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1Chapter 1: Historical Location of the Ideas: Progress, Growth, Evolution and Social Change
Unit 1
1 HISTORICAL LOCATION OF THE IDEAS:
PROGRESS, GROWTH, EVOLUTION AND
SOCIAL CHANGE
Unit Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Age of Enlightenment
1.2.1 Major Enlightenment Ideas
1.2.2 Impact of Enlightenment
1.3 The Concepts of Social Change, Evolution, Development and Progress
1.3.1 Social Evolution
1.3.2 Social Change and Progress
1.3.3 Concept of Development
1.3.4 The Intellectual Context of Development
1.4 Conclusion
1.5 Summary
1.6 Questions
1.7 References
1.0 Objectives
• To provide historical insights relating to the era of Enlightenment
• To examine the concepts of evolution, progress and development
1.1 Introduction
Development is a process that generates growth, progress, positive change or the
addition of physical, economic, environmental, social and demographic components. The objective of development is to enhance the level and quality of
life of the population, creating employment opportunities without compromising
on the quality of the environment. Development is not visible immediately or is
not necessarily useful, and includes various aspects of quality change and creation
of conditions for a continuation of that change. munotes.in

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1.2 The Age of Enlightenment
Enlightenment was a powerful philosophical, in tellectual and cultural movement
that dominated the world of Ideas in Europe from the mid -seventeenth century to
the late eighteenth century . Its central idea is that reason is the primary source of
authority and legitimacy. This movement advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of Church and State. The movement emphasizes on freedom from superstition and
religious dogmatism, and sc ientific inquiry and reductionism . It emphasized on
progres sive agenda included freedom of thought and the political rights of
citizens.
Enlightenment has had a long lasting impact on the contemporary world. The core
ideas ad vocated by modern democracies, including the civil society, human and
civil rights and separation of powers, are the product of the Enlightenment. The academic disciplines, including social sciences and humanities; based on empirical methods have their roots in the Age of Enlightenment. All these
developments went hand in hand with European exploration and colonization of
the Americas, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Some historians define the
Enlightenment as a starting point of European Moment in World history and the
long period of European domination over the rest of the world.
1.2.1 Major Enlightenment Ideas
In the mid -18th century, there was an explosion of philosophic and scientific
activity in Europe. These activities challenged the traditional doctrines and
dogmas prevalent at that time. The philosophic movement was led by Voltaire
and Jean -Jacques Rousseau, who argued for a society based upon reason rather
than faith and Catholic doctrine, for a new civil order based on natural law, and
for science based on experiments and observation. The political philosopher
Montesquieu introduced the idea of separation of powers in a government.
The Enlightenment thought followed two distinct trajectories. The radical enlightenment was inspired by the philosophy of Spinoza. This line of thought
advocated democracy, individual liberty, freedom of e xpression and eradication
of religious authority. The second line of thought was considered to be more
moderate, and was supported by Rene Descartes, John Locke, Christian Wolff,
Issac Newton and others. It aimed towards seeking accommodation between
reform and the traditional systems of power and faith.
Another discipline that played a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and
thought was Science. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers hailed from
background in sciences. They associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of religion and traditional authority in favour of the development of munotes.in

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3Chapter 1: Historical Location of the Ideas: Progress, Growth, Evolution and Social Change
free speech and thought. Broadly speaking, Enlightenment science greatly valued
empiricism and rational thought and was embedded with the Enlighten ment ideal
of advancement and progress.
The Enlightenment has been considered as the foundation of modern Western
political and intellectual culture. Political modernization in the West took the
shape of democratic values and institutions and the creation of modern, liberal
democracies. Likewise i n religion, Enlightenment -era commentary was a response to the preceding century of religious conflict in Europe. Enlightenment
thinkers sought to curtail the political power of organized religion and thereby
preve nt another age of intolerant religious war. In the meantime, the Industrial
Revolution had started in England in the 1760s with the technological inventions,
urbanization, and new forms of transportation and communication. At first these
advances were inde pendent of science, but at the end of the 19th century
engineering and agriculture learned to build their activities upon the Baconian
ideal of the ‘scientization’ of technology and applied science.
Check Your Progress
1. What do you mean by Enlightenment ?
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2. Briefly explain the impact of enlightenment on society.
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1.2.2 Impact of Enlightenment
The ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the Fren ch
Revolution, which began in 17 89 and emphasized the rights of common men as
opposed to the exclusive rights of the elites. Enlightenment writers challenged
long-held ideas about government and societ y. Their theories eventually inspired
the American and French revolutions and other revolutionary movements in the
1800s.
The Enlightenment was both a movement and a state of mind. The Enlightenment
era carved and strengthened the ideas about ‘social change’, ‘evolution’, ‘development’ and ‘progress’. Following section will dwell on each of these
concepts.
1.3 The Concepts of Social Change, Evolution, Development and
Progress
Within the scope of sociological theories, social change, social evolution, social
development and social progress have been often treated as synonyms. These may
be treated differently, but are logically connected terms . This section looks at
these terms in detail.
1.3.1 Social Evolution
Evolution, as understood in a bi ological sense, stands for a process in which
matter moves from a simple state to a complex one. However, such development
is always caused by innate qualities of such organism and not by any extraneous
factor.
The Origin of Species was a profound work pu t forth by Darwin which helped
crystallize ideas about the phenomenon of development in living organisms.
However, the concept of development was reflected in the writing of some
thinkers even before that. Herbert Spencer put forth the theory of organic analogy.
Hemaintains that social evolution is only a part of the general process of evolutionary development in all living matter in the world. Society evolves from
simple form into the complex form. Society fulfills the functions of integration
and differentiation in its various organisms. Consequently, different social systems emerge out of the same unit of society. Spencer delineates three stages in the evolution of society; namely: the preliminary stage is known as ‘integration’, the second stag e as ‘differentiation’
and the final stage is regarded as ‘determination’.
In the preliminary stages of societal development, the different units of society
have to be integrated and a ‘ system’ has to be established. For instance, the
institution of the fa mily is considered to be a basic social unit. Here the first stage munotes.in

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5Chapter 1: Historical Location of the Ideas: Progress, Growth, Evolution and Social Change
in social evolution would be the bringing together of families and their integration
into a larger social unit known as society. In the second stage of development, the
function of differen tiation was reflected through the societies and marked by the
emergence of different classes, castes and tribes. In the final stage, the different
segments of society came together and set up a new social structure based on
harmony. This stage of determina tion is characterized by social order through
which harmony and equilibrium could be achieved.
McIver and Page have stressed the importance of the process of differentiation in
matters of social evolution. According to them social evolution stands for an
internal change within the social system itself and as a result of such change,
functional differences can be brought about within the system. Primitive societies
existed on the basis of a simple solidarity and division of labour was very basic;
based on se x and age of individuals.
According to M cIver and Page, the salient features of modern complex societies
are in sharp contrast to the simple, institution -based primitive society.
Traditionally speaking, diffusion of the concepts from the beginnings of the
earliest civilizations in geographical region of Mesopotamia, Persia, India and
China may have cause the evolutionary development of human thoughts and,
therefore, of human society. Another sociologist, Ginsberg says that evolution is a process of change culminating in the production of something new but exhibiting an orderly continuity in transition. Ginsberg’s idea of evolution is that while the process of
transition introduces something new, the new idea is only a continuity of some
social element that is permanent. According to him, evolution means a change
that comes from within but, he also emphasizes that extraneous factors also
condition social evolution. Evolutionary changes in society are best understood
when the subjects of society, that is, members are taken into account.
1.3.2 Social Change and Progress
Social change in the broadest sense is any change in social relations. Viewed this
way, social chan ge is an ever -present phenomenon in any society. The universal
human potential for social change has a biological basis. It is rooted in the
flexibility and adaptability of the human species. The human constitution makes
possible changes that are not biolo gically (genetically) determined. Social change,
in other words, is possible only by virtue of biological characteristics of the
human species, but the nature of the actual changes cannot be reduced to these
species traits.
Several ideas of social change have been developed in various cultures and
historical periods. These are as follows: 1) the idea of decline or degeneration, munotes.in

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6THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
2)the idea of cyclic change, a pattern of subsequent and recurring phases of
growth and decline, and 3) the idea of continuous pro gress. These three ideas
were already prominent in Greek and Roman antiquity and have characterized
Western social thought since that time. The concept of progress, however, has
become the most influentia l idea, especially since the En lightenment movement
of the 17th and 18th centuries.
While a ny alteration in the structure and functioning of a social system is referred
to as social change. Not all social change can be regarded as progress, for
progress must mean the taking of a step forward. Within the realm of evolution,
we have the stages of integration and differentiation .In this context, progress
would stand for a development in a specific direction which is regarded as a step
forward according to the definite criteria of value -judgments.
The concept of social change is neutral, as it does not reflect the direction of
change, whether it is in the negative (regression) or positive (progression)
direction . While evolution has no definite direction other than the one which is
inherent and ir resistible in itself, progress must stand for a march in a forward
direction according to some accepted principle that is formulated by a particular
principle of judgment. Ginsberg puts forth his Idea of Progress, and states that progress ‘is a development or evolution in a direction which satisfies rational criteria in value’.
It is necessary to apply the test of ethical advancement made by society, if we
have to measure progress.
Writers such as Comte and Spencer have maintained that any evolutionary
deve lopment of society must necessarily mean that it has progress. Herbert
Spencer insists that the only meaning that social evolution can have is that of
progress. But these views are challenged by modern writers. McIver states in his
book, ‘Society’ that whi le ‘evolution’ is a scientific concept, ‘progress’ has an
ethical connotation.
Hobhouse also reiterates the same aspect relating to progress. He observes that
evolution of any form does not necessarily imply that it is changing into the better
form; and th erefore, we cannot conclude that evolution necessarily implies that
society is progressing. According to him, progress can be made only when the
individual in society strives for ethical advancement. Social progress, therefore, is
not a phenomenon marked b y spontaneity; rather, it is a product of conscious
effort made by members of a society.
The concept of progress visualizes an ideal society in which every individual will
have the opportunity of developing his innate qualities that all social relations wi ll
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7Chapter 1: Historical Location of the Ideas: Progress, Growth, Evolution and Social Change
work to achieve the collective good and welfare of its members. However, seen in
this sense, the concept of progress cannot be understood without applying the test
of val ues and is a matter of value judgments. Evolution, as a concept, does not
depend upon these values.
Scholars observe that the society in which scientific development is hindered will not progress, while the one which encourages such development will have chances of making progress. This observation about social progress can remain scientific in so far as it is based on social facts and not merely ethical considerations.
In recent times there is a recognition that advances in technical knowledge cannot
ensure social and moral progress. There is a fear that scientific knowledge may be
used for destructive purposes and may outpace and arrest the growth of its power
for good.
Social scientists do not agree with the idea of progress for several reasons. In the
first place, there is no universal agreement on the standards of value, as a result of
which it is difficult to state whether there is progress or not. Evolution or change
is an objective condition. Progress, on the other hand, implies a va lue judgment
because it necessarily means ‘change for the better’. Secondly, since there is
interdependence between all components of the society, change at any point is
likely to precipitate changes at other points. Some of these changes may be
undesirabl e. Therefore, social change can pose as a blessing or a boo , values
change over time. What is universally recognized as progressive at one period of
time may be considered as regressive, deviant, or undesirable at other period of
time.
Despite these drawbacks, the idea of progress has not lost its vigour. It is so
deeply rooted in the mode rn mind that its critics never reject it entirely. MacIver
observes that faith in progress cannot be eradicated as it is an integral part of
human life.We are entitled to deny the reality of progress, however, as human
beings we cannot stay away from the c oncept of progress.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain the Concept of Evolution.
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1.3.3 Concept of Development
‘Development’ became the buzz word across the world since the period following
the Second World War. Right from the inception, the processes of social and
economic development were considered to be integral to a society. However, the
emergence of the concept of development as it is currently used, dates back to the
early nineteen fifties. The post Second World War period witnessed the process
of decolonization and the simultaneous domination of the concept of
‘Development’ in academic literature. During this period, the proactive role of the
International Agencies in assisting the war affected nations to rebuild their
economies was clearly seen. The nation building process initiated by the newly
liberalized co untries gave a boost to the concept of development. At the same
time, 1960s was declared as the ‘Development Decade’ by the United Nations.
This led to publication of literature on the concept in which development was
referred to as ‘growth’. Progress, ‘in crease in per capita income’, etc. But soon it
was realized that the earlier definition of development was uni -dimensional
relating to economic implications only .It affected other dimensions of the
society, thus drawing sociological interest. Overall, development was understood
as a positive process, which was meant to benefit the society and contribute to the
improvement in quality of life and conditions of living.
The concept of ‘development’ in its earliest form referred to the opposite of
wrapping or bundling, thus unfolding or unrolling. In the 18th century it came to
be metaphorically associated with the sense of ‘developing the faculties of the
human mind ’. In common parlance, development describes a process through
which the potentialit ies of an object or organism are released, until it reaches its
natural, complete, full -fledged form. In this format, the concept of development
seems to an extension of the discipline of biology, in close relation to the ideas of
evolution. Through this metaphor it became possible to show the goal of development and much later its programme.
The last quar ter of the eighteenth century witnessed the transfer of the biological
metaphor to the social sphere. Further, the concept of development evolved from
a conce ption of Transformation that towards the ‘appropriate’ form of being, to a
conception of transformation that moves towards an ‘ever more perfect’ form. In
the mid -19th century the idea of a society passing through definite ‘evolutionary’
stags was bei ng expressed as ‘Development’ - which in turn was defined as, ‘later
manifestations being potentially present in the earliest elements’. Implicit in this
notion was the idea of ‘progress’. During this period, evolution and development
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9Chapter 1: Historical Location of the Ideas: Progress, Growth, Evolution and Social Change
Development can be defined as the process of economic and social transformation
that is based on complex cultural and environmental factors and their in teractions.
Prof. Yogendra Singh defines development as “a strategy of planned social
change which is considered desirable by the members of a society.”
Thomas (2000) explains the three connotations of the word ‘development’.
• Development as a vision : It is important to challenge the restricted view of
what development is. The vision of development should focus on the
description of how a desirable society should be.
• Development as a historical process : Social change that takes place over
long periods of ti me due to inevitable processes. In this scenario, development refers to the unavoidable results of progress like both capitalism and communism.
• Development as action: Deliberate efforts to change things for the better,
for eg: Providing food aid to allevi ate hunger, societal conditions and
improving quality of life etc.
1.3.4 The Intellectual Co ntext of Development
The founding fathers of sociology, in their own ways were concerned with the
concept of development. By the end of the 19th century, the word ‘development’
had accumulated a whole variety of meanings.
The concept of development though was not explicitly used, finds its essence in
August Comte’s ‘Law of Three Stages’. Comte’s theory of social statics and
social dynamics raised some questions in the broad area of development. Emile
Durkheim’s ideas on the progress of society were reflected through the notion s of
mechanical and organic solidarity. Herbert Spencer’s evolutionary theory and
Max Weber’s ideas on the growth of modern capitalism were associated with the
concept of development.
Karl Marx understands the ideas of progress of societies though different epochs.
Marx posed the problem in a more direct manner and has since been a perennial
influence on the growth and diversification of development theory. In fact,
‘Development’ became the central highlight of Marx’s works. Development was
understood as a historical process that unfolds with the same necessary character
of natural laws. Both the Hegelian concept of history and the Darwinist concept
of evolution were interwoven in ‘development’, and were supported by the
scientific aura of Marx.
In this context, it i s necessar y to understand the inseparable links that bind
‘development’ with the set of words with which it was shaped specifically : munotes.in

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growth, evolution maturation. Development has alway s implied a favourable
change, a step from the simple to complex, a move ment from the inferior to the
superior, from worse to better. The word indicates that advancement is necessary ,
an inevitable universal law and toward a des irable goal. The word proceeds to
have the same meaning given to it a century ago by the creator of ecology,
Haeckel. According to Haeckel, “ Development is, from this minute on, the magic
word with which we will solve all the mysteries that surround us or, at least, that
which is able to direct us toward their solution.’
In gradual course of time, ‘devel opment’ came to be seen as a fundamental and
unavoidable destiny of all human orders . The industrial mode of production,
which was no more than one, among many forms of social life, became the
definition of the terminal stage of a unilinear way of social evolution. Hence,
history was reformulated in Western terms. The metaphor of development g ave
global hegemony to a purely Western genealogy of history, robbing people of
different cultures of the opportunity to define the forms of their social life.
It is however instructive, at this point, to remind ourselves of the ‘Eurocentric’
nature of th e ‘development discourse’. Thus for two -thirds of the people on earth,
this positive meaning of the world ‘development’ – significantly established after
two centuries of its social construction – is a reminder of ‘what they are not’.
It is a reminder of a n undesirable, undignified condition. To escape from it they
need to be enslaved to other’s experiences and dreams.
The definition of ‘development’ and its associated terms have been always
controversial over time. As Thomas argues, development as a concept is ‘contested, complex and ambiguous’.T he Wolfgang Sachs edited ‘Development
Dictionary’ first published in 1992 characterized the last 40 years as the ‘age of
development’ while simultaneously asserting that “this epoch is coming to an end
and that the time has come to write its obituary”.
1.4 Conclusion
Development, progress and its allied terms are part of social processes which are
rooted in the Enlightenment era. These processes have not got uniform patterns
all over the globe as humanity is diversely located in terms of its economic, geographic, technological and political advancement. In this unit we have discussed the Enlightenment era and its influence on the i deas of development
and progress. We have also discussed each of the concepts of evolution, social
change, progress and development in detail. This unit has laid the foundation for a
broad analysis of sociology of development which would be followed in the
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11Chapter 1: Historical Location of the Ideas: Progress, Growth, Evolution and Social Change
1.5 Summary
Development is a process that generates growth, progress, positive change or the addition of physical, economic, environmental, social and demographic components.
The Enlightenment was both a movement and a st ate of mind. The Enlightenment era carved and strengthened the ideas about ‘social change’, ‘evolution’, ‘development’ and ‘progress’.
Evolution, as understood in a biological sense, stands for a process in which
matter moves from a simple state to a compl ex one.
Any alteration in the structure and functioning of a social system is referred to as
social change.
The Idea of Progress states that progress ‘is a development or evolution in a
direction which satisfies rational criteria in value’.
Development can be defined as the process of economic and social transformation
that is based on complex cultural and environmental factors and their interactions.
1.6 Questions
1. Examine the main ideas of the Enlightenment era.
2. Discuss how the concepts of progress and de velopment are related to the
Enlightenment period.
1.7 References:
Desai, A. R. (ed). Essays on Modernization of Underdeveloped Societies, 1971. Vol
1: Thacker and Co. Ltd., Number.

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Unit 2
2 MODERNISATION & DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Modernization
2.3 Approaches to Modernization
2.3.1 The Ideal Type Approach
2.3.2 The Diffusionist Approach
2.3.3 The Psychological Approach
2.3.4 The Historic al Approach of Radical Social Scientist
2.3.5 The Marxist Approach
2.4 The Strengths and Weaknesses of Modernization Theories
2.5 Summary
2.6 Questions
2.7 References
2.0 Objectives
x Understand the meaning of the term modernization
x To trace the origi ns of the modernization theory and to focus on the main
tenets of modernization theory.
x To critically evaluate the five major approaches of this theory
x To understand Daniel learners important work the passing of Tradition al
society (1958)
x To critically evaluate the strengths and weakness of the modernization
theories.
2.1 Introduction:
The term 'modernisation' became very popular in western social science in the
1960's. In the first development decade of the 1950s, development theory,
practice and policy was dominated by the modernization approach and this munotes.in

