SOCIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS 119

Asian countries values such as independence even if some countries such as China
and responsibility receive high social scores or Vietnam continue to resist this understand-
whereas in African countries values such as ing. After the crisis of the 1990s, the problem
obedience and religious beliefs are favoured. of social inequality has received growing
According to global players, competition for attention in several countries in order to
socio-cultural systems that permit the highest permit the creation of social conditions that
profits has become established. Societies that are more fair.
are capable of learning changes required by In China, several understandings of glob-
capitalist logic receive higher scores than alization exist (Keping, 2000): there are
societies that resist these changes. scholars who insist that the visible side of
This approach that intends to unite eco- globalization is represented by economic
nomic interests, cultural preferences and polit- integration and the invisible side by the inte-
ical institutions in one logical system permits gration of democratic and global values.
analysis of why some societies are more able Others consider globalization as the final
to confront world market conditions than form of capitalism in its current structure.
others. The notion of competition is not easy In general, Chinese political elites think that
to accept in societies that value traditions and opportunities for globalization have to be
mythical conceptions favouring, for example, combined with challenges to Chinese society
strong reciprocal exchanges based on kinship. that became obvious in the crises of the
1990s. Many intellectuals argue, however,
that globalization should be accepted in
The notion of competition in Asia without a westernization of society
(cf. Keping, 2000; Schubert, 2000; Lin, 2001).
southern countries
In Africa, the situation is quite different:
Globalization has been considered by influ- elites in most African societies have not
ential elites in Asia as merely an economic favoured economic competition (Damon and
endeavour that could be separated from its Igué, 2003). Africa is situated at the margin
parallel societal structures, such as democra- of economic globalization with few transna-
tization or Asian values, especially family tional enterprises in a limited number of oil-
values, respect of the ancestors and the com- producing countries, such as Nigeria, Gabon
munity, hard work and thrift (cf. Schubert, and Congo. Private capital flows are low
2000: 141). The integration of Asia into a except for South Africa. Most of the coun-
global economic world, with its required inter- tries are highly indebted and have low
national competition, is generally not chal- productivity rates. The level of human capital
lenged. The discussion focuses more on the is low so that an economic take-off is diffi-
right way to undertake this transformation cult to realize. Intellectual elites leave the
than on the target as such. Asian values have countries for Europe or North America.
been considered responsible for rapid eco- Economic elites place their savings in north-
nomic growth in the region. Western critics ern countries. Structural economic factors
emphasize that these values favour small can hardly be changed. Social and cultural
enterprises, but that they are not capable values, such as the value of the family or
of expanding their growth, because of the strategies of survival, traditional values, jeal-
centralized family organization. The need for ousy of another’s success, vertical networks
a cultural adaptation to the economic condi- of redistribution between elites and masses,
tions of globalization has been realized in hinder the advance of economic competition.
countries such as Singapore, Malaysia or All these elements contribute to a marginal-
South Korea. At the same time, the region is ization of Africa that can only be bypassed in
beginning to consider democracy as the nec- a few economic niches (cf. Aderinwale,
essary political regime for a market economy, 2000; Kappel, 2000).