Working Paper
The role played by culture in the shaping of an economic system is seen as part of three elements combination of forces alongside material and institutional logics, with all three elements in constant interaction.
The ideas of Weber are examined for the light they throw on the way culture influences the formation of social order and a proposal is made that two primary dimensions of order exist, governing vertical and horizontal relations. A third force, that of rationality, influences the way in which such order is used to deliver a society’s aims.
The challenges of societal transformation are considered, in the light of a momentum towards development. The workings of culture in this process are identified in three categories: rationality, identity, and authority. The first of these is seen as a variable with significant influence on the system of business which a society will adopt.