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13Chapter 2: Modernisation & Development
continued into the 1960s. The ideological framework proposed by the
modernization approach was essentially Western and pro -capitalist. It formed part
of the process of Westernization of developing count ries. Before moving further,
let us trace the beginnings of modernization theory. Conceptually, Modernization
Theory was predicated on two distinctive and yet interrelated disciplines:
A - The Classical Evolutionary Theory
B - Functionalist Theory
(A) The Cla ssical Evolutio nary Theory (Comte, Durkheim et.al assumed
the following:
1. Social change is unidirectional, from a primitive to an advanced state, thus
the fate of human evolution is predetermined.
2. The movement toward the final phase is good because it r epresents
progress, humanity, and civilization, the latter three concepts defined in
accordance with Western European cultural parameters.
3. It assumed that the rate of social change is slow and gradual. Most
importantly, social change, in accordance with Charles Darwin approach to
biological development, was evolutionary not revolutionary.
4. From above, the process (from primitive to complex modern societies) will
take centuries to complete.
(B) Functionalist Theory, as outlined by Talcott Parsons, 1951, had the
following tenets:
1. Human society is like a biological organism, with different parts
corresponding to the different institutions that makeup a society;
2. Each institution performs a specific function for the good of the whole, thus
there are four crucial functions that every institutions must perform to
maintain the social fabric:
(i) Adaptation to the environment - performed by the economy, but not
any economic system, only capitalism can adapt to the environment.
(ii) Goal attainment - performed by the government , pursuing liberal
alms as defined by English and French thinkers.
(iii) Integration - (linking the institutions together) - performed by the
legal institutions and religion. But not any religion. Branches of the
Judeo - Christian religions were the right ones.
(iv) Latency - the maintenance and transmission of values from generation
to generation -performed by the family as a historical basic human
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Functionalist theory stated that societies tend toward harmony, stability,
equilibrium and the status quo. Any behavior jeopardizing these conditions will
be considered anti-social and therefore punishable, etc.
Functionalism, or its ‘related theories of Structural Functionalism (Malinowski,
Talcott Parsons) and Systems Theory has been one of the m ost influential of all
social science theories, not only in political science and sociology, but also in
anthropology. Much of its origins depends on analogies with biological systems,
and in just the way that a biologist might study the role of some physi ological
aspect, some set of cells, in the maintenance of life, functionalists have tried to
understand what are the necessary "functions" that must be carried out in any
political system if it is to cope with its environment and achieve its goals, and to
locate the "structures" (political parties, socializing agencies like churches, family,
etc.) which facilitate the functioning.
The notion of Economic Development in the Less Developed Countries (often
regarded as synonymous with Industrialisation) is a post-World War
phenomenon. The strategy which advocated and promoted economic
development and modernization in the newly -emergent nation -states of the
Africa/Asia/Latin America (i.e. those within the Western sphere of influence) was
formalized in the body o Modernization Theory.
After the Second World War, the world was divided into three major groups:
(i) The socialist countries (those with planned economies) like the then
U.S. S. R., China, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and others.
(ii) The developed capital ist countries with market economies, like U. S. A.,
Canada, Western Europe, Japan, etc.
(iii) And finally, the underdeveloped countries (Third World) based on market
economy and comprising of Africa, Asia, South America, Latin America,
etc. (which were recently decolorizing themselves were in search of a new
development model).
These under developed societies, which constitute more than two thirds of
humanity, are characterized by certain features namely;
(i) Predominance of animal and human power over inanimate powe r-such as
steam, electricity or atomic energy as basis of production.
(ii) Low per capita income, dependency on the primary sector of the economy, use
of traditional technology and inadequate growth of infrastructural facilities
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15Chapter 2: Modernisation & Development
Large number of populatio n living in the rural areas and are still dependent on
agriculture. There is very low degree of urbanization.
Level of standard of living of the average individual is very low. There is deficiency in
the nutritional intake, b asic civic amenities are absent, individuals live in
unhygienic conditions and are susceptible to many diseases. Illiteracy is rampant and
there is high rate of mortality.
Individuals possess a traditional, primitive, irrational, complacent outlook
towards life. They are entrenched in superstitions, have low levels of work
discipline and no sense of achievement orientation.
Check Your Progress
1. Briefly explain Classical Sociological Theory ?
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2. Briefly explain functionalism.
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2.2 Modernization
According to scholars, the process of modernization sums up the chan ges that
combine to convert an agricultural or underdeveloped society with a weak state into
an industrialized society with a relatively efficient, active government. The
modernization process embraces changes that leads up to this industrialization and
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According to Wilbert Moore, 'moderni zation is a 'total' transformation of a
traditional or pre -modern society into the types of technology and associated
social organization that characterizes the "advanced", economically prosperous and
relativ ely stable nations of the Western World'.
Simila rly, Daniel Lerner defined modernization as "the process of social change in
which development is the economic component".
According to the view prevailing at the time, based on both economic and social
interpretations, the countries of the former colonial empires could be seen as
having a dual economy, comprising of two sectors, a modern sector which had
come into being as a result of colonialism, and a traditional sector which was still
based on the precolon ial past, This traditional sector was seen as an obstacle to
development and in order for the economy to grow and for development to take
place in the country, it had to be transformed and be modernized. For economic
change to take place it was believed th at there should first be social change. This
was because it was considered that the value systems of traditional or
underdeveloped societies, which emphasized collective ideals and action based on
kinship and community, hampered development and prevented the mobility
necessary for individual endeavour and achievement along capitalist lines.
Based on this line of thinking, the main tenets of Modernisation Theory are as
follows:
(i) It emphasizes a high degree of structural differentiation and specialization.
(ii) It is based on a mode of production that has come t o be known as the
capitalist mode of production. It is implied for this that social order is
constituted around two important classes - Capitalist, which owns the
means of production, and the Working Class, which sells its labour in this
process.
(iii) It is essentially a wage labour economy. It highlights the growth of a market
economy in which both buyers and sellers are seen as individuals capable of
engaging in a rational choice and operating within a framework of
voluntarism .
(iv) The theory basically highlights the growth of bureaucratic institutions which
themselves are constructed on principles of rationality and role
differentiation. It is these bureaucratic organizations that are seen as being the
foundations of this theory .
(V) The theory also emphasizes the growth of a political system based on the
principle' of right as crystallized within the notion of state and mediated
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(vi) The powers of the state are absolute and there is a democratic process based
on the principle of political representation and adult franchise.
(vii) This process of democratization of society has led to the existence of
various interest groups within the political process who represent various
competing ideolo gies that highlight the different ways in which the affairs of
the state are to be managed.
(viii) Modernisation theory also emphasizes the growth of individualism, where in
the individual and individual rights are seen as being at the center of all
social, econo mic and political development.
(ix) Finally, the mode rnization theories are also emphasizing the idea of social
progress and through the process of democratization it is possible for
societies to achieve higher levels of individual and social emancipation.
Chec k Your Progress
1. Explain what is Modernization ?
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
_________________________________________ ___________________ ___
2.3 Approaches to Modernization
From the sociologic al point of view, the process of modernization has yielded a vast
amount of writing. Modernization theory is not a unified approach therefore, we will
broadly analyse five major approaches which are dominant today.
(i) The Ideal -Typical Approach.
(ii) The Diffusion ist Approach.
(iii) The Psychological Approach.
(iv) The Historical Approach of Radical Social Scientists.
(v) The Marxist Approach
The first three approaches have dominated American thought and r eceived
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There is a lot of literature available on these approaches.
The fourth approach has emerged as a challenge to the other three approaches and
offers a critique of their main tenets.
Similarly, the Marxist approach is also opposed to the other four approaches. The
Ideal Typical Approach:
This approach has manifested itself in two major variants, namely;
(i) The Pattern Variable Approach.
(ii) Historical Stage Approach.
2.3.1 The Pattern Variable Approach
This approach is derived from Max Weber's concept o f Ideal Type which was
later systemized by Talcott Parson's. According to This approach, characteristics of
development and underdevelopment must be located and then programmes and
schemes of development be made whereby, underdeveloped countries discard the
pattern variables of underdevelopment and adopt those of development.
The sociological model developed by Neil Semelser in 1959 was inspired by the
work of Talcott Parsons, whose structural -functionalist approach to social action
combining Durkheimian an d Weberian views had been very influential in the
post-war period to about the 1960s (the pattern variables of Parsons underlie
Semelser's differentiation model.
According to Semels er, the modernization process was seen as being made up of
four sub-process es:
(a) The modernization of technology, leading to a change from simple
traditionalized techniques to the application of scientific knowledge;
(b) The commercialization of agriculture, whi ch is characterized by the move
from subsistence to commercial farming, lea ding to a specialization in cash -
crop production and the development of wage -labour;
(c) Industrialization, which depicts the transition from the use of human and
animal power to machi ne power;
(d) Urbanization, which brings about the movement from farm and villa ge to
the large urban centers.
These processes sometimes occur simultaneously and sometimes at different rates.
E. g. in many colonial situations, agriculture becomes commercialized without
industrialization. Nevertheless, these four processes affect socia l structure of
traditional society in similar ways.
Firstly, as a result of these changes taking place simultaneously or at ' different
rates, traditional societies became more structurally differentiated. For Semelser a munotes.in

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developed economy and society is ch aracterized by a highly differentiated
structure, whilst an underdeveloped one is relatively lacking in differentiation. By
'differentiation' Semelser meant the process by which mor e specialized and more
autonomous social units were established. He saw thi s as occurring in several
different spheres of traditional society, in the economy, the family, political system
and religious institutions. For example, as cash cropping is introdu ced, it leads to
the separation of consumption and production activities of the household; wage
labour undermines the family production system, which is no longer the basic unit
of production. Thus the nature and functions of the family change. Apprentices hip
within the family declines, pressures develop against the recruitment of labour
along kinship lines, the pattern of authority is transformed as elders lose the control
they exercised and the nuclear family becomes differentiated from the extended
famil y. Marriage norms may also changes as more emphasis is given to personal
choice in the selection of mates and as women become more independent
economically, politically and socially. Individual mobility increases as people are
recruited to various occupati onal, political and religious positions based on achievement rather than as cription. Multifunctional religious and political roles
are replaced by more specialized structures.
So structural differentiation is the process whereby one social role or
organiza tion... differentiates into two or more roles or organizations which
functi on more effectively in the new historical circumstances. The new social
units are structurally distinct from each other, but taken together are functionally
equivalent to the origin al unit.
Secondly, as these differentiated units merge into larger units of the modern type
new relationships, which are not based on kinship, develop. This Smelser calls the
process of integration. For example, the move from a pre -modern political
structu re, where political integration is closely bound up with kinship status, tr ibal
membership and control of basic economic resources often with mystical
sanctions being attached, to a modem type characterized by the existence of
specialized political parties , pressures groups and state bureaucracy formed in
which people from differ ent ethnic groups in the country are represented.
Thirdly, S emelser shows that through such differentiation, social disturbances,
such as mass hysteria, outbursts of violence, religious and political movements may
occur, which reflect uneven processes of change. This can lead to conflict between
the old and new orders of society. In other worlds, it produces what Durkheim
called 'anomie' or normlessness, a state of conflicting norms in society and a culture
of discontent, where people are unable to realize their aspirations and may turn to
violence, crime and other anti-social behaviour or to self destructive acts such as
suicide. As Weber also showed, at the religious level, the process of secularization causes disenchantment, fragmentation between competing or munotes.in

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partial worldviews, social and private worlds become meaningless and there is a
sense of despair and hopelessness. One of the reactions to modernization has been
the emergence of fundamentalist movements that reject modern values and
preach a return to traditional ones.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain any 2 approaches of Modernization.
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________ ________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
2.3.2 Historical Stage Approach:
In this approach apart from identification of gap between characteristics of
development a nd underdevelopment, it also specifies the intermediate stages and
their characteristics. This approach is mainly associated with Rostow and his
economic model developed in 1960.
Walt Rostow was an economic historian who served as an adviser to the
America n government. His book entitled The Stages of Economic Growth: A
Non-Communist Manifesto, which was published in 1960 clearly reflected the
pro-capitalist ideological orientation of the modernization approach. His model
was neo-evolutionary in nature and derived from the idea in earlier evolutionary
theory that change and development take place according to a set of ordered
sequences. Rostow's model was based on the British Industrial Revolution.
According to Rostow, the processes of change were simpler and self-sustaining
economic growth could be achieved by following a five stage mode of growth. He
suggested that 'A ll societies can be placed in one of five categories, or stages of
economic growth".
Stage 1: the traditional society
Stage 2: the precondition s for take -off
Stage 3: take-off
Stage 4: drive to maturity
Stage 5: high consumption
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The first stage: The Traditional Society:
The essential feature of this society is that output is limited because of the
inaccessibility of science and technology. Values are generally "fatalistic", and
political power is noncentralized. Large number of people are employed in
agriculture, which has very low productivity because of the factors mentioned
above. In such a society, family and clan groupings are emphasized i n the social
organization.
The second stage: The Preconditions for take-Off:
This second stage of growth is one o f transition. A traditional society does not
move directly into the process of industrialization, first certain preliminaries need
to take place.
There are clusters of new ideas favouring economic progress arising, and
therefore new levels of education, en trepreneurship, and institutions capable of
mobilizing capital like bank, etc. investment increases, especially in transport,
communications and raw materials, with a general direction toward commercial
expansion. But, in accordance with Rostow, traditiona l social structures and
production techniques remain. There is the presence of a "dual society".
The third stage: The Take -Off:
In this stage f inally the old, traditional order and resistances are overcome. New
forces, which mobilize economic growth, expan d and dominate the society.
Agriculture is commercialized, there is a growth in productivity, because that is
necessary if the demand emanating from expanding urban centers is to be met.
New political groups representing new economic groups push the indust rial
economy to new heights. In Britain, Canada and the United States, the proximate
stimulus for take -off was mainly, though not entirely, tec hnological. The take - off
period began in Britain after 1783, in France and the United States around 1840, in
Russia in about 1890 and -in countries like India and China around 1950.
The fourth stage: The Drive to Maturity:
In this stage, the growing econom y drives to extend modern technology in all its
economic activities, Between 10 and 20 per cent of gross domestic product is
invested and the economy takes its place in the international order. Technology
becomes more complex, refined and there is a move away from heavy industry. Now
production is not the outcome of social necessity but of the need of maximizing
profits to survive in a competitive capitalist market.
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The fifth stage: Mass Consumption:
In this final stage, the leading economic sectors specia lize in durable consumer
goods and services. All this stage, economic growth makes sure that basic needs
are sati sfied and more resources are allocated for social welfare and social
security. The emergence of the welfare state is an example. Durable consum er
goods and services are diffused on a mass basis.
Rostow thought of his theory as a dynamic one Le..."that deal s not only with
economic factors but also with social decisions and policies of governments".
The assumptions underpinning Rostow's schema may be summarized as follows:
_ Modernization is characterized by "phases", and the stages in this process are
commo n to all societies thus, this assumption put the theory outside historical
development.
_ Modernization is a homogenizing process. As such, so cieties tend toward
convergence: which can justifies cultural imperialism by the central
powers.
- Modernization re plicates European/North American values/Wodd -view, the
nations of Western Europe and the United States are the models that late
comes would like to emulate.
- Modernization is characterized by "phases", and the stages in this process are
common to all societ ies thus, this assumption put the theory outside
historical development.
- Modernization is a homogenizing process. As such, societies tend towar d
convergence: which can justify cultural imperialism by the central powers.
- Modernization replicates European/No rth American values/world -view. The
nations of Western Europe and the United States are the models that
latecomers would like to emulate.
- Moder nization is an irreversible process. In other worlds, once the
underdeveloped societies come into contact with th e Western European and
North American societies, they will not able to resist the "impetus toward
modernization". Towards adopting capitalist relations of production, that is.
- Modernization is a progressive process. Modernization creates agonies and
suffer ing for many, but that is "the right price" to pay.
- Modernization is a lengthy process. It is an evolutionary change, not a
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- Modernization is a transformative process, societies must abandon
traditional ways of thinking, traditional ways of human relations. In a word,
societies must drop traditional structures, cultures and values, and adopt
those of Western Europe and North American societies today.
Critical Examination of Rostow's Theory:
(i) Rostow has been criticized by many on the bas is of the teleological
approach. Teleological Approach is one where the purpose, which is not
explicitly intended by any -one, is fulfilled, whil e the process of fulfillment is
presented as an inevitable sequence of events. In Rostow's model, policies
are the result of development and not vise versa, and this is unacceptable to
many, as policies of a state should be chosen and not just merely adopt ed.
(ii) Also one cannot assume that every country will have a similar past and
future. So generalizations of any sort are not possible,
(iii) It is felt by many scholars that characteristics of stages might overlap or
spill into the other stages, For example, the pr e-conditions stage things may
continue in the take-off stage and could also get carried further beyond this
stage also.
(iv) Critics feel that Rostow plays down all the obstacles and never discusses
them. Therefore, it is felt by many that his approach is conce ptually vague and
empirically superficial. In the take - off stage, it is felt that merely a shift
from agricult ure to other sectors is not enough. For example, while
Denmark, Canada and France attained this shift, in other countries like
Russia, Sweden, Germany, etc it did not take place to the extent conceived by
Rostow.
v) Similarly, it has also been pointed out by extents that Rostow failed to take
into consideration other aspects, like the 'bumps, crash landings and nose
dive crashes' in his take-off stage. He has failed to discuss:
* The hauled take-off (in which progress is limited)
* The assisted take-off (in which the economy can be catapulted by
somet hing else)
* The self -propelled take off (which as the name suggests, is a very
powerful take-off like a rocket).
(vi) Rostow also failed to consider that an economy -could reach the fifth stage
without going through all the s tages or a particular stage. For instance, it has
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of mass consumptio n even before reaching the stage of maturity. This was
happening, in recent times, with the oil rich countries also.
(vii) Following the same argument, it has also been argued that the last stage of
mass consumption may not be reached at all. This could be due to the fact
that inflation can reduce the levels of consumption in a society.
(viii) There are limits to a particular country's growth, As there might be instances
when a particular country should be regarded as 'fully developed" even
though it might not I have reached the standards of the Western countries like
the U. S. A, etc. because it have exhausted all its natural re sources,
manpower and capital, which set the limit of growth.
ix) Finally, with respect to the less developed countries, it is felt that Rostow
did not take into account crucial factors like unemployment, under -
employment, poverty, lack of infrastructure , nature of the government,
etc.
2.3.2 The Diffusionist Approach:
This approach view s development as a process in which there is a diffusion of
cultural elements from the developed to the under developed countries. The
underlying assumption is that the under developed countries cannot overcome their
backwardness without assistance from the developed countries. There is diffusion
of capital, techno logy, Knowledge, skills, institutions including values and so on.
These scholars perceive this aid as a sacrific e on part of the developed
countries for the benefit of the backward and suffering underdeveloped
countries. If still a society does not reach the level of modernity and development as
projected by them, then it is blamed on the inherent weaknesses present in the
under developed -backward societies, like demographic factors, presence of traditional institutions, beliefs, values, etc. (See character istics of under
developed societies presented earlier).
2.3.3 The Psychological Approach:
This approach is mainl y associated with McClelland, Kunkel, Hagen and others.
According to McCLelland, a society with a high level of achievement will produce
energet ic entrepreneurs who, in turn, will produce a more rapid economic
development. This is because a high level of achievement among people makes them
behave in ways which help them fulfill their entrepreneurial roles successfully.
Therefore, the crucial facto r for economic and cultural development,
according to this approach, is the presence of achievement motivation among
members. This leads to a planned and concentrated growth and development.
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2.3.4 The Historical Approach of Radical Social Scientist
This approa ch focuses on concrete historical studies of both developed and under
developed societies and recognizes the fact that conflicts and tensions of various
kinds are present in both, the developed and the under developed societies. This
approach has many stra nds and the main postulates of this approach are
sometimes characterized as "new sociology", "radical sociology", "conflict
sociology", etc. this approach is especially associated with C. Wright Mills. (His
Work Sociological Imagination is considered very important).
The main features of this approach can be summarized as follows,
* It emphasizes a historical study of both developed and under developed
societies,
* It evolves policies of development on the basis of its concrete findings, and
The creative role o f conflicts is highlighted. Though this is different from the
approach because here though the role of conflict is recognized, class conflic, As
considered to be central. Further, the capitalist class is not considered TO be the
ruling class in either the developed or the underdeveloped societies.
This approach is severely critical of the first three approaches. The following
criticisms have been levied by this approach:
(i) According to this approach, the other three approaches are based on
principles which tend to be abstract and formal.
(ii) Secondly, these theories perceive change not as it happens actually in
history but as transformation of one equilibrium of ideal type to another
equilibrium of ideal type. They tend to force reality into abstract ideal -
typica l social systems rather than concretely evolving social structures.
(iii) Therefore, as a result, it is felt that the c ritical spirit disappears in these
approaches.
(iv) Finally, it is argued that these approaches have committed the fallacy of
trying to derive parti culars of human behaviour in any specified given
society on the basis of certain formulas and models that they have evolved.
2.3.5 The Marxist Approach,
This approach accepts the fundamentals of the Marxist philosophical and
sociological postulates. According to this approach, the underdevelopment of
some countries and the development of others, is linked to the emergence of the
modern capitalist system on a global scale. So the causes of under development and
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According to this theory, the relationship between the developed capitalist
countries and the underdeveloped counties is not one of harmony and co-
operation; instead there is a subtle and indirect subjugation of the latter under the
guise of "aid". It is argued that the developed world is transforming the
underdeveloped societies into their neo -colonial dependencies and the entire
image of "aid", "assistance", and Support” and diffusion of skills, techniques,
capital and modernized insti tutions and values is false and deceptive. The aid itself
is seen as the basic obstacle to overcoming backwardnes s.
Followers of this approach, further state that the policies and schemes for
development pursued by the ruling class of the advanced capitali st countries are
based on a theory of development which relies on strengthening and furthering
the interests of the propertied class and the rich.
Therefore it is postulated that, a policy of development will only be successful if it
is based on achieving the reliance of the working class.
The Marxist Approach also presents a critique of the other three approaches
which are;
* the other approaches failed to explain the true character of under
development and its causes,
* they did not consider the real alternat ive on the path for development,
which is, Socialism.
Daniel Lerner and his important work The Passing of Traditi onal Society (1958)
One of the most famous of early modernization studies was carried on by Daniel
Lerner. In his major work The Passing of Traditional Society (1958), he examined the
process of modernization in several Middle East countries, carried o ut a sample
survey in other under developed societies and supplemented all this with his
observations of village society.
Lerner's premise is that modernization is a global process occurring in a similar
manner the world over, and the role of indices of development like mass media,
urbanization, increase in literacy, etc. are responsible for the emergence of a new
economic order. According to Ler ner, modernity is result of not merely
institutional changes in society but also due to changes in the personalit y of
people. He had illustrated this with his account of the grocer and the chief in the
village of Balgat situated in Turkey.
For Lerner one o f the crucial aspects of modernization is the development of a
'mobile personality' which is characterized by rationality and empathy. Empathy is
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to operate efficiently in a changing world. Modernization, then, is characterized
by a high degree of literacy, urbanism, media participat ion and empathy.
As mentioned above, Lerner had carried out questionnaires, and on the basis of the
responses he had classified the respondents into traditional, transitional or modern.
He found that compared to the 'traditional' individuals, the 'moderns ' were happier,
better informed and relatively young, and the people placed in the 'transitional'
category were inclined to be discontented and liable to extremism, especially is
their progress was blocked by a lack of suitable political institutions.
Bur Lerner was aware of the fact that although the people placed in the 'modern'
category seemed happier, there were difficulties in development, for example,
strains may be put on the government, there are problems of social control, etc.
similarly, there ar e personal problems at an individual level, for example,
individuals placed in the 'transitional' category may have to adjust traditional
Arab and Muslim beliefs to a 'modern' setting. (His study was conducted in the
Middle East).
Lerner's basic premises can be briefly summarized as follows;
* There is a classification of society into traditional, modern (like the other
approaches), plus an interme diate category.
* Focus on indices of modernity like urbanization, literacy, mass media, etc.
* Importance is given to specific personality types in the process of
modernization.
2.4 The Strengths and Weaknesses of Modernization Theories:
In analyzing the ass ets of modernization theory, it should be understood that this
school of thought emerged in the early years of th e 1950s, and began to disappear
in the 1970s when belief in it started to wane. In light of this, it could be
presupposed that the weaknesses o utnumber the strengths; otherwise the theories
would still be relevant today.
The strengths are:
The main qualit y of modernization theory is that of its simplicity - the objective is
already visible in the image of the West, and the path to follow is lai d out by the
history of Western evolution. All that remains is for the traditional society to
recognize what is needed, from examination of other 'take-off s' to modernity, for
their own culture to evolve. Having already achieved their goal, the modern
societies can assist in the evolution of the traditional society (although in reality this
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modernization becomes a form of mimicking - a case of 'what works for them -
would work for us.' The same concept was already covered in the term
'Westernisation' referring to the mimicking of the West), but the word
'modernisation has far less -geocentric connotations, and as a result gains much more
affection from developing societies are kee n to retain some sense of their own
history.
However, the strengths of modernization theory also lead to its weak nesses. A few
of are presented below:
(i) The straight forward approach of advancing a society by way of itself evolving
internally is, though easy to grasp and as such has strong exterior appeal, is
far too basic to incorporate into the world system we see to day. The very
fact that there are modernized societies to 'look up' too entails that a
communication and possible co -operation between North an d South already
exists, and that there are therefore links and ties already in place - not
necessarily to the extent that dependency theorists would go, arguing that the
South cannot grow without the severing of the North's stranglehold, but
nonetheless si gnificant ties in the organization of society - which mean that
the target society cannot be solely regarded as an internal entity; there is little
hope of avoiding international factors in today's global village. To resolve
this, some thinkers have develo ped the theory of diffusionism (covered
earlier), which bears many of the same characteristics of modernization, but
accepts the diffusion of ideas, product, and workforce between both modernized and traditional societies. A culture can be changed sub -
consciously and indeed overnight, in ways that may not be intended or in a
accordance with the planned evolution. Mod ernization may be revolutionary,
in that it replaces the traditional with the modern, but it must also be
considered that revolutions can take some time - they are not an
instantaneous event.
(ii) Another criticism put forth is that while the developing country struggles to
Update its social, political, and economic structures to that of the developed
country, it is extremely likely that the modernize d country will continue to
grow at the same, or possibly faster, rate that the developing country is, and
will find difficult to catch up. Though global evolutionary equality is not a
particular goal of modernization theory, it is surely one of the aims of
development as a whole, and something that is worth pursuing. If this
'closing of the gap' cannot be easily achieved by the performance of an
established theory, such as seems to be the case with modernization, then it is
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(iii) It is also argued that since modernization theory is typically a Western
phenomen on, its roots obviously must lie around capitalist society -the
developing world is to be a mirror image of the civilized, which generally
embra ces capitalism. For example, it is automatically assumed by thinkers
like Rostow that this is the correct way for all, underdeveloped society to
develop, without considering the implications or alternatives. (See critique
of Rostow)
The most well known reaction to theories of modernization is that of its
antithesis, the Theory of Dependency. Dependency theory takes a far more
global viewpoint postulates that the difficulties in development are not due
solely to the internal working of the country or region in question, but are
more to do with the global imposed by the developed onto the less developed. This is best i llustrated Gunder Frank's conceptualization of
international relations as a chain of satellite' relationships. Frank (of the
socialist traditio n) suggests that there unseen hierarchical structure to world
relations: t he chain begins with the first metr opolis (usually attributed to the
USA) that has no satellites - i.e. that has no strong dependencies on any
other region - and continues downwards; the next layer are still strong
metropolises, but still require the USA or other well -developed Western
societie s in some way-, until much further down we reach the ultimate
satellite, which is dependent on everything above it for existence. Frank
argues that these dependence links are both the key and the problem when an
inability to develop arises. The sanctions imposed, often consciously, by the
metropolises to which the satellite is dependent, strip the freedom of the
satellite society to evolve and gr ow, because all of their output is effectively
consumed by the upper society.
This theory is actually visible in reality, with the situation revolving around
aid to the Third World, where the interest rates and terms are so harshly
imposed that the recipi ent country will always be at the mercy of the donor.
Frank feels that it is tile dismantling of these dependency relations that is the
solution to the problem of development: notably, though, this is a very
socialist perspective, since the release of such restrictions allows for much freer
and potentially diverse global system, one which does not fit well with
tradi tional capitalist characteristics.
The connect this has with modernization theory is simple: both have equal
merits, even though they are comp letely opposed in attributes, but the
question of which is most suitable is dependent on the belief to the observ er-
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the benefits of capitalism, may be more likely to prefer moderniz ation
theory. On the other hand, a neo -Marxist will almost certainly stick with
theories of dependency. Clearly it is only the completely impartial spectator
that can truly judge the pros and cons of both, concepts.
(iv) Finally, it has been pointed out that mo dernization theory itself has
produced nothing truly visible yet. This is not because there has been no
developme nt in the past 50 years, there has been evolution related to both
fields of thought -but rather because the theories themselves are so indistinc t
and vague: modernization theory does not Paint a very precise picture of
what should be happening, and more particularly, how it should be occurring. As a motivational aid, this theory is an excellent boost to the,
drive of a developing society, but it is not the solution. What is, remains to
be seen.
2.5 Summary
The concept of modernization emerged after the Secon d World War, instigated
primarily by the global dismantling of European empires, and was widely viewed as
the most valuable development theory for around 15 years. It is concerned with
the development gap between the developed and under developed countries , and
how best to lessen this gap so that the Third World can develop quicker and more
effectively.
Modernization is a conceptual framework tha t articulated a common set of
assumptions about the nature of developed societies and their ability to transform
a world perceived as both materially and culturally deficient. Specifically,
modernization theorists posited a sharp distinction between tradit ional (read poor)
and modern (read Western) societies. They took for granted that economic
development, from trad itional to mod ern, proc eeded along a single straight,
unambiguous line. Modernization advocates expected that contact with vital
modern societi es would accelerate progress in stagnant traditional societies.
Put simply, modernization theory is the fundament al proposition that people in
traditional societies should adopt the characteristics of modern societies in order
to modernize their social, po litical and economic institutions. It should also be
noted that theories of this nature typically come from Weste rn thinkers, not the
societies in question themselves, and so we should also assume that the under
developed societies have an aspiration to de velop into a modern society. Whether
this is an entirely compelling assumption is doubtful.
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31Chapter 2: Modernisation & Development
Naturally, there are many variants of modernization theory, but the most
commonly held stems from Wait Whitman Rostow's views, popularized in the
1960s volume, The Stages of Economic Growth: a non -communist manifesto.
Rostow outlines five main stages of sociological growth, in an effort to define
firstly where the constituents parts of the world stand in this scheme, and then how
best for the under developed countrie s to climb the ladder of development.
The first of these stages is the traditional society, which can be said to encompass
all societies prior to the 17th century, which possess little of the structural
characteristics that can be seen today. Technological constraints limit production in
this stage.
As these constraints are removed through education and changes in the value
system at the second stage, rational scientific ideas, infrastructure and an
orientation to business assume greater importance. These c hanges do not
endogenously as was the case in Western Europe, but from external intrusion,
which forces the traditional society into changing. The next stage Rostow terms the
preconditions for take -off, which is best illustrated with respect to the third stage,
the take-off itself. The take-off is the period whereby a society begins to grow at a
steady rate, both in quantity and quality. Essentially, the political, social, and
manufacturing sectors are reformed to allow growth within all aspects of the coun try,
and the society can be said to be emerging as a modern, typically capitalist,
civilization. The precondition s for this are various, but can be categorized as a
general change in direction through all walks of society, toward the transition from a
traditional to modern society. The final two stages are natural extensions from the
take-off: the drive to maturity i s the expansion of the newly developed ideas and
technology into other divisions of society, investment increases to 10-20% and
modern technolo gy is diffused throughout the economy, and the age of high mass
consumption, the final stage whereby the progress made previously has been fully
filtered throughout the economy and culture, and is essentially the state of a
country whereby little or no growth is longer necessary to maintain itself.
As a theoretical model, Rostow's perspective on modernization is useful in that it is,
whether purposefully or not, very indiscriminate and simplistic: it requires little
remoulding to adapt from one culture to the other, because there is no real
substance to modify. The basis of the theory is that the ultimate goal alrea dy
exists and can be examined readily, and that this is what the developing country
should strive for. Rostow makes no attempt to isolate indiv idual cases and
discover different ways to adapt the theory to them, because this is not the
purpose of the study - his theory, if not others, supplies the structure and ground
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32THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Smelser was concerned with the effects of economic development (for Smelser,
economic development had the restricted meaning of economic growth) on social
structures. Smelser distinguished four processes:
1) there was a move from simple to complex technology
2) there was a change from subsistence farming to cash crops
3) there was a move from animal and human power to machine power
4) there was a move from rural settlements to urban settlements.
For Smelser these processes would not occur simultaneously, and, more,
importantly, changes would differ from one societ y to another. He added that
there was a variety of pre -modern starting points and the impetus to change would
also vary, being crucially affected by tradition, thus leading to different paths
towards modernization. National differences are also important, even in the most
advanced stages of modernization, and wars and natural disasters, can crucially
affect the patte rn of development.
The other theories of modernization are the Diffusionsit Approach, in which
development is seen as the diffusion of cultural elements from the developed to
the under developed world. The Psychological Approach - associated with
McClellan d and others, where importance is placed on the individuals personality
trait of achievement motivation which accelerates economic growth in a country.
The other two approaches, the Historical Approach and The Marxist Approach
emerged as a critique of the other three approaches. According to them, the earlier
three approaches are empirically invalid when observed in the context of reality,
theore tically inadequate and policy wise ineffective in pursuing the proclaimed
intentions of promoting modernization and development of underdeveloped
countries.
Then came the ideological, political, and economic earthquake of the 1960s and
culture was conceptu ally pushed aside as the social sciences came to be strongly
influenced it not dominated by Structuralism, Instit utionalism, Marxism and
Dependency Theory. "Modernisation" theory was not only criticized, it was
ultimately pronounced dead. The postwar versi on of modernization theory had
seriously neglected external factors, such as colonialism and imperialism, as well
as the newer forms of economic and political domination. The emerging neo-
Marxist and world -systems theorists emphasized the extent to which r ich countries
exploited poor countries, locking them into positions of powerlessness and structural
dependence. "Culture" was replaced with the specificity of class, race and gender in
the developmental process, all of which are still prominent in the social sciences
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33Chapter 2: Modernisation & Development
Critics alerted people to the fact that their prevailing belief that indus trialization
frees them from much of the drudgery found in non -industrial societies was
largely a myth. This provided a yet another antidote to the modernization school's
implicit assumptions of Western technical and moral superiority.
2.6 Questions:
(1) What is Modernisation Theory? Discuss its main tenets?
(2) Discuss the Modernisation Theory of Daniel Lerner.
(3) Broadly analyse the five major approaches of the Modernisation Theory.
(4) Discuss in detail with criticisms the Ideal Typical Index Approach.
(5) Present a critical analysis of Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth'.
(6) Discuss the Modernisation Theory of Semelser.
(7) What according to you are the major shortcom ings of the Modernization
Theories?
2.7 References:
Desai, A. R. (ed). Essays on Modernization of Underdeveloped Societies, 1971. Vol
1: Thacker and Co. Ltd., Number.
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34THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Unit 3
3A HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
Unit Structure :
3A.0 Objectives
3A.1 Introduction
3A.2 The Concept
3A.3 Principles of HDI
3A.4 Major Components of HDI
3A.4.1 Sustainability
3A.4.2 Productivity
3A.4.3 Empowerment
3A.5 Reasons for low HDI
3A.6 Conclusion
3A.7 Questions
3A.8 References
3A.0 Objectives
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Ɣ7RGHYHORSDQXQGHUVWDQGLQJDERXWWKHLQGLFDWRUVRI+',
Ɣ7RDQDO\VH the situations which result in Low HDI
Ɣ7RVXJJHVWPHDVXUHVWRLPSURYHWKH+',UDQNLQJRIDQDWLRQ
3A.1Introduction
For any country to develop, it is important to develop its Human resource. If
human resources remain backward, or are not protected, the country cannot reach
its expected level of development. So, the concern for development economics in
recent years has shifted from economic growth to human development. The main
reason for this shift in focus is the growing recognition that Education & literacy,
health, physical environment, equality of opportunities to all people irrespective
of their background etc, may be just as important as income. munotes.in

