Between Two Worlds - Society, Politics, and Business in the Philippines

This book considers the tensions and complementarities between two different attitudes towards social relationships - on the one hand, the attitude aspired to in the West, which emphasises individualism, institutional probity, and the rule of law, and which regards social relationships as ideals or absolutes; and, on the other hand, the attitude often found in Asia, where loyalties based on kinship, local networks, and places of origin are vitally important, and where social relationships, institutions and practices are often material for manipulation and the pursuit of ambition.

Rupert Hodder is a Lecturer in Geography at the University of Plymouth, England, and currently holds a Visiting Professorship in the Department of Sociology at the University of Shandong, China.