About the Author

Patrick Heller is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

"This book is an engaging and insightful account of social development... I recommend The Labor of Development without reservation."-Adam Lee, Industrial and Labor Relations Review. October, 2000. "Patrick Heller offers an important and compelling account of how powerful social movements articulated to a democratic state can drive a mode of economic development that is certainly more equitable, and perhaps more effective, than the reigning neoliberal prescriptions... His book should be read by those interested in comparative political sociology, social movements, development, and political economy."-Archon Fung, Harvard University. Contemporary Sociology "This is the first and most up-to-date scholarly contribution towards understanding of the macro-economic parameters affecting socio-economic formations of Kerala. The book goes beyond economic history and examines contemporary development problems that affect conditions of the working class in India's most successful state in a human development index."-Vibhuti Patel, Pacific Affairs,Vol. 73, No. 4, Winter 2000 "This is a well-written book that will be of interest to South Asia specialists as well as students of development studies, economic sociology, political economy, industrial relations, and democratization."-Rudra Sil, University of Pennsylvania. American Journal of Sociology, July 2001, Vol. 107, No. 1 "Heller's work challenges both mainstream and some Marxist analyses of capitalist development... The Labor of Development should be required reading for all World Bank and International Monetary Fund apologists and mandarins who sing the praises of neoliberal structural adjustment and ignore the rich development potential of worker and peasant agitation within the capitalist world order."-John Willoughby, Review of Radical Politic Economics, Summer 2003 "Patrick Heller's carefully researched book, The Labor of Development, provides a compelling explanation for Kerala's relatively high levels of economic and social development within the Indian context. He attributes it to developed state capacities which are associated in turn with Kerala's highly mobilized working class. Heller overcomes the proverbial divide between enthusiasts of grass roots mobilization and of state sponsored reform by demonstrating the importance of mobilization to development. In doing so he makes a vital contribution to the study of social movements, state politics, and political economy in India."-Amrita Basu, Amherst College "The Labor of Development is a wonderful book, beautifully written and argued, that provokes a new set of debates about the relationship between social movements and development, and about the character of institutional frameworks for industrial relations in an era of globalization."-Gay Seidman, University of Wisconsin, Madison