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35Chapter 3A: Human Development Index
3A.2 The Concept
In search for a Comprehensive measure that could capture the various dimensions of human development led to the definition &formulation of Human Development Index (HDI) by the United Nations , Development Programme (UNDP) in its Human Development Report published in 1990.
The Human Development Index is a statist ical tool used to measure a country's
overall achievement in its social & economic dimensions, which are based on :
1. A long and healthy life, which is measured by life expectancy
2. Access to education, measured by expected years of schooling
3. Standard of living measured by Gross National Income Per capita
Pakistani economist, Mahbub ul Haq created HDI in 1990 which was further used
to measure the country's development by UNDP.
Calculation of the Index combines four major indicators: Life expect ancy for
health, expected years of schooling, average years of schooling for education &
Gross National Income per capita for standard of living.
Every year UNDP ranks countries based on the HDI release their annual report.
HDI is one of the best tools to keep a track of the level of development of a
country, as it combines all four major social & economic indicators that are
responsible for economic development. These indicators have a stronger appeal &
draw public attention more powerfully than a long lis t of indicators.
HDI does not replace GNP but adds considerably to an understanding of the real
position of the society in many respects. In addition to income, the HDI also
measures Education & Health which makes it multidimensional. It focuses the
attent ion of the policy makers on the ultimate objective of development & not just
the means. Improving health care, along with proper education facilities raises the
standard of living of the people.
Any upward movement in HDI can be regarded as improvement.
Whereas high income for some can cause relative deprivation for others, this is
not true for human development.
3A.3 Principles Of HDI
According to the UNDP report, India ranked at the 129th position in December
2019. The principles that have guided the search for HDI are as follows: munotes.in

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36THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
1. Measuring the basic concept of Human development, thus enlarging
people’s choice which covers the desire to live long, acquire knowledge and
get employed, breathe in clean air, to be free and live in a community. The
basic idea was to measure other dimensions besides measuring only income
in a methodologically sound manner.
2. In order to maintain the simplicity of the index, it was decided to limit the
number of variables involved.
3. To construct a c omposite index rather than constructing a plethora of
indexes. The maximum and minimum values for each variable was reduced
to a scale between 0 & 1 providing equal weightage on a simple premise
that all choices are important.
4. HDI should cover both, so cial as well as economic dimensions because
economic growth increases the resources and social progress creates a
conducive environment for the same.
Check Your Progress
1. What is HDI?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
____________ _________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. Mention at least 2 principles of HDI.
_____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________ ____________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________ ________
3A.4 Major Components Of HDI
Along with the main indicators which include the life expectancy, Access to
education and standard of living, following are the major components of HDI :
3A.4.1 Sustainability
An essential component of human development index, Sustainability refers to the
next generations right to enjoy the same wellbeing that we enjoy. As emphasized munotes.in

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37Chapter 3A: Human Development Index
by Mahbub ul Haq, the sustainability of human opportunities must be at the
centre of our concerns which requires sustaining all forms of capital - physical,
financial, human and environmental. Sustainability in short, refers to sharing
opportunities between the present and future generations.
According to Haq, sustainability does not mean sustaining present levels of
human deprivati on, poverty, etc. If the poverty and deprivation prevails , efforts
should be made to change the same. What is to be sustained is opportunities and
not human deprivation. The disparities in lifestyles should be recognized and
efforts should be taken to reduce the same. In short, sustainability means using
resources economically and rationally so that all its benefits can be enjoyed by
future generations.
3A.4.2 Productivity
Productivity is another important component which requires investments in people and an enabling macro - economic environment for them to achieve their
maximum potential. Many recent models of development are based primarily on
human capital. However, as pointed out by Haq, this approach treats people only
as means of development .
Therefore it is better to treat productivity only as one part of the human
development paradigm.
3A.4.3 Empowerment
Human Development Paradigm supports full empowerment of the people. lt
means people are in a position to exercise choices of their own free-will. It
implies a political democracy in which people can influence decisions about their
lives. lt means decentralization of power so that real governance is brought to the
doorstep of every citizen. It means all members of Civil society participate in
decision making process. The empowerment of people requires action on various
fronts. Requires investment in the education & health of the people so that they
can take advantage of market opportunities. It requires ensuring an enabling
envir onment that gives everyone access to credit & productive assets. It requires
empowering all the three genders, so that they can compete on an equal footing.
3A.5 Reasons for Low HDI
India has had a low level of HDI due to a number of reasons which range from
the presence of the caste system to the increasing financial gap between the rich
and the poor. A majority of the population lives in slums whereas some live in
high rise towers. Similarly, at one end we see the rise of private hospitals which munotes.in

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38THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
are available for the upper classes, at the other end, there are people who cannot
afford to step in such hospitals and are deprived of the basic health care facilities.
Considering the above dimensions, let us discuss how certain factors in each
dimension are responsible for low human development index.
3A.5.1 Health
Less number of doctors in India is a major problem. Other major problems
include poor sanitation, poor facilities to the majority of people living in slums,
lack of toilets in rural areas, lac k of safe drinking water, increase in diseases such
as dengue, malaria, pneumonia, etc. The food eating habits of the people,
increasing rate of obesity also has contributed to poor health of the citizens.
Moreover, people also neglect the importance of he alth and healthcare. Also, the
government also does not allocate much resources to health care. Policies are
made but not implemented. A boost is given to the private hospitals, which serve
the higher classes, depriving the lower classes.
3A.5.2 Education
Education plays a major role in developing the human resource. Today we see a
number of private schools, international schools in India but have we ever thought
about the reducing number of government schools and also the non -existence of
educati onal facilities or lack of proper infrastructure to build a school in rural
areas?. It is important to note that India has empowered girl child education but
still, the majority of children are deprived of the basic education facilities. India
needs to spe nd on education to improve levels of literacy, increase the enrollment
of teachers, providing free and compulsory education to the mass, boosting
distance education services, improving online education systems, etc.
3.5.3 Standard of living
India displays a sharp contrast in the standard of living of the people. On one end
we see towers, on the other end there are people living in slum areas where they
lack basic sanitation facilities. The products are available but the citizens are
unable to purch ase the same. Many people continue to face terrible situations due
to poverty, unemployment and an unhealthy environment.
There are a number of reasons why India ranks lower at the HDI scale. Measures
should be taken continuously in order to provide a heal thy environment and by
raising the educational levels as well as the standard of living of the people.

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39Chapter 3A: Human Development Index
Check Your Progress
1. What are the major components of HDI?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
____________ _________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. Can you think of the challenges faced by India which result in low HDI?
_____________________________________________________________
_______ ______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
___________________ __________________________________________
3. What steps can be undertaken to improve the HDI of a nation?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_________________________ ____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3A.6 Conclusion
To conclude one can say that in order to analyse the development of a nation, not
only economic dimension is important but other social factors like health, education, gender sensitisation, gender equality, environmental balance also play
a vital role. It is important to sustain the opportunities that are available and not
the deprivations and the negative aspects. Every country should make an effort to
improve the opportunities and productivity of the nation, An empowered human
resource, with a higher stan dard of living, improves the human development
index of a particular nation.
3A.7 Summary
Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical tool used to measure a country’s
overall achievement considering social and economic dimensions. It does not give munotes.in

