Question 1
Modernization theory argue that development is a sequential process that highly associate with the metaphor of ‘development ladder’. The idea of development ladder is clearly illustrate in The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto that purposed by Walt Whitman Rostow in 1960. The stages of economic growth consist of five consecutive stages. Rostow also provides few assumptions to support his idea which are development conceives as a sequential and evolutionary process while the second is economics is spontaneously pass through every stages continuously. Unfortunately, these assumptions are very unconvincing and uncertainty. In addition, ‘development ladder’ idea is perceives as problematic due to two reasons. The first is the context of Rostow’s idea is not global as it only refers to the Western Model; second, it emphasizes more on human development while neglecting the ecological factors.
According to Rostow’s development theory, there are five stages of linear sequence that the society needs to pass though starting with Traditional society. Traditional society is a ‘natural’ state of underdevelopment. These societies have low level of productivity because limitations such as the inaccessible or unsystematic application of modern science and technology exist on each level of attainable output (Rostow 1961: 4). Due to this limitation, they have to allocate most of their resources to agriculture. Based on these criteria, Rostow has categorized the societies as non-productive. The next stage is the precondition to take-off where the societies at this stage begin to develop new production function in agriculture and industry sector (Rostow 1961: 6). Furthermore, Rostow also justifies that this stage em...
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...chieve sustainable development, both of the factors must be taking into account.
In conclusion, the two assumptions about ‘development ladder’ are unreliable. Rostow emphasize development as a sequential and evolutionary process. This is a false assumption as development is not a catching-up process and also create inequality. Besides, he assumes that economics pass through every stage naturally. Once again, this assumption is wrong as economics needs a catalyst to either shrink or growth and it will not remain constant due to existence of business cycle. In addition, the idea of development ladder is problematic as it is not global and oversight the ecological factors. Due to these unconvincing assumptions and highly problematic, the idea of ‘development ladder’ is viewed as not relevant to be applied in this century and should be revised in order to improve it.
Wendell Berry writes in his book, “What are people for?” a thesis that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture. He feels that technology is seen and used as the easy way to produce food faster and more efficiently. With this modern way of farming comes the idea that we need to work smarter not harder which is not always true. The goal is comfort and leisure and Berry feels that this is the reason for the down fall of the agricultural culture. He believes that hard work and pride in workmanship is more important than material goods and money. This was by no means a perfect society. The people had often been violent wand wasteful in the use of land of each other. Its present ills have already taken root in it. Even with these faults, this society appreciated the hard work of farming compared to the easy way of living today.
The rise of development theory has been an interesting phenomenon. In the latter half of the 20th century, many theorists have tried to explain the origins of "under-development." The debate over the idea of development has been intense, and has led to the emergence of two contending paradigms: Modernization theory and dependency theory. Upon close investigation, one realizes that both theories are problematic. This paper is based on readings of Escobar, Martinussen, Cruise O'Brien, and Pieterse. The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the origins and growth of development discourse, and to show how both paradigms share three flaws: an economist approach to social change, and an ethnocentric and teleological worldview of development, and the perceived universal application of the West's development experience throughout the developing world.
There are at least four different research perspectives about the relationship between development and economic growth. Firstly, economic growth is the basis for social development. Secondly, economic growth and social development are not necessarily linked. Thirdly, both economic growth and social development are not basic causes by each other, but they depend on interaction. Fourthly, social development is the prerequisite for economic growth (Mazumdar. 1...
Cipolla calls it the first great economic revolution (Cipolla 18). The development of agriculture leads to the development of communities, city-states, civilizations, and other settlements. The social structure that formed around agriculture brought about the possibility of specialization within a society, since not everyone had to hunt and gather all the time. Instead of living in an ecologically sustainable manner like the hunter/gatherers, people started living in an economic manner (Southwick 128). Specialization enabled the development of social institutions such as religion and government, and agriculture necessitated the development of irrigation.
Modernization is the term used for the transition from the traditional society of the past to modern society as it is found today in the West. Modernization or development theory presents the idea that by introducing modern methods in technology, agricultural production for trade, and industrialization dependent on a mobile labor force, the underdeveloped countries will experience a strengthening in their economies.
We cannot think that there would not become social outputs of economic development. Economic i...
