The central question in this book is how the same cultural contents contributes to social development in one social-historical context, while inhibiting it in another. In the author’s opinion, social development is adequately explained neither by theories ascribing causal force exclusively to factors external to a given society nor by theories that ascribe development solely to endogenous factors. Criticizing one-sidedness of both “culturalist” and “economist” development paradigms, the author examines in which way different cultural practices can contribute to social development.