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40THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
sole importance to economic dimension but it serves to present a view about the
development of a particular country by including health, education, standard of
living and ranking them accordingly. It considers social and economic dimensions
to measure their development. The sustainability, productivity and empowerment
constitute the major components of the HDI. Sustainability refers to the ability to
sustain the positive aspects and not the negative ones of poverty and deprivation.
Productivity refers to the inc reasing investments where as empowerment means
empowering the citizens by decentralizing power and considering their decisions
in policy making. The reasons why HDI remains low in India include the hold of
the caste system, the gap between the rich and the poor, lack of proper healthcare
and educational facilities that leads to lower standard of living. Measures should
be taken to overcome these challenges in order to boost the development of our
country.
3A.8 Questions
1. Explain Human Development Inde x. What are the indicators of HDI
2. Explain the Human Development Index and elaborate on its principles.
3. Briefly explain the indicators of development.
4. What is HDI? Elaborate on its principles and its major components
5. What is HDI? Explain the reasons for low HDI.
6. What is HDI? Mention the reasons for low HDI ranking and suggest
measures that can be undertaken to improve the same.
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41Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
Unit 3
3B ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure :
3B.0 Objectives
3B.1 Introduction
3B.2 The Indian Scenario
3B.3 Capitalism: The Cause of Ecological Crisis
3B.4 The Indian Environmental Movements
3B.6 Our Natural Heritage Under Threat 3B.7 What Can We Do?
3B.7 Questions
3B.8 Reference s
3B.0 Objectives
• To get a better understanding of the relationship between environment and
development and the impact of such a relationship.
• Focus on the fact that environment and development are not isolated. They are part of a comprehensive system of local, regional, national and international interdependencies of political and economic power structure.
• To Understand the interrelationship between development and Environment
• To bec ome aware and hopefully more responsible and educated citizens of
the world.
3B.1 Introduction
Historically, the term environment is the new linguistic buzz word and refers to
different sectors of social reality. We speak of social, personal, cultural,
economic, political and, of course, biological and physical environments .
Environment , to a certain extent, has replaced the terms nature, society and
community. Ecology has replaced ideology -so it seems.
As a political concept, environment is closely linked to the concept of
development. Economic growth and technological progress of all kinds are basic
approaches of industrialized societies. It is assumed that the development of a
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42THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
economic growth and the improvement of existing, and the invention of new,
technologies to rationalize production processes and services. Research and
development are key economic sectors of industrialized societies. The production
of knowledge and skills to develop, implement and control technologies lies at the
heart of these societies. While traditional societies are based on agriculture, post -
traditional societies (Giddens 1991) are based on technology and on those
traditional societies which provide them with resources of food, raw materials and
in expensive labor.
Development refers to two different processes which happen simultaneously: the
improvement of socio -economic living conditions in industrialized countries and
the political, economic, technologies and military control development in
traditional societies, The development of industrialized countries is based on
lower levels of development in other parts of the world. According to clas sic
economics, development has always been linked to economic growth, and subsequently it has been linked to competition rather than to cooperation. Firstly, mainstream economic has produced flawed theories of economic development for the Third World.
Secondly, these flawed theories imported from the West have lacked fit, resulting
in stored and biased Third World development.
Thirdly, Western theorist s have stubbornly ignored the basic flaws in their
theories, hiding these behind idealized constructions of perfect competition or
rational (i.e. Western) behaviour .
Overall, mainstream economists have failed to realized that under development
may be causa lly linked to:
i) monopoly profits, externalities, transaction costs and other 'market failures',
and above linked to:
ii) hidden subjective values embedded in these theories themselves.
• This condition has become even more important now that environmental
degradation o industrialized countries due to pollution, over -population and
excessive use of natural resources, has brought forward the notion of environmental protection.
• In the 1960s a nd 1970s, environment protection referred to the physical and
biological conditions of industrialized countries. The environment of post -
traditional societies and national states was threatened and action had to be
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43Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
Environmental policies had to be implemented because war to gain new
territories of better environmental qualities was impossible. The cold War era
helped stabilize the global political order as far as post -traditional societies are
conce rned and forced those societies to implement environmental policies in
their respective territories,
• Since the Cold War, the situation has changed dramatically. The export of
environ. mental hazardous production lines, the export of toxic waste, and the
expansion of the capitalist economy throughout the world has opened huge
potentials for post -traditiona l societies o improve their survival chance by
transferring the costs of environmental protection to developing countries at
the same time as pretending that socio -economic development in these countries would improve. While the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 so ught the
reconciliation of environment and development, Wolfgang Sachs assesses its
outcome rather skeptically where he states:
• To put the outcome of Rio in a nutshell: the governments at Rio came around
to recognizing the declining state of the environmen t, but insisted on the re -
launching of development. It is probably no exaggeration to say that the rain
dance around development Kent the conflicting parties together and offered a
common ritual which comforted them for the one or other sacrifice made in
favour of the environment. At the end, the Rio Declaration ceremoniously emphasized the sacredness of development and invoked its significance throughout the document wherever possible. Only after the right to development' has been enshrined, does the docum ent proceed to consider the
developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations.'
(Sachs 1993, 3)
• It was the developing countries at Rio which insisted on their right to establish
socioeconomic modes of development similar to those prevailing in developed countries. They clearly stated that they were not prepared to control
their socio -economic development according to the needs of the developed
countries. As the basic economic pattern of development is capitalism as it
had been in the c ase of the developed countries, it can be assumed that
environ. mental degradation in developing countries will take place more rapidly than before and the global environmental condition will worsen accordingly.
• The effects of this kind of development was -and continues to be for the most
part top-down, ethnocentric, and technocratic approach, which treated people
and cultures as abstract concepts, statistical figures to be moved up and down
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44THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
• Development was conceived not as a cultural process (culture was a residual
variable, to disappear with the advance of modernization) but instead as a
system of more or less universally applicable technical interventions intended
to deliver some "badly needed" goods to a "target" population. It comes as no
surprise that d evelopment became a force so destructive to Third World
Countries, ironically in the name of people's interest.
• This also applies to developed or post -traditional societies. The psychosocial
and ecological costs of full -blown industrialized societies are harder to calculate.
Development, Environment and Health : A Brief Overview:
• Environment and health have become nearly interchangeable concepts in
post-traditional societies. We are able to observe almost an obsession with
them, as if individual changes in w ays of life - important for the individual
and significant for the culture, though they may be possessing the power to
overthrow a system of economic relations that aims at growth in numerical
terms rather than at development, enabling society to sustain i ts specific
modes of private and public interaction.
• Human life a now moulded to a large extent by the changes that man has
brought about in his external environment and by his attempt at controlling
body and soul.
• It is not possible anymore to talk about the environment without referring to
health and vice versa. The environment has become the metaphor for well -
being - at least in the industrialized countries suffering from substantial losses
of "natural" environments. Densely populated as they are, t hese countries and
their people project the causes of their misery towards the environment. We
miss the trees, we fight for each and every one of them, we want the cows in
the meadows and the chicken picking around our houses. Forests, particularly
rain forests, have captured our attention to the limit of psychological competence such that the forests are in danger of becoming the last victims of
human kindness after having been already destroyed so extensively.
• In terms of individual and collective morbidity and mortality, we are confronted with an amount of disease and suffering hardly known to traditional societies. While they are mostly plagued by communicable diseases, post -traditional societies have developed a new panorama of non -
communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, allergies, etc.
All together, the global health situation seems to be horrific, as the World
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45Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
• Serious environmental health problems are shared by both developed and
developing countries, affecting: hundreds of millions of people who suffer
from respiratory and other diseases caused or exacerbated by biological and
chemical agents, including tobacco smoke, in the air, both indoors and outdoors; hundred of millions who are exposed to unnecessary, chemical and
physical hazards in their home, workplace, or wider environment (including
500,000 who die and tens of millions more who are injured in road acc idents
each year).
• Health also depends on whether people can obtain food, water, and shelter.
Over 100 million people lack the income or land to meet such basic needs.
Hundreds of millions suffer from under nutrition.
• The sheer number of people affected by the repercussions of development as
economic growth and technological rationalization can make us feel helpless
in respect of the results of the way of life we are leading
In its 1996 World Health Report, WHO (1996) presents a deteriorating picture of
the global health condition particularly emphasizing the recurrence of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and cholera which seem to spread all
over the world affecting developed and developing countries alike. It seems that
the situation is getting ou t of control when resistance by disease -causing
organisms to ant microbial drugs and other agents has become a major public
health problem worldwide. Resistance has no natural barriers; its development in
the most remote locations can lead rapidly to a wor ldwide impact, aided by
international air travel (WHO 1996, 18 and 19).
In addition to these health problems, developing countries face a number of
social, economic, cultural and political difficulties. Most of these can hardly be
dealt with in short term development programs. Among others, they include:
• health care system, ed ucational system, unemployment and under -
employment inter-and intracountry migration,
• rapid urbanization,
• public and private transport,
• adequate housing,
• water and sanitation facilities,
• solid waste disposal
• energy supply,
• food supply,
• population gro wth,
• environmental pollution. munotes.in

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46THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
The economic situation of most developing countries is rather unbalanced; the
national budget is low, often due to difficulties in collecting taxes, lack of
governmental revenues, and rising foreign debt repayments; falling prices for
almost all raw materials offered by these countries; and low average income per
capita. On the other hand, energy costs have gone up during the past decades so
that industrialization is improving only slowly in many countries.
This situation is exacerbated by the lack of vocational training among many
people. The lack of an infrastructure needed to improve economic growth prevents foreign investors form coming into the country. Finally, many countries
are confronted with unstable political and social conditions.
The sociology of risk tells us, perhaps unintentionally, that all our scientific
concepts and methods are much too simple to comprehend the ecological systems
we live in and the impact of our technological systems on them. Risk is an
abstract category. In real life, we talk of threats and dangers, but this language
seems inappropriate when we think of technological progress. However, developed societies have become dangerous indeed. They threaten the global eco -
system, and subsequently, they are a significant threat to human life itself.
Check Your Progress
1. Can you explain the relationship between Environment , Development and
Health ?
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
____________________________________________________________ ___
3B.2 The Indian Scenario:
Assessments of the contemporary ecological crisis are as much political constructs as they are pronouncements on the existential status of Nature - 'the
"otherness" to humanity'. Perhaps, more so at this point in time, it would be
inadequate, if not erroneous, to be innocent of the politics and int erests that
substantially and fundamentally influence and determine the rate and direction of
ecological degradation, both on a national and global scale in India, especially in
recent years, environmental concerns have visibly become an integral part of t he munotes.in

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47Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
mainstream of political debate and action. Consequently, it is imperative to move
beyond the crude problem -policy framework (debating appropriate technologies, etc) to the relatively more sophisticated task of distinguishing between the differing environmental agendas within India's diverse social and political spectrum.
Rightwing environmentalism in India has, in fact, already acquired considerable
traction and leverage in the realm of policy and action. Its most dominant variants
a neo -Manu -sian strain that currently saturates the popular media in the form of
pop analysi s of smart sound bytes. In the neo -Malthusian schema, environmental
degradation is the net result of population growth, i.e., it is argued, in diverse
ways, that the sheer excess in human numbers is the primary and sole burden on
scarce resources.
This rea soning, that privileges the quantity of the impact rather than the quality of
the ecological footprint, though deeply flawed in its argumentation, nevertheless,
provides legitimacy to several reactionary social and political agendas. Sanjay
Gandhi's steril ization programme during the Emergency years in 1975 -77, for
example, was an early offshoot of middle class neo -Malthusian inspired paranoia
that was violently unleashed on the urban poor. The great lie about neo -
Malthusianism is that it deliberately ignor es and avoids engaging with aspects of
structural inequity and seeks to obscure the political origins of environmental deg.
radiation .
When statistics on population growth are shadowed by consumption patterns, for
example, an entirely different picture eme rges. The Human Development Report
1998 on consumption patterns noted that 20% of the world's people in the highest
income countries consumed 45% of all meat and fish (while the poorest 20%
account for 5% only), 58% of total energy (the poorest less than 4%), 84% of all
paper (the poorest 1.1%), and own 87% of the vehicles (the poorest less than 1%).
Though many of the poor in high -in corrie countries live in relatively severe
destitution as well, the HDR (1998) points out that a child born in the industrialized world adds more to consumption and pollution than do 30 -50
children born in developing countries. Clearly, it is the quality of the impact on
the environment rather than the sheer size of numbers that mat ters, a claim that is even more apparent it one accepts the 'ecological footprint' accounting of Wakenagel and Rees. Ecological Footprint is essentially an accounting tool which
is calculated as 'the flows of energy and matter to and from any defined economy
and conver ts their into the corresponding land/water area required from nature to
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48THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
gap is between the consumption of the rich (few) as against that of the poor
(many).
Rees and Wackernagel calculate that on an average, at current rates of consumption, a person who Canada and the U.S. would require roughly 4.3 and 5.1 hectares of land respectively to support his/her lifestyle, while the corresponding figures would be 0.4 (India) and 1.8 (Worl d). This inequality in
consumption patterns between different countries is, however, most acutely
reproduced within the political boundaries of the national economy as well.
Consequently, the Indian elite is as voracious a consumer and polluter as their
counterpart in the so -called first or developed world. In fact, in India it becomes
particularly nauseating to see the wantonly wasteful lifestyles and egregious
consumption habits of the rich and middle class amidst the desperate poverty of
millions.
On the other hand, it would be facetious to simply conclude that wasteful
consumption patterns and lifestyle preferences are the primary causes of environmental degradation. They are, in fact, more symptom than disease. Rather,
it needs to be emphasized that cur rent rats of pollution and environmental
devastation derives from the peculiar character of the world's most dominant
social and economic system - capitalism.
3B.3 Capitalism: The Cause of Ecological Crisis:
The salience in the observation above, however, lies not in asserting that capitalism destroys the environment, as other social forms such as the socialist
experiments (or attempts at socialism) in Eastern Europe and China had also
degraded their environments but, more significantly, in ascertaining the
uniqueness of the capitalist imprimatur on the natural world, That is, only by
identifying and drawing out the specific and distinct impact of capitalism on
nature can the method in the madness, so to speak, be uncovered and the pace and
direction of the contemporary ecological crisis be tracked and understood.
In effect, capitalism's self -expansion through the appropriation and the production
of surplus value is simultaneously the attempt to insinuate into the substances of
nature and its varied processes the value relation, in which exchange value
subjugates use. That is, the complexity of nature and its innumerable interlinkages are broken down, dissolved and then reified into or treated as capitalist commodities or stock of units of capital.
Several rec ent studies have, in fact, described how the phenomenon of nature is
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the ineluctable cycles of capitalist accumulation.
One argument state that biotechnology, for example, meticulo usly maps the manner in which capital penetrates plant breeding through the science of hybridization and effectively breaks the previous unity of the seed as grain and
the means of production. It would indeed not be an exaggeration to state that the
entire biotechnology revolution, with all it potentially dangerous consequences, is
essentially the projection of the image of capital into seed production.
Terminator seeds, for example, are the classic example of the capitalist signature
on the gene. Here, the primary producer is dispossessed from ownership and
control over the seed, which is now an input regulated by the laws of interest,
profit and ultimately the accumulation imperative. Similarly, the whole carbon -
trading regime that some mega. corporations in the industrialised world are
currently authoring as a solution to climate change, is premised on the principle
of regulating the entire planet's atmosphere though a market imperative. Their
intentions roughly translate into a desire to divide up the pla net's atmosphere into
shares that can then be traded through markets and thereby literally commodify
the sky itself.
Capitalism, however, in the process of producing or remaking nature by mapping
onto Et forms of exclusive property and attempting to regula te it as commodities,
causes various degrees of disarticulation - the dissonance and disruption caused to
the integrity or ecological processes. For example, the biological and chemical
equilibrium of a fluvial system, in its complex and varied interconnections, may
be disconnected by a series of dams. In contrast to the integrity of its previous
circulation regime, these dams now artificially manipulate the river's flow to feed
the needs of irrigation for intensive agriculture and hydroelectrici ty for urban use,
much to the detriment of aquatic life, wet lands and often the livelihoods of
traditional fishermen as well.
Another example would be the manner in which, under the rubric of 'scientific
forestry', a large number of forests in India were transformed from being a mosaic of interconnected ecological niches to monocultures for timber extraction. Consequent to which, not only was species diversity severely attenuated in these
forests but traditional community access was either extinguished alt ogether or
severely curtailed. In effect, the uncoupling of ecological processes and the reconfiguring of environmental landscapes by capital had adverse impacts not only on the natural world but also operated as a form of enclosure in the manner it ended innumerable types of customary rights and scales of access of local communities, munotes.in