Before the industrial revolution, villagers practiced communal farming, in which residents worked together to farm on a large lot of land. Part of the land was divided up into three different crop fields. One for wheat or rye, one for oats or beans, and one for fallow. The fourth section of land was left to give livestock a place to graze, plant wild plants, and store firewood for the winter. The Enclosure Movement helped propel the shift from agriculture to industry. With this movement, agriculture was used for commercial practices and not so much as a way to feed single families. Before the start the Enclosure Movement, villages practiced communal farming in which the land and what was grown and raised on it was shared between the residents. However, this way of farming changed as effects of the Enclosure Movement made their way into the villages. Communal farms were divided up into single-family farms, with each family receiving and equal share of land. The owners of the land were rich families. These owners lease the land to farmers. During the enclosure movement, the land owners wrote new leases to individual families. These leases usually lasted 19 years and every family that lived in the village had the right to get a lease. People who got very small farms could not survive on their own without the right to use the common land, of which there was little to no land because it had been divided up. Therefo...
In order for any country to survive in comparison to another developed country they must be able to grow and sustain a healthy and flourishing economy. This paper is designed to give a detailed insight of economic growth and the sectors that influence economic growth. Economic growth in a country is essential to the reduction of poverty, without such reduction; poverty would continue to increase therefore economic growth is inevitable. Through economic growth, it is also an aid in the reduction of the unemployment rate and it also helps to reduce the budget deficit of the government. Economic growth can also encourage better living standards for all it is citizens because with economic growth there are improvements in the public sectors, educational and healthcare facilities. Through economic growth social spending can also be increased without an increase of taxes.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines development as the act or process of growing or causing something to grow larger or more advanced. We live in a world that is continuously developing, in ways that we cannot even begin to try to describe. Nonetheless, The World Bank measures indicators of development. To do this, they look at three-hundred and thirty-one different indicators which cover a vast number of areas, including agriculture, aid effectiveness, climate change, economic policy, education, energy and mining, environment, the financial sector, poverty, science and technology, social development, and urban development. The World Bank’s World Development Indicators data is has been used for over fifty years as the standard by which development is measured. While this list may seem like a comprehensive, all-inclusive list, it does not consider the idea of sustainable development. While development for the sake of advancement may seem like a good option for an undeveloped country, it can be argued that development that is not sustainable is not development at all, but merely the illusion of one.
Different states go through different types of political and economical systems through a life time. In this case, most of the agricultural society was largely supported by the feudal system social hierarchy. Karl Marx defined feudalism as the power of the ruling class based on the control of “arable land”, this in turn affected class society based on the exploitation of the peasants who farm these lands (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). In the feudal system, most of the rights and privileges were given to the upper classes. In this hierarchical structure, the kings occupied the highest position, followed by barons, bishops, knights and peasants (History-world.org, 2014).Feudalism is considered to be the “medieval” form of government (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). Before capitalism came around as an economic model most states were a feudalistic country. These systems had an affect on society due to the fact it impacts citizens by “controlling” how they live and interact. The peasants were required to work for the nobles in return for land. This hierarchy was fuelled by the religious assumptions of the time that stated kings, dukes and other nobles served by the will of God over everyone else lower down the social order (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). As industrialism provided a much more technical understanding of the world, it challenged these religious assumptions for the social
...hat: poor countries are separated from the world economy. It ignores the possibility that one country's prosperity may mean another countries poverty. Further, modernization theory ignores the roles that powerful state governments play in helping with wealth-creation as they support, regulate, and direct economic growth.
Here in this paper we will try to explain and understand the relevance of the various underdevelopment theories and different attributes related to the terms of the Indian Context. Before proceeding directly to the underdevelopment theories, it would be important for us to discuss Karl Marx’s proposition.... ... middle of paper ... ...
...se of their society. Academia has provided a variety of theories in how complex societies came to be but agricultural surplus and its effect on craft specialisation still stands out as the most supported explanation.
Historical analysis plays a vital role in understanding development and social change. This argument has been substantiated with academic scholars and an example of historical analysis relating to modernization. As with all social theories, when considering modernization theory, it is vital to also incorporate comprehensive historical analysis to provide context and to rationalise discrepancies and anomalies. Alone, modernization theory is not enough to contextualise development and social change; however, when combined with historical analysis it can provide further depth and understanding into development and social change.
It is becoming a fashionable issue in the world of theoretical writings whenever we come across the two philosophical phenomena of “Governance and Development”. Governance is simply referring to the way societies are organized, govern, control and of course develop, it’s a personal overview of the numerous definitions. Development is seen as the overall goal for good governance, however, it implies change and it is in a sense used to describe the process of economic and social transformation (Thirwall: 1986). Governance historically was pioneered firstly by the United States of America and it developed modern principles of ‘good governance’ such as elected government, separate