G. Eric Hansen is Professor of International Political Economy in the School of Economics and Business Administration, St. Mary's College of California.

The Culture of Strangers explores the relationship between the development of commercial societies and cultural values. Using a phenomenological approach, G. Eric Hansen presents an evolutionary model of social development, which describes the ways in which economic relations and values interactively change as societies evolve in terms of such elements as demography and technology. Using the insights of the social sciences and history in particular, Hansen proposes that the development of commercial societies and market values relate to the parallel development of other key cultural values. He holds that only Western societies have fully developed these commercial values and attributes of personality and that the forces of globalization have advanced and advantaged these societies while disadvantaging others.

Chapter 1 Acknowledgments Chapter 2 Permissions Chapter 3 Introduction Chapter 4 The Primal World: Primal Immediacy Chapter 5 Goods as Souls Chapter 6 The Traditional World: Mediation in Hierarchy Chapter 7 Exchange as Ritual Chapter 8 The Civil World: The Exchange of Wills Chapter 9 Commerce and Boundaries Chapter 10 Homo Faber Chapter 11 The Individual World: The Inexchangeable Self Chapter 12 Work as Prayer Chapter 13 Worlds in Transition: The Case of Japan: Selfless Capitalism? Chapter 14 The Way of Wa Chapter 15 Worlds in Contention: The Culture War: The Primal Confronts the Civil Chapter 16 The Pseudoprimal and the Pseudotraditional Chapter 17 Inventing a Traditional America Chapter 18 Confronting the Naked Self Chapter 19 Conclusion Chapter 20 Bibliography Chapter 21 About the Author Chapter 22 Index