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50THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
i.e., the traditional patterns of resource use.
This, however, is not to suggest that disarticulation is a feature unique only to
capitalism. Rather, as a necessary caveat, it needs to be underscored that different
social forms bring to bear different rates and intensities of disarticulation to their
ecological contexts. What is, nevertheless, unique to capitalism is the global scale
and unprecedented intensity of dis articulation that it in as brought about by
pollution and through high rates of extraction. In fact, given the range and scope
of the natural world's qualitative transformation in the current epoch of capital, it
would perhaps not be an exaggerated reactio n to believe that nature, as previously
known and experienced, has ended' and transformed instead into a new reality.
Not surprisingly, capitalism, given the particularity of its impact, has caused its
own peculiar ecological crisis. A crisis that has been termed as the 'second contradiction', whereby capital impairs and exhausts its own social and environmental conditions and thus threatens its ability to reproduce the basis for
profit and accumulation. In other words, acid rain, climate change, over -fishing,
decimation of wildlife, deforestation, nuclear waste build -up, and so on, are
recognized not merely as a common threat to humanity in general but essentially
and fundamentally as a crisis for capitalist reproduction.
In effect, crisis -stricken capital collides against a veritable 'rebellion of nature'
that finds expression in a range of new social movements that mobilize on themes
of environmental degradation such as deforestation, pollution, mining, health and
gender. These movements in turn present th emselves as 'social barriers' that
confront capital's unbridled exploitation of nature.
Indian environmentalism, can be best analysed as being chiefly propelled as a
response to the moribund and hyper -exploitative version of capitalism that has
been impose d on its populace.
Check Your Progress
1. Can you explain Capitalism?
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51Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
3B.4 The Indian Environmental Movements:
In the past several decades a virtual explosion in environmental movements or
popular mobilization on environmental themes has, in fact, become highly visible
on the political landscape . The relat ively prominent ones would perhaps include
struggles such a (a) Chipko -challenging deforestation in the Himalayas; (b)
Narmada Bachao Andolan, Tehri and Koel Karo - resistance against large dams;
(c) Chilika Bachao Andolan - against shrimp farming by the Tata Corporation;
National Fishworkers Federation - struggles against the entry of mechanized
fishing, and so on. (Refer to chapter on Environmental movements)
Besides these, however, there has been a whole slew of what Smitu Kothari, a
political activist and scholar terms as a 'million mutinies' of lower visibility but of
substantial intensity involving struggles over issues such as industrial pollution (Bichhri, Rajasthan), mining threats to rural and forest based livelihoods (Grandmardhan, Orissa; Rayagadha, Bihar); defence of common lands (Karnataka), among others. These movements, both the prominent ones and those relatively less visible, have essentially turned on question concerning the immiserisation of marginalized communities through the alienation of their livelihood resources.
In fact, since the so called liberalization of the economy in 1991, the overall thrust of capitalist development in India has dramatically moved towards violently destroying the subsistence economies of the poor and marginal by either
direct seizure of their resources or by polluting their environments.
These environmental movements, however, have tended to concentrate on issue
based coherence rather than comprehensive political cohesiveness. That is, they
have remained largely resistance oriented and have been hesitant towards acquiring a broader political thrust vis -à-vis an emancipatory agenda. The formation of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) in 1992 has,
however, begun to explore this possibility. Nevert heless, the lack of political cohesiveness among these movements in actuality stems from a deeper complication, viz., the limitations caused by the forging of multiclass alliances
that are operative only as an issue -based approach.
The celebrated agitation against the dams on the Narmada river spearheaded by
the NBA, for example, is a creatively welded, though tenuous, alliance between
rich farmers and the adivasis or tribals (landless and subsistence peasants).
Similarly, the struggle against the Tata Corp oration's attempt to move into shrimp
farming in Chilika lake (Orissa) was led by a broad coalition of poor traditional
fisherfolk, petty contractors and fairly rich and powerful speculators drawn from
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52THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
In other words, these examples suggest that the social and class composition of
the alliances may not be able to hold beyond the issue and therefore, not
unexpectedly, are rarely able to mobilize on a comprehensive political agenda.
However, this is not to suggest that they Eack consistent politics as much as to
emphasise that class constraints tug at attempts to expand the movement into
different realms of struggle, i.e., not all classes and social groups have the same
objectives in their opposition to cap italism.
The peculiar sociology of the Indian political landscape, has, moreover, added a
unique dimension to environmental struggles in so far as dalit and adivasi
communities have been particularly vulnerable to capitalist expropriation. One
glaring inst ance would be with regard to displacement by large dams.
According to the World Commission on Damns (India Report), for instance,
though dalits and tribals account for roughly 24.5% of the total population, they
comprise 62% of the total of those displaced. Similarly, the impacts of deforestation and the pollution of rivers and streams have been hardest on rural
women, the vast majority of whom are actually landless agricultural labourers,
often forcing them to spend many more backbreaking hours to secure f uel, fodder
and drinking water.
The eruption of resistance through the rubric of environmental ! movements to the
above mentioned threats to subsistence security, environmental degradation and
the direct appropriation of resources has, not unexpectedly, als o forced both the
state and capital in India to review their strategies for rule and accumulation.
Their subsequent manoeuvres to readjust the social temperature for exploitation, has essentially comprised a mix, involving tactical retreats in the form of temporary pauses in state violence or a more rigorous attack through righting
environmentalism.
Termed as free market environmentalism, its proponents are currently advertising
it as a veritable global vision for saving the natural world. The entire history of
environmental destruction is being rewritten a historically as a product of wrong pricing, inadequate incentives, free riders, subsidies and inefficiency. The solution, according to these market environmentalists, is to allow and enable the
rule of the self -regulating market as final arbiter for resource allocation (that
operates unhindered through the true laws of supply and demand) with the state
only being required to enforce property rights and contract.
Already in India, some of the heady id eas of this convoluted reasoning, alongside
the prodding of the World Bank and IMF, have been advanced - most recently in
the water sector, for long a social good delivered by government as part of its
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53Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
by the prime minister in the National Water Resources Council meeting (1 April
2002) citizen accountability will be transformed into customer choice. According
to item 13 of the new policy, water will be privatized with transnat ional
corporations managing access to it on the basis of profit.
In parts of Africa, in fact, free market principles for 'conserving' nature or wildlife
have been in operation for several years. A slew of ecotour operators and hunting
companies in places s uch as Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania in cahoots with
pliable governments have successfully transformed nature parks and sanctuaries
into commodities that are now frequented only by dollar rich western tourists for
trophy hunting excursions. The local commu nities that previously utilized these
areas and their forests resources have either been expelled, often by state
violence, or bought out by paltry compensation.
in India, as well, considerable contestation is currently occurring on the issue of
customary rights and access of local communities to their resources, now reclassified as natural parks and wildlife zones. Though in the immediate future it
appears distant that the Indian government may go the Africa route, the unfolding
logic of market environment alism, nevertheless, poses a serious long -term threat.
3B.5 Our Natural Heritage Under Threat
The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), a little known statutory body created
in October 2003, under the provisions of the amended Wildlife (Protection) Act,
2002 and chaired by the Prime Minister, plans to denotify entire sections of three
national parks and biodiversity hotspots. Denotification of an area implies that it
is no longer protected and can be utilized for commercial development. The
national parks to be denotified are, the Desert National Park near Jaisalmer in
Rajasthan, the lower Subansiri river valley in Arunachal Pradesh and the Askot
Musk Deer Sanctuary in Pithoragarh, Uttaranchal. This heralds the merciless
discrimination of flora and fauna. The future of a fourth protected area, the
Govind National Park in Uttarkahi, Uttaranchal, home to more than 150 rare
species of Himalayan birds, hangs uncertain.
The endangered species on the death row and doomed for extinction as the notion
of India Shining swamps their homes are; the Great Indian Bustard, Gangetic
River Dolphin, Snow Leopard, Tiger, Musk Deer, Black Buck, Clouded Leopard,
Slow Loris, Himalayan Thar , Monal Pheasant, Civet Cat, Marbled Cat, Capped
Langur, Golden Mahseer, Black Bear, Westem Tragopan, Bearded Vulture, Common Sandpiper.
The NBWL, ever since its conception, has been acting with one agenda: to be
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54THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
under the guise of crating development zones and catering to the whims of the
corporate world. The assault on our natural heritage is phenomenal and the
question that arises is that how much development is enough? And development
for whom?
Only We Can Halt the Worst Wave of Extinction Since the Dinosaurs Died:
• The Baiji is a graceful, freshwater dolphin that once abounded along a
thousand miles of the Yangtze River. It may now be the world's most endangered large animal. Caught in a vise of rising pollution and indiscriminate fishing during the p ast century, its population fell to only 400
by 1980, to 150 in 1993, and is now below 100. Zoologists doubt the species
will survive in the wild for another decade. The baiji's closest rivals for early
extinction include the Sumatran rhinoceros (probably fewer than 500 individuals survive) and the giant panda of China (fewer than 1,000).
• The media can be counted on to take note when the last member of each of
these species dies, or like the California condor, is removed from the wild to
be placed in a capt ive breeding program. But for every animal celebrity that
vanishes, biologists can point to thousands of species of plants and smaller
animals either recently extinct or on the brink.
• The rarest bird in the world in Spix's macaw, down to one or possibly tw o
individuals I the palm and river -edge forests of central Brazil. The rarest plant
is Cooke's koki's of lawaii, a small tree with profuse orange -red flowers that
once graced the dry volcanic slopes f Molokaoi. Today it exists only as a few
half plants - branches implanted onto the stocks of the ir related species.
Cooke's koki'o may spend its last days in this biological limbo; despite the
best efforts of horticulturists to assist the plant, no branches planted in soil
have sprouted pots.
• Around the world, biodiversity, defined as the full variety of life from genes to species o ecosystems, is in trouble. Responding to the problem, conservation experts have in the Just two decades shifted their focus from
individual species to entire threatened habitats, whose destruction would
cause the extinction of many species. Such "hot spots" in the U, S., or
example, include the coastal sage of Southern California, the sandy uplands of
Florida, and he dammed and polluted river systems of Alabama and other
Southern stat es. Arguably the
• countries with the most hot spots in the world are Ecuador, Madagascar and
the Philippines. Each has lost two -thirds or more of its biologically rich rain
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• The logic of the experts is simple: by concentrating conservation efforts on
such areas, the largest amount of biodiversity can be saved at the lowest
economic cost. And if the effort is part of the political process during regional planning, the rescue of biodiversity car gain the widest possible public support.
• In hot spots around the globe, mass extinctions of local populations have beer
commonplace. Among them:
• More than half the 266 species of exclusively freshwater fishes in peninsula
Malaysia.
• Fifteen of the 18 unique fishes of Lake Lanao in the Philippines , and ha lf the
14 birds of the Philippine Island of Cebu.
• All of the 11 native tree -snail species of Moorea in the Society Islands. Those
or nearby Tahiti, as well as in the Hawaiian Islands, are rapidly disappearing.
• More than 90 plant species growing on a single mountain ridge in Ecuador,
through clear -cutting of forest between 1978 and 1986.
• These well -documented cases notwithstanding, it is notoriously difficult to
estimate the overall rate of extinction. Some groups, like the larger birds and
mammals, are more susceptible to extinction than most. The same is true of
fishes limited to one or two freshwater streams. Most kinds of insects and
small organisms are so difficult to monitor as to make exact numbers unattainable. Nevertheless, biologists using several indirect methods of analysis generally agree that on the land at least and on a worldwide basis,
species are vanishing 100 times faster than before the arrival of Homo
sapiens.
• Tropical rain forests are the site of most of the known damage. Although they
cover only 6% of the land surface, they contain more than half the species of
plants and animals of the entire world. The rate of clearing and burning of rain
forests averaged about 1% each year in the 1980s, an amount about equal to
the entire country of Ir eland, and the pace of destruction may now be
increasing. That magnitude of habitat loss spells trouble for the planet's
reservoir of biodiversity. It means that each year 0.25% or more of the forest
species are being doomed to immediate or early extinctio n. How much is that
in absolute numbers, as opposed to rate? If there are 10 million species in the
still mostly unexplored forests, which some scientists think possible, the
annual loss is in the tens of thousands. Even if there are a "mere" 1 million
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• These projections are based on the known relationships between the area of a
given natural habitat and the number of species able to live within it. The
projections may be on the low side. The outright elimination of habitat is the
leading cause of extinction. But the introduction of aggressive exotic species
and the diseases they carry follow close behind in destructiveness, along with
over hunting or over harvesting of plants and animals.
• All these factors work to gether in a complex manner. When asked which ones
caused the extinction of any particular species, biologists are likely to give the
Murder on the Orient Express answer: they all did it. A common sequence in
tropical countries starts with the building of r oads into wilderness, such as
those cut across Brazil's Amazonian state of Rondonia during the 1970s and
80s. land -seeking settlers pour in, clear the rain forest on both sides of the
road, pollute the streams, introduce alien plants and animals and hunt w ildlife
for extra food. Many native species become rare, and some disappear entirely.
• The world's fauna and flora are paying the price of humanity's population
growth. The Levey may be acceptable to those who put immediate human
concerns above all else.
But it should be borne in mind that we are destroying par of the Creation, thereby
depriving all future generations of what we ourselves were bequeathed. The
ongoing loss in biodiversity is the greatest since the end of the Mesozoic era 65
millions years ago . At that time, by current scientific consensus, the impact of one
or more giant meteorites darkened the atmosphere, altered much of earth's climate
and extinguished the dinosaurs. Thus began the next stage of evolution, the
Cenozoic era or Age of Mammals. The extinction spasm we are now inflicting
can be moderated if we choose. If not, the next century will see the closing of the Cenozoic era and the start of a new one characterized by biological impoverishment. It might appropriately be called the Eremozo ic era, the Age of
Loneliness..
People commonly respond to the evidence of species extinction by entering three
successive stages of denial. Dying out through more than 3 billions years of
history without permanent harm to the biosphere. Evolution has always replaced
extinct species with new ones.
(i) All these statements are true, but with a terrible twist. After the Mesozoic
spasm, and after each of the four greatest previous spasms spaced over
400 millions years, evolution required about 10 million years to restore
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57Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
descendants are going to be -how best to say it? - peeved with us. Worse,
evolution cannot perform as in previous ages if natural environments have
been crowded out by artificial ones.
(ii) Entering the second stage of denial, people ask, Why do we need so many
species anyway? Why care, especially since the vast majority are bugs,
weeds and fungi?
It is easy to dismiss the creepy crawlies of the worl d, forgetting that less
than a century ago, before the rise of the modern conservation movement,
native birds and mammals around the world were treated with the same
callous indifference. Bow the value of the little things in the natural world
has become c ompellingly clear. Recent experimental studies on whole
ecosystems support what ecologists have long suspected: the more species
living in an ecosystem, the higher its productivity and the greater its ability
to withstand drought and other kinds of environ mental stress. Since we
depend on functioning ecosystems to cleanse our water, enrich our soil and
create the very air we breathe, biodiversity is clearly not something to
discard carelessly.
In addition to creating a habitable environment, wild species a re the source
of products that help sustain our lies. Not the least of these amenities are pharmaceuticals. More than 40% of all prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies in the world are substances originally extracted from plants,
animals, fungi and microorg anisms. Aspirin, for example, the most widely
used medicine in the world, was derived from salicylic acid, which in turn
was discovered in a species of meadowsweet.
Only a minute fraction of the species or organisms -probably less than 1%
have been examine d for natural products that might serve as medicines.
There is a critical need to press the search in the case of antibiotics and anti -
malarial agents. The substances most commonly used today are growing
less effective as the disease organisms acquire gene tic resistance to the
drugs. The bacterium staphylococcus, for example, has recently remerged as a potentially lethal pathogen, and the microorganism that causes pneumonia is growing steadily more dangerous. The age of antibiotics, it
has been said, is ove r. Not quite, but medical researchers are nevertheless
locked in an arms race with the rapidly evolving pathogens that is certain to
grow more serious. They are obliged to turn to a broader array of wild
species to discover the new weapons of 21st century medicine.
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scientific knowledge because it is so thoroughly adapted to the environment
in which it lives. Species alive today are thousands to millions of years old.
Their genes, having been tested by adversity over so many generations,
engineer a staggeringly complex array of biochemical devices to aid the
survival and reproduction of the organisms carrying them.
(iii) Even when that much is granted, the third stage of denial usu ally emerges:
Why rush to save all the species right now? We have more important things
to do. Why not keep live specimens in zoos and botanical gardens -on ice, so
to speak -and return them to the wild later? The grim truth is that all the zoos
in the world today can sustain a maximum of only 2,000 species of
mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, out of about 24,000 known to
exist. The world's botanical gardens would be even more overwhelmed by
the quarter -million plant species. These refuges are i nvaluab le in helping to
save a f ew endangered species. So is freezing embryos in liquid nitrogen.
But such measures cannot come close to solving the problem as a whole.
To add to the difficulty, no one has devised a plan to save the legion of
insects, fungi and other ecologically vital small organisms. And once
scientists are ready to return species to independence, the ecosystems in
which many lived will no longer exist. Tigers and rhinos, to make the point
clear, cannot survive in paddies.
3B.6 What Can We Do?
The conclusion of scientists and conservationists is therefore virtually unanimous:
the only way to save wild species is to maintain them in their original habitats.
Considering how rapidly such habitats are shrinking, even that straightforward
solution will be a daunting task. Many ecosystems have already been lost, and
others seem doomed.
• In spite of all these difficulties, there is reason for some optimism . With
appropriate measures and the will to use them, the hemorrhaging can be
slowed, perhaps eventually halted, and most of the surviving species saved.
Some of the most important immediate steps that can be taken are outlined in
the Convention on Biologi cal Diversity, signed by 156 nations and the
European Union at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The convention
was the turning point in the awareness of biodiversity as a world issue. It
served as a catalyst in accelerating conservation efforts and has been especially important in awakening tropical countries, where biodiversity is
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• One of the first moves under way is the closer surveying of biodiversity,
country by country, to pinpoint the extinction hot spots. Such information,
when used to sequester parks and reserves, can lead to the rescue of large
numbers of endangered ecosystems and specie. A review of bird distribution by the international Council for Bird Preservation, using the best data available for an y group of organisms, revealed that 20% of the world's species
occur within 2% of the land area. Protecting natural environments in these
localities alone would help greatly to slow the rate of bird extinction. It would
also shield large numbers of other a nimals and plants limited to the same
habitat.
• Saving the last remnants of the natural environment requires more than just scientific information. There are also formidable economic and political problems to be overcome. Growing populations need new land and increased
food production. The priorities of the desperately poor do not include saving
the fauna and flora of their country. Funds must be raised to purchase much of the land from private owners, and then to pay for the protection and management of the reserves. To gain the support of local peoples , educational
programs are needed to convey the importance of wild lands to sustaining
their own environment in a healthy state. The poor need to be helped to a
better life on the land they already occupy.
• Out of this welter of conflicting interests has arisen a new kind of environmentalism. It values the world's fauna and flora not just aesthetically
as the natural heritage of humanity but also as a source of wealth and
economic stability. An infant biodiversity industry is now taking shape along
several f ronts. In the U.S. more than 20 pharmaceutical companies have
contracted with private and national research organizations to push "chemical
prospecting" for new medicines in rain forests and other habitats.
• Ecotourism, opening the most spectacular wild lan ds to paying visitors, has
become a major source of income in many developing countries. Reserves and
the surrounding land are being reorganized to create an outer buffer zone
where local peoples are helped to develop sustainable agriculture, enveloping
an inviolate core zone for the maximum protection of endangered species.
Some forest tracts previously scheduled for clear -cutting are now selectively
logged or cut along concentric swaths, then allowed to regenerate. Because
the practices yield higher long -term profits, they are expected to be widely
adopted.
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any country. But it is a promising start. Some of the pilot projects have
succeeded dramatically. They offer a way out of what will otherwise be a
biologically impoverished future.
• With the world population at 5.7 billion and sure to keep on growing rapidly
until well into the next century, humanity has entered a dangerous environmental bottleneck. We hope , surely we must believe, that our species
will come out the other side in better condition than when we entered. We
should make it a goal to take as much of the rest of life with us as is humanly
possible. It is also high time that we seriously engage with the critical relationship between environmental degradation and democracy.
3B.6 Summary :
Environment is closely linked to the concept of development. Economic growth
and technological progress of all kinds are basic approaches of industrialized
societies. According to classic economics, development has always been linked to
economic growth, and subsequently it has been liked to competition rather than to
cooperation.
• Today, environmental degradatio n in industrialized countries due to pollution,
over-population and excessive use of natural resources, has brought forward
the notion of environmental protection,
• Environment and health have become nearly interchangeable concepts in
post-traditional societies. Human life is now moulded to a large extent by the
changes that man has brought about in his external environment and by his
attempts at controlling body and soul. It is not possible anymore to talk about
the environment without refe rring to health and vice versa.
• In India, especially in recent years, environmental concerns have visibly
become an integral part of the mainstream of political debate and action.
• Capitalism has been seen as the main cause of ecological crisis. This view h as
been supported over the years by many studies which describe how the
phenomenon of nature is being recast and compressed through technology to
be marched in rhythm with the ineluctable cycles of capitalist accumulation.
Certain examples have been put fo rth like, biotechnology terminator seeds,
and so on. The crisis caused by the impact of capitalism has been termed as
the 'second contradiction', whereby capital impairs and exhausts its own social
and environmental conditions and thus threatens is ability to reproduce he
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61Chapter 3B: Environment and Development
over-fishing, decimation of wildlife, deforestation, nuclear waste build -up,
and so on, are recognized not merely as a common threat to humanity in
general but essentially and fundamentally as a crisis for capitalist reproduction
In the past several decades a virtual explosion in environmental movements
or popular mobilization on environmental themes has become highly visible
on the political landscape in India an d elsewhere. The relatively prominent
ones would perhaps include struggles such as Chipko - challenging
deforestation in the Himalayas; Narmada Bachao Andolan, Tehri and Koel
Karo - resistance against large dams; Chilika Bachao Andolan -against
shrimp farmi ng by the Tata Corporation; National Fishworkers Federation -
struggles against the entry of mechanized fishing, and so on.
With the world population at 5.7 billion and sure to keep on growing rapidly until
well into the next century, humanity has entered a dangerous environmental
bottleneck. We hope that our species will come out the other side in better
condition than when we entered. We should make it a goal to take as much of the
rest of life with us as is humanly possible. It is also high time that we seriously
engaged with the critical relationship between environmental degradation and
democracy.
However, beyond all needs for conceptual changes lies an even more difficult task; environment and development are not isolated arenas of political dispute. They are part of a comprehensive system of local, regional, national,
and into national interdependencies of political and economic power structures. We are not alone anymore, if we have ever been. Whatever
happens somewhere on this planet, it will have an impact on our individual
and communal . We are on our way although nobody knows where t he journey
will lead us. However, one thing is crystal clear the almost insoluble task is to let
neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us.
3B.7 Questions:
Q1 How is environment and development inter -related? Illustrate with examples.
Q2 What is the importance of the relationship between environment and development?
Q3 What ecological crisis is being faced by modern world? Illustrate with
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62THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Q4 Do you think that capitalism is the cause of the ecological crisis? If so,
why?
Q5 is India facing any environmental or developmental problems? What would
you suggest a s a solution.
3B.8 Reference
Anupreeta Das. 'No One Asked the Musk Deer.' Outlook. February 9, 2004. Pg
30-31. Giddens, Anthony.
Modernity and self -identity. Self and society in the late modern age. Polity,
Cambridge, 1991. Guha, Ramachandra.
'New Social Movements: The Problem'. Seminar, No. 355, March, 1989. Guha,
Ramchandra.
The Unquiet Woods: Ecological ch ange and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya,
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1991.
Kothari, Smitu. 'A Million Mutinies', Humanscape, September 2001. Sachs,
Wolfgang.
'Global ecology and the shadow of 'development". In Sachs, W. (ed.), Global
ecology: A new arena of political conflict. Zed Books, London. 1993. Pg. 3 -21
Sangvai, Sanjay.
The River and Life: People's Struggle in the Narmada Valley, Earthcare, Mumbai,
July 2000. United Nations Development and William Rees, Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Huma n Impact on the Earth, New Society Publishers, Philadelphia,
1996.
World Commission on Dams. Large Dams: India's Experience. 2000, pg. 101. For
the WCD report see www.dams.org
World Health Organization, Commission on Health and Environment (1992) our
planet, Our health. World Health Organization, Geneva World Health Organization (1996) , The world health report 1996.
Fighting disease, Fostering development. World Health Organization, Geneva
Reference s
http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2020_statistical_annex_table_1.pdf
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/human -development -index -hdi.asp
https://www.unescap.org/our -work/environment -development

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63Chapter 4: Contributions of W.W. Rostow, Paul Baran
Unit 4
4 CONTRIBUTIONS OF W.W. ROSTOW,
PAUL BARAN
Unit Structure:
4.0 Objectives
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Meaning of Development
4.3. Amartya Sen on Development
4.4. Important concepts
4.5. Geopolitics associated with the concept of Development
4.6. Walt Whitman Rostow
4.7. Stages of Growth
4.8. Paul Alexander Baran
4.9. Theory of Underdevelopment
4.10. Summary
4.11. Questions
4.12. References
4.0 Objectives
x To understand the context on which theories on Development have been
created.
x To learn about the contribution of W.W. Rostow and his theory.
x To learn about Paul Baran and his contribution to the sociology of Development.
4.1 Introduction
This chapter c omes under the area of Sociology of Development which is an
independent discipline in itself. Here we are going to learn about two thinkers
their important work. Now you may be having this question why this chapter and
why these two specific thinkers. Indi a is one of the few countries that benefited
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64THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
revolution and new businesses like call centers. At Present, several countries are
moving their base from China during the pandemic and invest ing in Asian
markets like India due to its second -largest labor force and high population .
Hence, to better understand the present situation, we need to learn these theorists
and their points of view. Before understand ing the contribution of W.W . Rostow
and Paul Baran, we need to first learn about its historical context; only then will
you be able to connect with what these thinkers are trying to explain. Let us begin
with understanding the concept development.
Understand ing development theories would help you understand the process of
modernization how economics and economic development became priorities than
human values and ethics. It would also reveal how the West thinkers have
influenced most countries and their polic ies directly or indirectly. This could be
through forming bodies, sponsoring programs in the name of Development.
4.2 Meaning of Development
The term "development" is used to describe national economic growth. The word
development was first used in the United States in the early 1940s to introduce
American foreign policy. The US urged its social scientists to research and
develop strategies for supporting capitalist economic Development and political
stability in developing countries. As a re sult of this policy decision, development
theory was born. There are many different perspectives on Development, but
nearly all of them focus on growth and governance.
4.3 Amartya Sen on Development
According to Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel prize winner, f reedom is the primary
objective of Development and the principal means of Development. Development
is further enhanced by democracy and the protection of human rights. Such rights,
especially freedom of the press, speech, assembly, and so forth, increase t he
likelihood of honest, clean, good government. He claims that "no famine has ever
taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy." This is
because democratic governments "have to win elections and face public criticism,
and have stron g incentive to undertake measures to avert famines and other
catastrophes."
Development is the process of expanding human freedom. It is “the enhancement
of freedoms that allow people to lead lives that th ey have reason to live ." Hence,
Development requir es the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty,
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65Chapter 4: Contributions of W.W. Rostow, Paul Baran
public facilities, and intolerance or over interference of repressive states . Sen
further argues that there are five interr elated freedoms, like political freedom,
economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency and security. The state has
a role in supporting freedoms by providing public education, health care, social
safety nets, good macroeconomic policies, productivity and protecting t he
environmenti.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain Amartya Sen's View on development .
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ___________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4.4 Important concepts
You will encounter these terminologies in this unit and even in Unit 5, i.e., on
Frank, Amin, Wallerstein; hence it is explained here. Generally, the first three
words are used very often in developmental studies.
First World
The term “First World” refers the ones which are called as developed, capitalist,
industrial countries, roughly, a bloc of countries aligned with the United States
after world war II, with more or less common political and economic interests:
North America, Western Europe, Japan and A ustralia.
Second World
"Second World" refers to the former communist -socialist, industrial states (formerly the Eastern bloc, the territory and sphere of influence of the Union of
Soviet Socialists Republic) today: Russia, Eastern Europe (e.g., Poland) and some
of the Turk States (e.g., Kazakhstan) as well as China.
Third World
“Third World” are all the other countries; today often used to roughly describe the
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66THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
includes a s well capitalist (e.g., Venezuela) and communist (e.g., North Korea)
countries as very rich (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and very poor (e.g., Mali) countries.
Fourth World
The term “Fourth World” first came into use in 1974 with the publication of
Shuswap Chief George Manuel's: The fourth world: an Indian reality (amazon
link to the book), the term refers to nations (cultural entities, ethnic groups) of
indigenous peoples living within or across state boundaries (nation -states)ii.
Check Your Progress
1. Discuss the meaning of Development.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________ _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________ ______
2. Discuss the politics involved in the emergence of Development.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________ _______________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________________ ___________________________________________
4.5 Geopolitics associated with the Concept of development
Development can be traced through the major perspectives on Development that
have emerged since World War II, as represented by theories of modernization and growth, dependency and world systems theories, the resurgence of neoclassical theory, and a range of newer critical perspectives . Development
involves innumerable variables, including economic, social, political, gender, cultural, religious, and environmental factors. Early theoretical models of Development equated Development with economic growth and industrialization, munotes.in

