Though many arguments for the role of cultural factors in development have been circular or ideological, development is necessarily a culturally determined process. It is an attempt to realize certain aspirations which, however universal, are still held in the context of other goals particular to national or religious traditions which the subjects of development wish to preserve. Cultures also provide particular institutional means (sex roles, forms of organization, etc.) of development. As a precipitate of history, culture also includes people's ideas about the conditions of development itself. If we are seriously to engage with the subjects of development, these above all cannot be ignored.