A panel on “Social change and economic development: Disparity of national situations under globalisation” has been co-organized by Prof. & Dr. Zhang Jijiao (Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) and Dr. Laurent Bazin [National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)，France] in Guangzhou, 24 Dec., 2006.

This is a panel during the International Symposium on “Cultural Diversity and the Present World”---- A Preparatory Conference for the 16th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (ICAES 2008) in China.

The participants in this panel were from 5 Countries and Regions: China, French, India, England and Hongkong.

Some of their papers in this panel are:

(1)Prof. Buddhadeb Chaudhuri (Calcutta University, India):

“Development, Environment and Indigenous People-Harmony or Conflict: A Cross Cultural Study”

(2)Dr. Laurent Bazin [National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)，France]:

“The progress of market economy: anthropological approach and case studies in different countries”

(3)Prof. Zhang Jijiao (Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

“Institutional Innovation and Its Impact on Rural Economic Development in Marketization ----A Case Study on a New Non-government Organization in China”

(4)Dr. Catherine Alexander（Goldsmiths, London University）:

“The returning past: repatriates and the wrong kind of Kazakh”

(5)Dr. Joseph Bosco (The Chinese University of Hong Kong):

“Informal Lotteries in China: The Occult Economy and Capitalist Culture”

(6)Dr. Paul Festa (The Chinese University of Hong Kong):

“History and Hope: The Politics of Lotteries in Postwar Taiwan”

During the last 20 years, some clear changes have occurred to the structure of the world economy: liberalizations, privatizations, implementation of market economy models are replacing the former development policies, while the fluidity of financial capital amplifies the concentration of wealth to an unknown level. A new ‘international division of labor’ has appeared, characterized by the deindustrialization of large parts of the world, and the industrialization of some other regions. The rapid alterations in the structure of the world economy has led to disparate national situations of expansion or decline: for instance, while most African countries are being progressively marginalized or confronted with internal conflicts, East Asia strengthens its position, the motor of which is currently China; at the same time, Western Europe or the USA continue to concentrate the major part of the exchanges but are confronted by an impoverishment of their lower social classes. Some societies across the world have seen very dramatic changes: the dismantlement of the USSR led to the brutal collapse of the economy, especially in the Central Asian and Caucasian new independent states. Since the late 1990s, this period has been marked by financial crises that have been as abrupt and severe as those in South-East Asia, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Argentina, etc.; On the other hand, however, some countries are successfully experimenting with rapid economic growth and development of trade and industry, the most impressive of such ‘miracles’ being China.

How do societies respond to these changes in their economic life? What changes does economic development or regression create in term of social relations? Many anthropologists carry out their fieldwork and analyses through the observation of the social changes that occur in these contexts of either rapid economic expansion or depression. But there is a need, not only to present single case studies but to try to confront and compare them, as they are contemporary and linked with the general context of globalization. The panel will be devoted to discussions, reflections and comparisons, drawing attention especially to the diversity of situations in different regions of the world.