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67Chapter 4: Contributions of W.W. Rostow, Paul Baran
and theorists saw countries that had not yet achieved these as being at an earlier
or lower stage of Developmentiii.
Since World War II, the primary perspectives on Development have been created.
The emergence of developmental studies can be traced back to ideas of modernization and growth, dependency and world systems theories, the revival of
neoclassical theory, and a range of developing critical perspectives. It is also
worth noting that Development is influenced by economic, social, p olitical,
gender, cultural, religious, and environmental issues.
All the developmental models developed by several scholars have impacted
society back then and even today. Even today across the globe a countries growth
is counted by its Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ). There are few countries like
Bhutan which counts its growth not by economic terms but by Happiness Index.
In other words, it prioritizes happiness than economics.
However, let us try to understand the perspective and contrib ution of Rostow.
4.6 Walt Whitman Rostow
Walt Whitman Rostow was an educator, economist, and government figure who
was born in 1916. He li ved experienced World War II. He also lectured at many
colleges and institutions. His first book, the American Diplomatic Revolution,
was based on his inaugural lecture at Oxford University in November 1946 and
was published in 1947. Another book, Essays o n the British Economy of the
Nineteenth Century, was published the following year.
In 1950, he was assigned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a
professor of economic history. He was a lso named to the staff of that U niversity's
Center for International Studies the following year. Rostow held both positions
until 1961. During that time, Rostow published a large number of books, articles,
and reviews on a variety of subjects. Among them are the following:
The Process of Economic Growth (1953, 2nd ed. 1960); The Growth and Fluctuation of the British Economy, 1790 -1850 (with others, 1953, 2nd ed. 1975);
The Dynamics of Soviet Society (with others, 1953); The Prospects for Communist China (with others, 1954); An American Policy in Asia (with R. W.
Hatch, 1955); A Proposal: Key to an Effective Foreign Policy (with M. F.
Millikan, 1957); The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non -Communist Manifesto
(1960); The United States in the World Arena (1960); Rich Countries and Poor
Countries: Reflections from the Past, Lessons for the Future (1987); and Theorists of Economic Growth from David Hume to the Present (1990). East-
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68THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
and the Stages of Growth (1971); The Diffusion of Power (1972); How It All
Began: Origins of the Modern Economy (1975); The World Economy: History
and Prospect (1978); Getting from Here to There (1978); Why the Poor Get
Richer and the Rich Slow Down (1980); Pre-Invasion Bombing Strategy: General
Eisenhower's Decision of March 25, 1944 (1981); The Division of Europe After
World War II : 1946 (1981); Europe After Stalin: Eisenhower's Three Decisions of
March 11, 1953 (1982); Open Skies: Ei senhower's Proposal of July 21, 1955
(1982); The Barbaric Counter -Revolution: Cause and Cure (1983); The United
States and the Regional Organi zation of Asia and the Pacific, 1965 -1985 (1986);
and Stages of Economic Growth: A Non -Communist Manifesto (1991).
Rostow's reputation was as an original and significant economic theorist, as well
as a keen observer of modern international affairs, was cemented by these
publications.
Rostow returned to teaching in 1969, taking a job at the University of Texas at Austin. He was the Rex G. Baker Professor of Political Economy in the Economics and History Departments at that university in the 1980s. In 199 0, he was honoured with the Association of American Publishers Award for Outstanding Book in the Social Sciences. Rostow was named Chairman of the
Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Austin Project in 1992. The purpose of
this group was to fix the pro blems of urban America, beginning with Austin,
Texas.
The project's goal was to expand governmental and private programmes aimed at
prenatal care and assisting poor children. The concept of Rostow was to invest in
young people. "The way we fought the Vietn am War reminds me of the way we
are attempting to deal with the cities," he said, "go after all the symptoms and
putting Band -Aids on them instead of going after the source."iv.
The most influential proponent of this view was the American economic historian
Walt W. Rostow. His 1960 book, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non -
Communist Manifesto .
4.7 Stages of Growth
Stage 1 Traditional Society –
This is the first stage of Develo pment. Here the economy is dominated by
survival activity. Producers consume output; it is not traded. Trade is a barter
where goods are exchanged directly for other goods. Agriculture is the most
important industry. Production is labor -intensive using onl y limited quantities of
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69Chapter 4: Contributions of W.W. Rostow, Paul Baran
Stage 2 Transitional Stage (Preconditions for Takeoff) –
In the second stage, Increased specialization generates surpluses for trading.
There is an emergence of a transport infrastructure to support trade. Entrepreneurs
emerge as incomes, savings and investment grow. External trade also occurs,
concentrating on primary products. A strong cent ral government encourages
private enterprise.
Stage 3 Take Off
Industrialization increases with workers switching from the agricultural sector to
the manufacturing sector. Growth is concentrated in a few regions of the country
and within one or two manufacturing industries. The level of investment reaches
over 10% of GNP. People save money. The economic transitions are accompanied by the evolution of new political and social institutions that support
industrialization. The growth is self -sustaining as investment leads to increasing
incomes, generating more savings to f inance further investment.
Stage 4 Drive to Maturity
The economy is diversifying into new areas. Technological innovation provides a
diverse range of investment opportunities. The economy is producing a wide
range of goods and services and there is less r eliance on imports. Technology is
used more widely.
Stage 5 High Mass Consumption
The economy is geared towards mass consumption, and the level of economic
activity is very high. Technology is extensively used but its expansion slows. The
service sector has become increasingly dominant. Urbanization is complete. Now,
multinationals emergence for large numbers of persons transcends basic food,
shelter and clothing. Increased interest in social welfarev.
His theory, in other words, was a linear -stages -of-growth model that defined
Development as a sequence of stages through which all societies must pass. This
conception of the nature and process of Development became the basic blueprint
for modernization theory (i) As its subtitle suggest "a non-communist
manifesto" —through his work, Rostow's argued for the efficacy of the capitalist development model, an argument aimed especially at the newly developing nations of the Third World.
Criticism
xSeveral scholars criticized the Rostow model of economic growth. Some
called it experimentation. Some rejected it as his model of economic growth
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bourgeoisie, and communism. Few scholars say that his model had shifted
from economic gro wth to politics which was practiced by nine major
countries.vi.
xCritics also point out that it's not necessary that all the countries essentially pass through all the stages, there could be diffusion, investment, environmental reasons, or several other f actors, as a result, some stages
could be skipped.
xThis model is also criticized because it is a top -down approach where the
advanced countries are viewed as benchmarks of a progressive society and
others who haven't reached their stage are traditional.
Check Your Progress
1. List out three Rostow work's name.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ___________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. List out the five stages of growth of Rostow.
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_________________________________________________ ______________
_______________________________________________________________
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71Chapter 4: Contributions of W.W. Rostow, Paul Baran
4.8 Paul Alexander Baran
Paul Alexander Baran was a professor of economics at Stanford from 1949 until
his death of a heart attack in 1964. His most important works were The Political
Economy of Growth (1957) and Monopoly Capital (1965), co -authored with Paul
M. Sweezy , an importa nt critic of Capitalism . Monopoly capital was basically
criticism of Capitalism, especially of the United States. Paul Baran was an expert
in comparative economic systems (Capitalism and socialism) and considered
himself a Marxistvii. Through Baran works, he was trying the history of Capitalism. He made the readers ask questions like when Capitalism would die? He was one of those few scholars of his time who was ready to criticize Capitalism. American education system of those days was promoting Capitalism
however, Baran was critical and inspired others too to see a different view
pointviii. He has published several important works like -
xThe Political Economy of Underdevelopment, (1952)
xThe Political Economy of Growth. (1957)
x"Reflections on under consumption," in Abramovitz, Moses; et al. (eds.).
(1959), The allocation of economic resources: essays in honor of Bernard
Francis Haley
xMarxism and Psychoanalysis (1960), [pamphlet] Monthly Review Press
xThe Commitment of the In tellectual, [pamphlet] (1961), Monthly Review
Press
xReflections on the Cuban Revolution, [pamphlet] (1961), Monthly Review
Press
xMonopoly Capital: An essay on the American econ omic and social order,
(1966), Monthly Review Press, New York
xThe Longer V iew: Essays toward a critique of political economy (1970),
xThe Political Economy of Neo -Colonialism (1975).
4.9 Theory of Underdevelopment
Paul Baran ’s prominent book is the 'The Political Economy of Underdevelopment . Baran noted that economic Development has historically
always brought a transformation in society's economy, society and politics. It
cannot be ignored that economic Development has also be en led by classes and
groups who are interested in a new economic and social order. These groups are
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72THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
He further defines economic growth as an "increase over time in per capita output
of mate rial goods" (i.e., increase in labor productivity); Baran stresses the need
for net investment (the capitalizing of surplus value). He outlines three types of
economic surpluses: First, actual economic surplus (really accumulated surplus
value). Secondly, potent ial economic surplus (accumulat ed surplus value) which
can be produced if the following are eliminated: (a) excess consumption by the
middle and upper layers of society; (b) unproductive workers; (c) irrationality and
waste in the economy; and (d) un employment. Thirdly, planned economic surplus
(the surplus product of a nationalized and planned economy)x.
In other words, in an economic system characterized by a hierarchy of classes
where economic and political power is concentrated at the top, the output and
income beyond what is consumed by most people (food, clothing, housing, public
safety, education, and so on) mostly go to the highest class. This extra portion is
what he called the economic surplus, a form of savings or income left over aft er
consumption. In a feudalistic system, there is little incentive to use the proceeds
of this type of surplus to buy more tools and equipment for more production of
output and income. The lord or baron has little incentive to lend or give serfs
money beca use he may not benefit from increased productivity. It is with
Capitalism that such incentives to reinvest in production become importantxi. In
other words, the surplus developed in the colonies was sent back to the mother
country than the less developed c ountries where the actual production took place.
According to him, the kind of surplus that existed in the Third World countries
depended on Capitalism. The goal was to extract the underdeveloped countries
than actually develop them. This in a way, did not let the under developed
country grow in any way on their own. This, even in advanced Capitalism,
continues even though colonization has ended. In the name of free trade, the raw
materials , labor has been used but the profits are taken away. This further l ed to a
capitalist mode of production where they could thrive more in the business and
continuously expand themselves in other countries.
He adds the developed countries try to bring the underdeveloped countries
through charities periodically so that litt le Development takes place at a long
period. However this change is not sufficient for the actual Development or well
being of the people. As any investment will result in returns and in a way, it
would profit the investors and due to the unfavorable polic ies for citizens and
corruption the underdeveloped countries anyhow doesn't growxii (p.13)


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73Chapter 4: Contributions of W.W. Rostow, Paul Baran
Check Your Progress
1. What are the three surplus forms discussed by Baran?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________ ______________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. Discuss the Underdeveloped theo ry in few lines.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
__________________________ _____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4.10 Summar y
In this chapter we began with looking into the meaning of Development, where "development" is used to describe national economic growth. The word development was first used in the United States in the early 1940s to introduce to
American foreign policy. For Amartya Sen, development is the freedom of an
individual in a society. We a lso learned about the different rankings given to
countries like first world, second, third. We further observed Rostow and his
contribution through his theory of stages of growth, where he developed a
nonlinear model. The chapter ends with a discussion on Paul Baran's work and his
views on underdeveloped how capitalists use the surplus to profit themselves and
their home than Development of the locals.
4.11 Questions
1. Explain in brief the theory of underdevelopment.
2. Explain Rostow theory of stages of Development
3. Write in brief the meaning of Development and its interrelated concepts. munotes.in

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74THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
4.12 References

ŝhttps://www.asiancenturyinstitute.com/development/333 -amartya -sen-on-
developmentas -freedom
iihttp://www.hartford -hwp.com/archives/10/150.html
iiiHalperin, S. (2018, December 17). Development theory . Encyclopedia
Britannica . https://www.britannica.com/topic/de velopment -theory
iv "Walt Whitman Rostow ." Encyclopedia of World Biography.
Retrieved July 30, 2021, from Encyclopedia.com:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias -almanacs -transcripts -and-
maps/walt -whitman -rostow
vhttp://www.uop.edu.pk/ocontents/Lecture%204%20a%20Unit%202%20Lesson
%206%20
Rostow.pdf
viKhan, Z., & Slavador, M. (2017). Summarizing the Miscellaneous Criticism on
Rostow’s Model of Economic Growth: An Overview. International Journal of
Social Science & Eco nomic Research , 2(2), 2301 -12.
vii http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8xs5zkx/
viii Prof Wolff about Paul Baran his talk
ixhttps://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.jour
nals/
guild19&div=12&id=&page=
xhttps://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/swp -us/misc -1/edonbaran.htm
xi https://business.louisville.edu/faculty -research/research -publications/p aul-
barans -economic -surplus -concept -the-baran -ratio-and-the-decline -of-feudalism/
xiiBaran, P. A. (2019). Political ĐŽŶŽĨ'ƌŽǁƚŚ͘ hŶŝƚĞĚ^ƚĂƚĞƐ͗ DŽŶƚŚůLJZĞǀŝĞǁWƌĞƐƐ͘ 

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75Chapter 5: Contributions of Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin and Immanuel Wallerstein
Unit 5
5 CONTRIBUTIONS OF ANDRE GUNDER
FRANK, SAMIR AMIN AND
IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN
Unit Structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Andre Gunder Frank
5.2.1 Biography
5.2.2 Theory
5.2.3 Study of Latin America
5.2.4 Death
5.2.5 Criticism
5.3 Samir Amin
5.3.1 Biography
5.3.2 Work
5.3.3 Theory
5.3.4 Criticism
5.4 Immanuel Wallerstein
5.4.1 Biography
5.4.2 World System Theory
5.4.3 Criticism
5.5 Summary
5.6 Questions
5.7 References
5.0 Objective
x To learn about the foundational thinkers on Development studies
x To learn about the different theories given by these thinkers.
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5.1 Introduction
In this chapter, you learn about three thinkers who have a deep impact on the study of the sociology of development and underdevelopment theories worldwide. These thinkers are among the pioneers who criticized the powerful
development countries and their strategies to control the underdeveloped countries. The common thread on which these thinkers unite is that the underdeveloped countries have been used back then during the colonization
period and even during the post -colonization period. In other words, th e
developed countries even today continue their exploitation. You will find certain common themes being discussed by the thinkers; however, these thinkers' concepts and terminologies have changed.
5.2 Andre Gunder Frank
5..2.1 Biography
Andre Gunder Frank, a German -American economist, was born on February 24,
1929, in Berlin. His parents sought safety from the Nazis in Switzerland in 1933
and then in the United States later (1941). Frank earned his bachelor's degree
from Swarthmore in 1950 and his doctorate in economics from the University of
Chicago in 1957, where he studied under Milton Friedman.
He began his career as an expert in Soviet farm economics at Michigan State
University (1957 –1961), but he quickly left the United States for Latin A merica.
He inspired numerous economists in Brazil, including Theotonio dos Santos and
Fernando Henrique Cardoso. After the coup in 1964, he moved to Chile, where he worked at the University of Chile's School of Economics Center for Socioeconomic Studies. F rank met his wife, Marta Fuentes, in Chile, where he
wrote his first series of books on Latin American socioeconomic situations with
whom he coauthored several works.
Frank was forced to leave Chile after the military overthrew President Salvador
Allende's socialist administration in 1973. Frank took positions as professor of
Development Studies in Social Change at the University of East Anglia (1978 –
1983) and professor of Development Economics and Social Sciences at the
University of Amsterdam (1983 –1994) after returning to Germany to work at the
Max Planck Institute (1973 –1978). He became linked with the global -system
school and coauthored various works on the dynamics of social crisis and social
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5.2.2 Dependency theory – Metropolis and Satellite
In the book 'Capitalism and Under Development in North America, he explained
the metropolis –satellite relationship. He begins that due to colonization, the
underdeveloped began. The metropolis here refers to the developed countries. On
the other hand, satellite countries are the ones that are dependent on developed
countries. These countries are the ones that have enough raw materials. The
metropolis uses the raw material available i n the satellite countries and produces
the finished goods. The metropolis is the western industrial developed countries,
whereas the satellite countries are dependent on agriculture. Generally, satellite
countries are facing exploitation. It is because of the metropolis that satellite
countries are not able to develop.
Through the early 1970s, Frank had established himself as one of the main figures
of dependency theory, which stated that external influences (such as political,
economic, and cultural) on n ational development policies could explain why the
third world, particularly Latin America, had been and remained subordinate to
Western interests (see, for example, Frank's World Accumulation, 1492 –1789,
1978). He also claimed that constructing a noncapitalist (socialist) national economy was the only path out of dependence. According to Frank, the development of Western cultures is only a historical blip in an otherwise Asian -
centric economy.i
Frank and others used the historical condition of dependency to explain why
economic progress in the West does not convert into economic growth in the
periphery: Even after formal independence, colonial programs continued to link
the periphery to the international market through commodity chains, frequently
through the export of single low -value -added goods (raw materials). The colonizer -colonized connection was a feature of global capitalism dynamics, not
only pre -capitalist imperialist history, and this relationship continues to degrade
the third world long after f ormal independence due to a local lumpen bourgeoisie
making it impossible for former colonies to catch up with the West. The latter
then reinforces this neo -colonization through its use of debt.
Frank began to take a revised perspective to world history in the 1990s, dismissing world -system theory and most orthodox historical and theoretical
interpretations as deeply Eurocentric. Frank researched a 5,000 -year-old trading
system, drawing on his earlier studies of long -term economic cycles, and concluded, mos t notably in his book Reorient (1998), that the world economy had
been Asia -centered for thousands of years and was now going back in that
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fleeting phenomenon caused by the East's transitory collapse and that the analytical idea of capitalism had lost its relevance.
5.2.3 Study on Latin America
Frank argued against both the widely influential orthodox Marxist theory —which
classified Latin America as being in a semi -feudal s tage—and the Western -centric
modernization theory, which saw the lack of development in the so -called "Third
World" as a result of incomplete "modernization" and insufficient or backward
capitalist institutions —in his classic work Capitalism and Underdevel opment in
Latin America (1967). Frank's "development of under -development" thesis maintained that Latin America has been used as a peripheral by major colonial
powers in the framework of capitalism expansion across the Atlantic since its
inception.
5.2.4 His Death
Frank died in Luxembourg on April 23, 2005, after publishing over 35 books and
hundreds of articles in dozens of languages. His contributions to dependence and
world -system theory impacted many in anthropology, sociology, political economics, and even liberation theology. His final multidisciplinary study program, which was cut short by his death, was an ambitious attempt to
deconstruct Eurocentrism in history and modern social theory. Frank was a social
activist and an academician w ho never received the recognition he deserved —yet
his research will continue to spark numerous disputes.ii.
5.2.5 Criticism
Frank is being criticised that he did not give a clear definition of capitalism. He is
also criticized, stating that he did not ex plain industrialization as a process. He
limited himself in explaining the metropolis and satellite relations. He has also
not much discussed the role and importance of the state.
Check Your Progress
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5.3 Samir Amin
5.3.1 Biography
Samir Amin was born in Cairo, Egypt, with two doctors, an Egyptian father and a
French mother. In northern Egypt's Port Said, he grew up where he attended the
French lycée and received his baccalaureate in 1947. Amin then enrolled at the
Lycée Henri IV in Paris to study mathematics and at the Institut d'études
Politiques in Paris to study law, which was the standard path to economics. He
earned a certificate in political science in 1952 and a law and economics license
in 1953 before pursuing a Ph.D. in econ omics. In 1956, he earned a statistics
certificate from the Institut de Statistiques de l'Université de Paris. Amin was
awarded a Ph.D. in economics in June 1957.
In June 1957, Amin received a doctorate in economics under Maurice Byé and
with the additiona l guidance of François Perroux. As a student, Amin spent much
of his time as a militant with various student movements. From 1949 to 1953,
helped publish the journal Étudiants Anticolonialistes . He met many of the future
members of Africa's governing elite .
From 1957 to 1960, Amin worked in Cairo on economic development issues for
the Egyptian government, then moved to Bamako , Mali , where he was an adviser
to the Malian planning ministry (1960 -1963). In 1963 he moved to Dakar , Senegal , where he took a fellowship (1963 -1970) at the Institut Africain
de Développement Économique et de Planification (IDEP). He became a director
at IDEP (1970 -1980) and subsequently was named director of the Third
World Forum (1980 –). Amin has at various times held professorships in Poitiers,
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5.3.2 Works
Imperialism and Unequal Development, Specters of Capitalism: A Critique of
Current Intellectual Fashions, Obsolescent Capitalism: Contemporary Politics and
Global Disorder, and The Liberal Virus are a few of Samir Amin's writings. In
October 2006, his memo irs were released. Accumulation on a Global Scale: A
Critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment was his dissertation published in
English in 1974. It was the first big study to claim that most of the world's
underdevelopment directly resulted from the capi talist economy's functioning. He
claimed that this polarization is the result of profit transfers from poor to rich
countries, which help to alleviate potential under -consumption problems in industrial economies by allowing the industrial world to pay high er salaries or
offer lower prices to consumers than would be possible if the labour theory of
value to work were applied only at the national level.
5.3.3 Dependency Theory – Exploitation of Labour Market
Amin's focus on the global economy as a unit of study is meant to explain global
wage and price disparities within the context of a Marxist labor theory of value.
Even his subsequent publications (such as Obsolescent Capitalism and Beyond
U.S. Hegemony) bu ild on this paradigm to criticize imperialist goals in general
and U.S. hegemonic aspirations in particular after September 11, 2001. Amin
advocates for a polycentric world to combat monopolies in fields like technology,
banking, natural resources, media, and weapons manufacture, which disproportionately harm developing nationsiii.
High periphery imports in the long run, capital imports, are the result of already
existing structural deformations of the role of peripheries in the world system,
namely rapid ur banization combined with insufficient local food production,
excessive expenditures of local bureaucracies, changes in income distribution to
the benefit of local elites (demonstration effects), insufficient growth of and
structural imbalances in the globa l economy. As a result, Amin contends, the
history of peripheral capitalism is littered with short -term "miracles" as well as
long-term obstacles, stagnation, and even deteriorationiv.
Samir Amin has written about Dependency theory in the book ‘Imperialism and
Unequal development'. He has used two concepts – i.e., core (developed) and
periphery (underdeveloped) to explain the ideas. Developed countries are using
the cheap raw materials of the underdeveloped countries. On the other hand,
finished countries a re given by the developed countries at a high price. As a
result, the per capita income increases more in the developed countries and in the
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higher price than the raw material. Let us take this with an example of a Lays
packet. The farmer sells a piece of potato at the cost of not even Rs. 25 paise,
however, a packet of lays costs more than Rs.10. The second example is that of
Ketchup which is being made from the tomato. Few toma toes are needed to make
a ketchup bottle; however, it is sold more than Rs. 100. Same with products like
peanut butter and many more things. Peripheral countries are always made to rely
on foreign assistance. The wages in peripheral countries are always low. The
social movement organized by the peripheral countries is always suppressed. The
peripheral goods are always producing the primary goods and the rich countries
produce the finished growth. The structural imbalance and politics are taken
advantage o f by the core countries.
5.3.4 Criticism
It is criticized that he did not focus on the human, social, and cultural factors that
some countries developed themselves. Critics also point out that if the periphery
countries use their resources properly, they could also be developed countries. So,
somewhere they could also rise instead of being a victim themselves. The role of
open market and free trade, which creates such a structure is not seen as being
blamed in the theory.
Amin’s reliance on a labor theory of value and under consumptionist theory has
limited his analytical outlook and led him to make overly simplistic predictions
despite allowing a holistic historical materialistic perspective. Nevertheless, his
criticisms of neoclassical equilibrium models and imperialistic projects have long
since been joined by economists and social scientists from many different theoretical persuasions.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain your understanding of exploitation of labour market as discussed by
Amin.
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5.4 Immanuel Wallerstein
5.4.1 Biography
In the post –World War II (1939 –1945) period, Immanuel Wallerstein was one of
the most important and productive American sociologists. He graduated from
Columbia University in New York City with a B.A. in 1951, an M.A. in 1954,
and a Ph.D. in 1959. Wallerst ein was largely apolitical sociologist in his early
years as an assistant professor of sociology there. While performing fieldwork in
the region, his experience in African independence movements led him to meet
social thinker Frantz Fanon (1925 –1961). The political and revolutionary action
that swept the African continent in the late 1950s and early 1960s forced
Wallerstein to rethink the nation -state as a valid unit of analysis, especially in
countries where such institutions were a clear byproduct of long -term colonialism
and imperialism. Wallerstein supported students in their anti –Vietnam War (1957 –1975) protests against university administration in the late 1960s, resulting
in his book University in Turmoil (1969) and his decision to leave Columbia to
join the Department of Sociology at McGill University in Montreal. During his
time there, he wrote the first book of The Modern World -System (1974), translated into thirteen languages and was influenced by French economic historian Fernand Braudel's (1902 –1985) long -term perspective of historical
processes.v
5.4.2 World Systems Theory
The Silk Route was the major player in the "world -system" in the 11th century,
and nations along the silk route were the dominant actors in international industry and trade. With today's advanced communications and transportation technologies, nearly every culture is now a member of the global system as a
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With its three -level hierarchy of core, periphery, and semi -periphery, World
Systems Theory was created by Immanuel Wallerstein. According to World
Systems Theory, there is a global economic system in which some countries prosper while others are exploited. Core nations are dominating capitalist countries that extort labor and raw resources from periphery countries. Peripheral
countries rely on funding from core countries and have undeveloped industries. Semiperipheral countries have traits from both the core and the periphery. Peripheral countries rely on funding from core countries and have undeveloped
industries. The term "core" refers to the dominant capitalist countries that exploit
the periphery for labour and raw supplies. Semiperipheral countries have traits of
both the core and the periphery.
World Systems Theory, like dependency theory, proposes that wealthier countries
benefit from and exploit the populations of other countries. In contrast to dependence theory, this model acknowledges the modest benefits that low -status nations in the global system get. The thesis was developed by sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein, who claims that how a nation i s integrated into the
capitalist world -system impacts how that country's economy develops.
The international economic system, according to Wallerstein, is split into three
types of countries: core, semiperipheral, and periphery. Core countries (e.g., the
United States, Japan, and Germany) are powerful capitalist nations with high
levels of industrialization and urbanization. Core nations are capital -intensive,
with high pay and high -tech production processes and reduced levels of exploitation and coercion o f workers. Peripheral nations (e.g., most African and
low-income countries in South America) are less industrialized and urbanised and
rely on core countries for capital.
The majority of peripheral nations are agricultural, have low literacy rates, and
lack reliable Internet connectivity. South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, India,
Nigeria, and South Africa are semiperipheral countries that are less developed
than core countries but more developed than peripheral countries. They serve as a
buffer between th e core and the periphery.
The core nations control the majority of the world's money and technology and global trade and economic agreements. They also serve as cultural hubs, attracting artists and intellectuals. Core countries rely on peripheral countries for
labor and supplies. Core nations utilize both semiperipheral and peripheral countries, just as semiperipheral countries use both semiperipheral and peripheral
countries. Raw minerals are extracted at a low cost in core nations. They can also
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market prices, causing small farmers to quit their fields due to a lack of funds for
labour and fertilizer. The wealthy in peripheral countries benefit from the labor of
poor workers and from their economic re lations with core country capitalistsvi
5.4.3 Criticism
Some Scholars have criticised as the cultural change has been ignored, and more
of the economic process is given importance. Some view this as Eurocentrism
approach. Socialist countries have been ignored in this theory however, countries
who are going through modern capitalism are been on ly documented.
5.5 Summary
This chapter is one of the foundational topics in understanding the discrimination
towards the underdeveloped countries. It explains the process through which they
are being exploited like extraction of raw materials, favourab le policies by the
developed countries. Three thinkers have been discussed here namely, A.G.
Frank, Wallerstein and Samir Amin. All these thinkers have explained their
perspective by using certain concepts. For example – Frank uses metropolis
(developed co untries) and satellite (under developed countries), Samir Amin uses
core periphery and Wallerstein uses Core (Developed), semi periphery (middle)
and periphery (under developed) countries. In a way, through this chapter the
geopolitics nature has been expl ained which has been further advanced due to
globalisation.
Check Your Progress
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5.6 Questions
1. Explain in brief the theory of Wallerstein
2. Write about contribution of Samir Amin and his theory
3. Explain the theory given by A. G. Frank
5.7 References

