Abstract: | As an example of the utily of cultural analysis for understanding politically relevant behavior in contemporary Ghana, the author turns his attention to a set of attitudes which have pervasive behavioral consequences - the so-called 'Big-Man Small-Boy Syndrome'. He describes this cultural syndrome, locates its origins, and analyzes its influence on contemporary political behaviour. The description of this syndrome, the discussion of its origins in indigenous and colonial polities, as well as the analysis of its consequences for bureaucratic behavior, political opposition, and public corruption, should be taken as speculative and suggestive. Notes, tables. |