iOliverio , A., & Lauderdale, P. (2015). The World System According to Andre
Gunder Frank: Hegemony and Domination. Journal of World -Systems
Research , 21(1), 184.
ii"Frank, Andre Gunder . " International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences .
. Encyclopedia.com. September 23, 2021, < https://www.encyclopedia.com >.

iv https://wapescholar.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/samir -amin
ǀWallerstein, Immanuel ." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. .
Retrieved September 22, 2021, from Encyclopedia.com 
vi

World -Systems Theory. (2021, February 20).
https://socialsci.libretexts.org/@go/page/8190

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86THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Unit 6
6A POST DEVELOPMENT THEORY –
DEVELOPMENT AS DISCOURSE
A. ESCOBAR,W. SACHS
Unit Structure
6A.0 Objectives
6A.1 Post-development Theory - Introduction
6A.2 Arturo Escobar
6A.3 Wolfgang Sachs
6A.4 Conclusion
6A.5 Summary
6A.6 Questions
6A.7 References
6A.0 Objectives
x To understand the concept of post -development as a school of thought
within development theory
x To examine the contributions of post -development theorists and their
critique of ‘development’
6A.1 Post -Development Theory - Introduction
Post development theory is one of the most compelling and controversial fields of
thought in contemporary development studies. This body of literature became
prominent in the 1990s and has since sparked fierce debate and attracted
attention, i n a positive as well as negative way. The term Post -Development is
considered to be a school of thought in development theory which provides a
critique of the very idea of ‘development’. One distinguishing highlight of this
theory is their rejection of past development theory and practice and their insistence that development initiatives have done more harm than good. It goes
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87Chapter 6A: Post Development Theory – Development as Discourse (Escobar, W. Sachs)
this idea. To some extent, dependency theory can be con sidered to be a precursor
of post -development theory. However, what distinguishes dependency theory
from post -development theory is that it provides a critique of modernity.
The first examples of what would become the post development theory emerged
aroun d the 1980s with the critiques of development provided by Ivan Illich
(1979), Gustavo Esteva (1987), Wolfgang Sachs (1992), Arturo Escobar (1995),
and Majid Rahnema (1997).Other eminent scholars are also seen as part of Post -
Development, such as, Vandana Shiva (1989), Gilbert Rist (1997), Serge Latouche (1993) and others. Several Post Development writers have known to
collaborate with indigenous and social movements in the Global South. A point in
case is Escobar who has worked on the ‘Proceso de Comunidade s Negras de
Colombia’ (Black Communities of Colombia) and Esteva has worked with the
Zapatistas and others in Mexico. The Zapatistas rebellion fought for the rights of
the indigenous people in Mexico.
The aim of the Post Development scholars was to expose ‘development as an
ideology originating in the Cold War and thus to pave the way for alternatives.
According to post development thinkers, ‘underdevelopment’ was ‘invented’ in
the post -World War II era by the West in order to promise material improvements
to the global south to advert the threat of Socialism and to legitimize economic
expansion. The West argued that the poor countries would be able to ‘catch -up’
through investments, transfer of technology and ‘development’ experts provided
by the West. Pos t development theorists denounced this view as Eurocentric, as it
reduces countless ways of living in diverse cultures to toeing the footsteps of the
western industrialized capitalist countries. The non -western ‘other’ was merely
seen as backward and under -developed.
However, a few decades later, by the end of the twentieth century, the post
development theorists claimed that the era of ‘development’ was coming to an
end. This could be due to several reasons: The developed way of life has brought
with it t he problem of environmental destruction. The environmental crisis has
cast a doubt on the validity and desirability of the development project. Another
problem experienced by the developed world has to do with the socio -cultural
characteristics of the deve loped regions. Latouche has referred to the West as ‘an
impersonal machine, devoid and spirit’ because the West is riddled with problems such as, spiritual desolation, meaningless work, neglect of the aged and insecurity.
This critique of the West’s Idea of development and progress led to the emergence of alternative to development. Diversity, to post -development
theorists, is an asset. As long as there is diversity, alternative ways of living are
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88THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATIONline with their defense of diversity many are opposed to ‘global solutions’ because such solutions usually take a ‘top down’ approach and tend to ignore the
specificities of the region.
The post development theory is not without it s criticism.Scholars like Corbridge
(1998), Nanda (1999), Nederveen Pieterse (2000) have challenged the post
development approach from various levels. The highlight of the critique is that
post development theory romanticizes local communities and cultural traditions, legitimizes oppressive structures through cultural relativism and yet again prescribe ways of living to the people in the global south.
The post development theory provides a useful and thought -provoking critique of
past development theory an d practice. Despite its weaknesses, the post -development theory is relevant not only to those interested in development theory, but also to those interested in thinking of alternatives to the capitalist,
industrialized way of life that upto this point had been upheld as ideal and
desirable and towards which all should strive.
The following section deals with two post -development scholars: Arturo Escobar,
and Wolfgang Sachs.
6A.2 Arturo Escobar
Escobar’s ideas are best summarized up in his book, ‘Encountering Development’
(1995), which offered an analysis of mainstream development economics and the
development actors and institutions it inspired. The book was seen as a critique of
the western ideas that supported development. It evolved around the thought that
“the discourse and strategy of development produced its opposite: massive
underdevelopment, impoverishment, exploitation and oppression”. Escobar
argues that there are “the three axes that define development”: its forms of
knowledge; the syst em of power that regulates its practice; and the forms of
subjectivity fostered by this discourse.
Escobar dwells on the “problematization of poverty” which he contends is a result
of reinforcement of development discourse from the early post-World War II
period upto the present. The idea of development was deployed through two
means: 1) professionalization of development knowledge, 2) institutionalization
of development practices. Systemic pauperization was made inevitable through
the for mation of capitalism. Economic growth was projected as the sole solution
to the problem of insufficient income. Through all of this, people, human
resources were left out of the equation.
“Development was – and continues to be for the most part - a top -down,
ethnocentric, and technocratic approach.”He cites the examples of development in munotes.in

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89Chapter 6A: Post Development Theory – Development as Discourse (Escobar, W. Sachs)
communities in Nepal and among the Gapun of Papua New Guinea to show the
development encounter and illustrates how discursive homogenization was the
“key to its success as a hegemonic form of representation.” According to Escobar, development amounted to little more that west’s convenient “discovery” of poverty in the third world. This would enable the West
to reassert and continue its moral and cultural superiority in the p ost-colonial
times.
Escobar noted that, “Perhaps no other idea has been so insidious, no other idea
gone so unchallenged as much as the idea of ‘Development’. Development,
according to him was unavoidable an ideological export as well as an act of
cultural imperialism. With the usage of highly technocratic language and a forthright deployment of norms and value judgments, development took on the
form of cultural imperialism that poor countries could not, or did not have the
means to resist.
Drawing on influences from Michel Foucault to Edward Said, Escobar’s arguments have evolved in a highly sophisticated manner. The first of these
influences was the French philosopher Michel Foucault and his idea that power is
not simply something that the rich, powerful p eople hold over other, but is
produced in and through all the things we do – even things like extending help to others. Escobar talks about how development works, through ‘forms of knowledge’. He demonstrates the way in which the mechanisms of development
function. It functions through the systematic production of knowledge and power
in specific fields – such as rural and sustainable development and women and
development.
Escobar also drew from the insights of the Palestinian literary theorist Edward
Said and his analysis of the concept of “Orientalism”. Said had shown how the
West constructs the Orient as exotic and enticing, at the same time dangerous.
These were not mere passive description of other people and places, but were
central to the imaginative production of those places. These were constructed as
sites of excess, relating to sexuality, for example, or conversely as lacking in
some fundamental value characteristic of civilization. The only way of improving
the situation was through development. Hence it was ultimately a way for the
West to manage the rest of the world for their own vested interest and gain,
allowing poor people a future that the rich could imagine for them.
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articulates a post -development regime of representation and how to pursue
alternative practices in the context of th e social movements in the Third World
today. According to him, ‘hybrid cultures” in Latin America are a form of cultural
affirmation. They allow traditional cultures to survive through their transformative engagement in the midst of modernity’s crisis. He does not
provide for grand alternative models or strategies. Instead he calls for rethinking,
reinventing alternative practices and representations in local settings. This is
reflected through the contexts of hybridization, collective action and political
mobilization.
Through “Encountering Development”, Escobar successfully creates a dialectic
that examines the discourse of development. It reveals how development ultimately created the very problems it was trying to solve. Although written two
and a half decades ago, the book is pertinent to today’s times as much of the
dominant development discourse remains unchanged.
6A.3 Wolfgang Sachs
‘The development dictionary: a Guide to Knowledge as Power’ is a classic
collection of articles written by the world’s most eminent critics of development,
Wolfgang Sachs. This book reviews the key concepts of development discourse
from a historical and anthropological point of view highlighting its particular
bias. The authors assess the concepts as historically o bsolete and intellectually
sterile, and therefore make a call for bidding farewell to the whole development
idea which is Eurocentric in nature. Thus, for two -thirds of the people on this
planet, this positive meaning of the word ‘development’ – profoundly rooted after
two centuries of its social construction – is a grim reminder of ‘what they are
not’. It is a reminder of an undesirable, undignified condition. To get out of it,
they need to be enslaved to other’s experiences and dreams.
The book opens wit h an alarming observation. Wolfgang Sachs observes that,
“the last forty years can be called the age of development. This epoch is coming
to an end. The time has come to write its obituary.”The book challenges all
human activity that is classified as devel opment. It is a pioneering collection of
19 essays, which review the key concepts of the development discourse after the
Second World War.
In the post -Second world war period, the United States was the most powerful
state economically, militarily and ideo logically. It was a formidable and incessant
productive machine, unprecedented in history. Its superior standing of living, it
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91Chapter 6A: Post Development Theory – Development as Discourse (Escobar, W. Sachs)
international relations gave it the trappings of an ideal society on the world stage.
It was the undisputed leader of the First World and it came to be the model of a
developed society.
In his typical dramatic way Wolfgang Sachs proposes to call the “age of development” that particular historical period which began on January 20, 1949,
when the then US President Harry S. Truman declared in his inaugural address that from now on, the Southern Hemisphere would be referred to as an “underdeveloped areas” - for whom, a bold new programme, for making available , the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress would be
made. He reiterated that the old imperialism -exploitation model for foreign profit
has no place in our plan. By doing so, he redefined development, and ushered in
the Age of Develop ment and an era of American global hegemony and provided
the cognitive base for both arrogant Northern interventionism and Southern self -
pity.
With Truman’s inaugural, two billion people became underdeveloped and “ceased
being what they were, in all their diversity, and were transmogrified into an
inverted mirror of other’s reality”. Since then, countries in the South sought to
escape from the undignified condition called underdevelopment. This
connotation, which focused on economism and marketization, grip ped the minds
of policy makers, planners, academicians and grassroot workers.
For two -thirds of the world’s population underdevelopment means a life of
struggle, subordination and discrimination. The new mantra at the international
level is ‘Redistributio n of risk’ – rather than ‘Redistribution of wealth’. This is
reflected in the fact that the Northern countries in 1960 were 20 times richer than
the Southern ones, and 46 times richer by 1980.
The book takes a critical look at the buzz words such as ‘peopl e’s participation’.
This term is used sometimes as a politically viable slogan, and at other times it is
seen as an attractive fund -raising strategy. The World Bank too reiterates on the
term, projecting it as a panacea to all problems and one of the sure shot ways to
revive an economy.
As regards environment, a prime challenge to the societies of the West – aims
towards new levels of administrative monitoring and control. Not willing to see
the obvious impact of competitive production and unbridled consum ption, which
is the root cause of the planet’s ecological crisis, it reduced ecology to a set of
managerial strategies initiated and controlled by the West.
The book proposes “new commons that allow people to live on their own terms.”
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empowerment of communities to control their resources and the power to choose
their own destinies. It would require immense political will to put the suggestions
listed in the book, into action.
A critical analysis of development idea is urgently needed in order to liberate
people’s minds – in both North and South – in order to respond boldly to the
environmental an ethical challenges that confront humanity. Experts, scholars,
students and grass -root movements need to relook the claims made by development throughout the development discourse.
6A.4 Conclusion
The post -development perspective became popular in the 1990s.Theorist from
within this perspective such as A. Escobar and W. Sachs are criti cal of Western
models of development, arguing that development was always unjust, that it never
worked, and that developing countries should find their own pathways to
development. Escobar argued that the Western model of development justified
itself by cl aiming to be rational and scientific and therefore neutral and objective.
However , in reality, modernization theory was a top -down approach which
treated people and cultures as commodities and statistical figures in the name of
progress. Escobar criticized modernization theory for being ethnocentric , which
denied people within developing countries the opportunities to make their own
choices and decisions. Wolfgang Sachs also has critiqued the idea of development
through his writings on the Development Dicti onary. The book invites the reader
to review the developmental model of reality and question the prevailing
development discourse.
6A.5 Summary
The term Post -Development is considered to be a school of thought in development theory which provides a critiqu e of the very idea of ‘development’.
The aim of the Post Development scholars was to expose ‘development as an
ideology originating in the Cold War and thus to pave the way for alternatives.
The highlight of the critique is that post development theory romanticizes local
communities and cultural traditions, legitimizes oppressive structures through
cultural relativism and yet again prescribe ways of living to the people in the
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93Chapter 6A: Post Development Theory – Development as Discourse (Escobar, W. Sachs)
The book ‘Encountering Development’ (1995) by A. Escobar evolved around the
thought that “the discourse and strategy of development produced its opposite:
massive underdevelopment, impoverishment, exploitation and oppression”. 
‘The development dictionary: a Guide to Knowledge as Power’ is a classic
collection of articles written by the world’s most eminent critics of development,
Wolfgang Sachs.
Wolfgang Sachs observes that, “the last forty years can be called the age of
development. This epoch is coming to an end. The time has come to write its
obituary.”
A critical analysis of development idea is urgently needed in order to liberate
people’s minds – in both North and South – in order to respond boldly to the
environmental an ethical challenges that confront humanity. 
6A.6 Questions
1) State the origin and growth of post -development theory
2) Discuss the contribution of Escobar and Sachs to the development of post -
development theory
6A.7 References
Matthews, Sally (2020): Post development Theory, Oxford Research
Encyclopedia, International Studies, Oxford University Press, USA
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/reviews/an -obituary -for-development -30945
https://www.ethnosproject.org/book -review -encountering -development -arturo -
escobar/
https://newint.org/featur es/2019/12/09/long -read-age-development -obituary
™™™
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94THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Unit 6
6B POST DEVELOPMENT THEORY –
DEVELOPMENT AS DISCOURSE
6B - MANUEL CASTELLS – GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure
6B.1 Introduction
6B.2 Information and Communication Technology
6B.3 Globalization
6B.4 Networking
6B.5 Network Society
6B.6 Fourth World
6B.7 Conclusion
6B.8 Summary
6B.9 Questions
6B.10 References
6B.1 Introduction
Manuel Castells is a Spanish sociologist who is associated with research on the
information society, communication and globalization. He was raised in a La
Mancha but moved to Barcelona, where he studied law and economics. He was a
politically active student and later fled from Spain to France. In Paris he served as
a professor in several universities. Since 2008 he has been a member of European
Institute of Innovation and Technology. Some of his notable works include: Information Society, Globalization, Organization Theory, Network Society, Urban Planning and Sociology, Fourth Worl d.
6B.2 Information and Communication Technology (ICT )
After the 1970s with the fall of authoritarianism throughout the world capitalism
came up. For the first time in history the entire planet became capitalist and also
some command economies survived or developed by linking with the global
capitalist markets. The idea of capitalism is very old but fundamentally new. It is
said to be old because it engages continuous competition in order to pursue profit.
It is fundamentally new as it is backed by new information and communication
technology t hat provide roots for new productivity sources and formation of
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95Chapter 6B: Post Development Theory – Development as Discourse
(Manuel Castells – Globalization And Development)Despite the diversity of their cultures and institutions, information and communication technology is shared by all countries. The changes in our lives
would not be possible w ithout Information and Communication Technology (ICT).In 1990s the entire planet was organized around telecommunication networks including information syste ms and communication processes. Ordinary
people can enjoy the power of information because of the acceleration of technological innovations. Software development is making possible user friendly computing, so that millions of children, when provided with adequate information can progress in
their knowledge, and in their ability to create wealth and enjoy it wisely, much
faster than any previous generation. Internet has proved to be a channel of
universal communication where interest and values coexist in a creative sphere.
However, this may not be true of all societies. The spread of ICT is extremely
uneven. On one hand, it allows countries to modernize their production system
and increase competitiveness faster than in the past. On the other hand, the economies that are unable to adapt to the new technological systems are experiencing backwardness.
Thus, information and communication technology is the essential tool for economic development and it conditions power, knowledge and creativity. Cultural and educational development conditions technological development, which conditions economic development, wh ich conditions social development.
The resultant impact is that this stimulates cultural and educational development.
This, according to Castell s, is the virtuous circle of development.
6B.3 Globalization
Globalization is the word used to describe the growing interdependence of the
world’s economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross -border
trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and
information. Although globalization is multidimensional, it is understo od though
the economic dimension. A global economy is an economy whose core activities
work as a unit in real time on a global scale. This means that the capital markets
are interconnected worldwide. After centuries of technological progress and
advances in international cooperation, the world is more connected than ever.
The multinational corporations in manufacturing services and finance constitute
the core of the world economy. Furthermore, the highest level of science , the one
that shapes and commands overall technological development, is concentrated in a few dozen research centres and milieus of innovation around the globe, munotes.in

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96THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
overwhelmingly in the United States, Western Europe and Japan. Engineers from
other countries such as Russia, India or C hina can attain certain of scientific
development only by linking up with these centres. Thus highly skilled labour is
also increasingly globalized.
Globalization and liberation do not eliminate the nation state, but they redefine its
role and impact its operation. During times of turbulences, national governments
join hands with supranational institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, NAFTA or other trade organizations to which they surrender their sovereignty. So they manage to survive, but un der a new form of state which is
characterized by network of interaction and shared decision making that becomes
the predominant and prevalent political form of the information age: the network
state.
Thus, globalization is a new historical reality which convinces citizens to surrender to markets. It also involves processes of capitalist restructuring, innovation and competition, which are enacted through the powerful medium of
new information and communication technologies.
6B.4 Networking
In the ‘Information Age’ and many subsequent works Castells defines network as
a set of interconnected nodes. Relationship between nodes is asymmetrical, but
they are all necessary for the functioning of the network for the circulation of
money, information, tech nology, goods and services or people throughout the
network.
According to Castell s, if you are connected to the network you can share and
enhance information, and stay updated. But if you are out of network or switched -
off, you are sidelined as everything that counts is organized around a world wide
web of interacting networks.
Networks are the appropriate organization for the constant adaptation and extreme
flexibility required by an interconnected global economy. Networks always existed among humans but now they have become most powerful form for
organizing instrumentally, rather than expressiveness.
With new information and communication technology the network is centralized
and decentralized. It can be coordinated without a center . Instead of instructi ons
we have interactions. Higher level of complexity can be handled without any
major disruptions. The concentration of capital is accompanied by decentralization of organization, in which each component element is given
considerable autonomy. Each element of these networks is usually a part of other
networks, which in turn are linked with other large corporations whose ultimate
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97Chapter 6B: Post Development Theory – Development as Discourse
(Manuel Castells – Globalization And Development)
Networks have the ability to adapt, reform and restructure by changing their
composition, membership and even their tasks. But the human matter on which
the network was living cannot mutate so easily. It becomes trapped, or downgraded or wasted. And this leads to social underdevelopment, precisely at
the threshold of the potentially most promising era of human fulfillment.
6B.5 The Network Society
The term network society was first coined in 1981 by Norwegian sociologist and
social psychologist Stein Braten, to describe a society powered by networked
information and communication. Since then, Castells ha s written extensively
about the network society. He argues that it emerged as human societies moved
from the industrial age into the information age. In this tradition, capitalism is no
longer centered on the production of material goods and services, but on
information and knowledge.
The term network society refers to the social structure of this new age. Castells
termed its economic manifestation, the global informational economy, and its
cultural expression, the culture of real virtuality. A network for Castells is a
decentralized system of nodes through which communication can occur.
Networks now form the new architecture of society, and are the dominant mode
of organizing social relations.
Networks have an open structure and are able to expand and contract as necessary. The communication that occurs across these networks takes place via
nodes and is multidimensional and multidirectional and is not restricted by time
and space. While networks are not new, as they have existed in the forms of models of social organization, their current form is directly related to the information age.
Within the network society, the process of managing information within social
network is made possible through the use of microelectronic based communication technologies (internet, mobile telephones).This enables geographical and spatial mobility resulting in decentralization of communication
and increase in the efficiency of networks. This was not possible in the hierarchical bureaucratic structures which were a part of the earlier societies.
Castells argues that the new social networks are highly effective, dynamic and
innovative and are able to adapt rapidly to changing social conditions.
The ris e of the network society has also led to transformation in social dynamics
and interpersonal relationships, as well as how individuals related to institutions
and organizations. Access to network is no longer dominat ed by one powerful
social group . While e conomically disadvantaged groups may find it di fficult to
use the new networks particu larly amongst the poor in the global south , network s
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98THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Castells also argues that as a result of structu ral changes to society, place and time
are gradually becoming less relevant to social life. This is because the network
society is organized around new forms of time and space: timeless time and the
space of flows. While spatially bound networks which are determined by
proximity and shared ways of being are still considered meaningful, they coexist
with new identities and ways of life that are formed and maintained in the space
of flows.
Space and time are conceptualized differently in the information age. Timeless
time refers to the disordering of social action and interaction. Here, the perception
of time becomes more com pressed resulting in the sequence of life becoming
scrammed and even randomized. Timeless time makes it possible for people to be
in seve ral places at the same time and to participate in more than one activity at
the same time, such as browsing on the internet and listening to music. Timeless
time does not mean the ‘disappearance of linear time’, rather it means the
‘significance of linear time’.
6B.6 Fourth World
Manuel Castell s coined the concept of the Fourth Worl d which is an extension of
the Three -World model. The term Fourth World is used to refer to sub -
populations socially excluded from global society, such as un-contacted people –
hunter -gatherers, nomadic, pastoral, and some subsisten ce farming peoples living
beyond the modern industrial norm. These have lost value for dominant interests
in informational capitalism due to many reasons such as – they are sick o r
mentally unfit, drug addicts, uneducated, homeless and populations, etc. The
inhabitants of the fourth world which Castell s refers to as ‘Multiple blackholes of
social exclusion” , become disconnected, devalued and excluded. This proves that
there is a di rect relationship between the rise of informational and global capitalism and the extraordinary growth of social exclusion and human hopelessness.
6B.7 Conclusion
In the global network society, knowledge and communication are key resources
for development . Castells argues that the challenge is to understand the ways
ICTs can both empower and disempower different groups in society. It would be
necessary to understand the kinks of power relationships that are involved in
communication and how these influence the kind of information that is communicated. In general, a deep social divide between those who obtain
knowledge and skills valued in the global world economy and those who are
disadvantaged in this respect is a fundamental feature of globalization and its
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99Chapter 6B: Post Development Theory – Development as Discourse
(Manuel Castells – Globalization And Development)
6B.8 Summary
Manuel Castells is a Spanish sociologist who is associated with research on the
information society, communication and globalization. 
The idea of capitalism is backed by new information and communication technology that provide roots for new productivity sources and formation of
global economy. 
Internet has proved to be a channel of universal communication where interest
and values coexist in a creative sphere.
A global economy is an economy whose core activities work as a unit in real time
on a global scale. This means that the capital markets are interconnected worldwide.
Networks are the appropriate organization for the constant adaptation and extreme
flexibil ity required by an interconnected global economy.
The term network society was first coined in 1981 by Norwegian sociologist and
social psychologist Stein Braten, to describe a society powered by networked
information and communication.
The rise of the net work society has also led to transformation in social dynamics
and interpersonal relationships, as well as how individuals related to institutions
and organizations.
The term Fourth World is used to refer to sub -populations socially excluded from
global so ciety, such as un -contacted people – hunter -gatherers, nomadic, pastoral,
and some subsistence farming peoples living beyond the modern industrial norm. 
6B.9 Questions
1) Examine the contribution of Manuel Castells to the understanding of the
Network Society.
2) Discuss the key features of Castells theory on globalization and
development
6B.10 References
https://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/F270E0C066F3D
E7780256B67005B728C/%24file/dp114.pdf
https://www.s oas.ac.uk/cedep -demos/000_P523_MKD_K3637 -
Demo/unit1/page_10.htm#:~:text=according%20to%20Castells%3F -
,According%20to%20Castells%2C%20three%20processes%20led%20to%20the
%20emergence%20of,in%20information%20and%20communication%20technol
ogies
™™™
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100THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Unit 7
7 DR. B.R AMBEDKAR AND M.K GANDHI
Unit Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Ambedkar -Gandhi and the Congress
7.3 Ambedkar v/s Gandhi: Social Economic and Political Reform
7.4 Planning and Development: Differing Views
7.5 Conclusion
7.6 Summary
7.7 Questions
7.8 References
7.0 Objectives
x To understand Dr. Ambedkar ’s and Gandhi’s contribution to economic
thought
x To examine the contributions of Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi in development
and nation building
7.1 Introduction
The era after the Second World W ar was a tumultuous one. The countries in Asia
and Africa were decolonized and left to fend for themselves These countries were not only victims of imperialist exploitation, but also suffered from social imbalances because one section of society which co llaborated with the imperialist
powers had siphoned off many benefits at the cost of the weaker sections of the
society. Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi worked towards the same objective, but
differed in terms of their perception of the problem as well as their appro ach to
seek adequate solution.
In this backdrop, there is a need to study the history of economic thought, the
benefits of which are as follows: Firstly, i t gives use new ways of looking at munotes.in

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101Chapter 7: Ambedkar and Gandhi
problems, because analysing failed models can be fruitful in many ways.
Secondly, it gives us a better understanding of economic thought, and thirdly,
scholars and researchers can trace the meaning of concepts over time. It is
necessary to trace the ideas of Dr. Ambedkar , especially those that originated
during the colonia l period, with respect to planning, social reform and economic
development. This section will also provide insights into the way in which Dr.
Ambedkar carves out his differences with Gandhi and other early nationalist
economic thinkers.
Globalization has led state to retreat from its responsibilities. The safety net
provided through social security and welfare investment no longer exists. In this
context the ideas of Dr. Ambedkar command attention. Dadabhai Naoroji is
considered as the most important of early I ndian economists and the symbol of
Indian economic nationalism. Nevertheless, he felt that the Congress could not
take up the social reform of particular classes alone, and must address questions
regarding the entire nation. There was a debate between tw o schools of thought
among Congressmen regarding the issue of social reform versus political reform.
Naoroji’s theory of ‘economic drain’ focused on foreign domination. Naoroji felt
that the Indian rich classes are as much instruments of exploitation as f oreign
capitalists. In contrast to this, Dr. Ambedkar ’s ideas on economic development
and planning emphasized on the need to include suggestions relating to social and
legal reform, especially with reference to one section of Indian society – the
Depressed Classes.
7.2 Dr. Ambedkar - Gandhi and the Congress
In 1917, a resolution on the Depressed Classes was passed by the Congress. The
resolution urged upon the people of India to work toward removing all disabilities
imposed by custom on the Depressed Classes. It observed that these disabilities
are oppressive in nature and subject the classes to unimaginable hard ship and
inconvenience. Gandhi’s Constructive Programme (1992) included one resolution on the Depressed Classes: to organize the depressed classes for a better
life, and provide them with facilities which the other citizens enjoy. However, it
is Dr. Ambedkar ’s contention that Gandhi d id little for the ‘Untouchables’. The
Congress session was led by Mrs. Annie Besant and Dr. Ambedkar has quoted
her earlier remarks justifying separate schooling for the Depressed Classes.
Dr. Ambedkar stated that the Congress only passed the resolution on the
Depressed Classes because they wanted the support of the Depressed Classes for
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102THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
India. In 1917, the Depressed Classes in Bombay asked for separate electorates,
free and compulsor y education and removal of all disabilities. This support was
on the condition that the Depressed Classes agree to give support to the Congress -
League Scheme. The Congress resolution was considered a mere formality and
as a part of the contract with the Depressed Classes negotiated through Narayan
Chandavarkar, an ex -President of the Congress and President of the Depressed
Classes Mission Society.
7.3 Dr. Ambedkar V/S Gandhi: Social, Economic and Political
Reform
Dr. Ambedkar ’s ideas about economic development were always associated with
social reform. His emphasis was on the special legal, social and economic protections for marginalized groups. He was in favour of targeted development. It would be difficult to understand Dr. Ambedkar ’s ideas without reference t o
what he has to say about Gandhi. Rowena Robinson has referred to Dr.
Ambedkar ’s speeches and writings titled ‘What Congress and Gandhi have done
to the Untouchables’ and made some observations.
According to Dr. Ambedkar , Indians had always understood reconstruction of
Indian social and economic life in terms of individualism versus collectivism,
capitalism versus socialism and conservatism versus radicalism. He observed that
the new kind of ‘ism’, h ad emerged in the form of Gandhism which was projected
as an alternative to Marxism. Gandhi took over the economic drain theory,
propounded by Naoroji . In 1867, Dadabhai Naoroji put forward the ‘drain of
wealth’ theory in which he stated that Britain wa s completely draining India. So
poverty was caused by the colonial rule that was draining the wealth and
prosperity of India. Gandhi considered himself an heir to the nineteenth century
thought of Naoroji.
Gandhi envisaged development that centred arou nd village self -sufficiency,
swaraj , and trusteeship. He believed that India did not need to be industrialized
in the modern sense of the terms, this fact being reflected in his stern opposition
to the mills and industry. He objected, not to machinery, b ut to the craze for
machinery, which he linked to violence and drudgery. His model of development
revolved around the revival of village communities in which ‘man’ is at the centre
of activities as against the mindless or exploitative nature of machines. Quoting
the example of the charkha or spinning wheel, he valued the goods which were
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103Chapter 7: Ambedkar and GandhiGandhi viewed trusteeship as a moral responsibility. According to him trusteeship was voluntary. Labour should not be seen as a means to ear pr ofit but
as equal partners in a common enterprise. Set on these lines, industrial relations
would be based on cooperation and not on conflict. He felt that the State must not
be allowed to dispossess capital. There could be protest against exploitative
capital using non -violent, non -cooperation, or mobilizing public opinion, but
never the forceful deprivation of possessions. Gandhi’s model of economic development was devoid of centralized planning. Any model of development which includes planning auto matically becomes
centralized. He did not agree with the notion of paternalistic state. He felt that
villagers were reduced to mere passive recipients of state care and lost all sense of
autonomy and movement in the right direction. This would strip the m of their
dignity, freedom of thought and expression. Gandhi was suspicious of the
endowing the state with unlimited power. On the contrary, small and appropriate
technologies would give people autonomy and help relocate people to the centre.
On the o ther hand, Dr. Ambedkar felt that Gandhism is a social and economic
policy that it does not benefit the marginalized group in a substantial way. Gandhi’s ideas formed a traditionalist view that Dr. Ambedkar regarded as both
anti-modern and anti -democratic. Dr. Ambedkar ’s hallmark was that he believed moving in a direction of social reform and transformation using legal and economic means. This path was not followed by the other nationalists, neither
Gandhi nor Nehru. Dr. Ambedkar also critiques Gandhi’s opposition to machinery. He challenges Gandhi’s idolization of the Charkha and his views of
modern, western civilization as being satanic. Dr. Ambedkar argues that Gandhian economics is not sound and viable and wil l deprive the common man of
fulfil ling his dream for freedom and a better life.
Gandhi’s views on the ills of machinery have been echoed in the writings of
Ruskin, Rousseau and Tolstoy. However, Dr. Ambedkar observes that modernity
has produces many problems, but arg ues that the problems we need to work on
are the problems of private property and the pursuit of personal profit and not the ones relating to modern machinery or civilization. Arguing in favour of modernity, Dr. Ambedkar states that modernity holds the promis e of altering the
social organization and in effect benefitting all. He further states that Gandhism
reduces the common man to a life of drudgery, like an animal. Dr. Ambedkar felt
that for culture to be nourished, leisure time is needed. Therefore, machine s are
needed to reduce and replace toil. According to Dr. Ambedkar , Gandhian
economics and social policy are necessarily non -democratic in nature. A democratic society must use machines and ensure less toil and more leisure to all. munotes.in

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104THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Dr. Ambedkar , in his second s et of criticisms against Gandhism brings focus on
another marginalized group – labour. Gandhi proposes to eliminate class war and
class struggle between employers and employees and landlords and tenants
through non -violent means. He felt that two paths a re open before India; either to
adopt the Western principle of “might is right” or adopt the Eastern principle that
‘trust alone conquers’. Gandhi’s notion of trusteeship focuses on goodwill of
employers and considers it of paramount in maintaining harmon y in the industrial
sphere. Referring to the labour unrest in the textile industry, Gandhi felt that non -
violent action or satyagraha is the only acceptable path. He felt that the capitalists
do not engage or fight on the basis of monetary strength alone. They also possess
intelligence and tact, which the labour does not possess. Thus strikers should
avoid using brute force or violence and strike only for real grievances and real
demands, which are articulated before hand. He voices similar views on the
problems between the kisans (peasant farmers) and zamindars. He states that the
Kisan movement must be confined to improvement of status of kisans and
betterment of relations between zamindars and themselves. Kisans may suspend
payment of taxes only when absolutely essential. The interests of the zamindars
need to be protected; therefore we should not deprive zamindars of their rent. It
was evident that Gandhi did not want to hurt the propertied classes.
Gandhi’s idea of trusteeship relied on voluntari sm and spiritual obligation.
Gandhi insisted on a class structure and treated this as a permanent feature of
Indian social organization. He felt that since duties and occupations of persons
were fixed, caste helped prevent competition and class struggle. Dr. Ambedkar on the other hand believed that the division of classes of society must be abolished. Caste is not the only mechanism through which social functions can
be fulfilled, instead, it breeds corruption. Gandhian notion of caste system is
complete a nd unquestioning of restrictions on inter -dining or inter -caste marriage.
Dr. Ambedkar finds such ideas revolting. To Gandhi, caste is a form of control,
which puts limits on enjoyment. He sees it as a natural order of society. While
Dr. Ambedkar sees caste as a legal system maintained by force.
Seen from a broader perspective of the nation, Dr. Ambedkar feels that there is no
major obstacle to economic development than caste. Devoid of any rational
principles, Caste system forces a division of both labour and labourers and
assigns occupations by virtue of birth rather than skill, knowledge or talent. From
the economic point of view, the mobility of capital is also restricted for it is
constrained by caste boundaries. Untouchability is a system of unmitigated and
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105Chapter 7: Ambedkar and Gandhi
Dr. Ambedkar viewed G andhism as a paradox. While on one hand it sought to
destroy foreign domination, on the other, it sought to preserve the internal domination of one class over another. By this logic, Harijans could aspire only to
serve others and not to own property. Dr. Ambedkar was wary of the psychological, moral and socially detrimental impacts this would leave on the
marginalized sections. In this context, he felt that there should be legal provisions
and re servations for the Depressed Classes in terms of recruitment, separate
electorates and reservation in public services. Apart f rom a monetary allocation
for the higher education of Scheduled Castes, land should also be set apart of the
SCs to live in their own villages. In the All India Scheduled Caste Federation of
September 1944, Dr. Ambedkar proposed that there should be safeguards for the
untouchables in the new constitution. This clearly shows that for Dr. Ambedkar ,
the issue of reform and development did no t end with economic issues, but had
social and political dimensions too.
7.4 Planning and Development: Differing Views
We have reached a point in hi story where were need to reassess the role of the state in a globalizing economy. Globalization has increased transnational linkages and has led to near demise of the nation -state. The Indian state has
withdrawn from the social sector in the years after liberalization, we are faced
with an agrarian crises while land reforms have failed in most states. With the
‘top-bottom’ model clearly failing, there are calls for decentralization and putting
development in the hands of people’s participation. This puts forth a strong case
for Gandhi ’s vision of building self -sufficient village communities. There is a
need to rethink development and the relationship between state, social change and
democracy.
Dr. Ambedkar ’s view had emerged from his experience and understanding of the
centuries -old opp ression of the Dalits. Gandhi’s insistence on changing people’s
tastes and habits on moral persuasion as a mode of change is unreliable and
unimaginable for Dr. Ambedkar . Dr. Ambedkar was well aware that society left
on its own will would hardly give up either i ts class or caste privileges. So he
believed that the State needed to play a proactive role of protecting marginalized
citizens. Dr. Ambedkar observed that both the State and Society were institutions
which had the potential for misuse or abuse of power. In this case Gandhi would
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Dr. Ambedkar was in favour of producing a ‘socialist’ economy, and not reinforcing the position of the rich classes. As a maker of the Indian Constitution,
Dr. Ambedkar proposed that:
1. The important industries should be owned and managed by the State
2. Basic and non -key industries should be owned and run by the State or
corporations established by the State
3. Insurance should be nationalized and a monopoly of the State. Every adult
citizen should have a life insurance policy according to their wages.
4. Agriculture should be a State industry and should be organized by the State
on the following lines:
i. The State shall divide the land acquired into farms of standard size s
which can be let out for cultivation to the residents of the village as
tenants. The farm shall be cultivated as a collective farm, according
to rules and directions issued by the Government, and the tenants
shall share the farm produce among themselves after payment of
charges which are levied on the farm.
ii. The land will be distributed to the villagers without any discrimination on the basis of caste or creed. The distribution will be
in such a manner that there will be no landlord, no tenant, and no
landless labourer.
iii. The State needs to take the responsibility to finance the cultivation of
the collective farm by providing supply of water, draft, animals,
implements, manure, seeds, etc.
Thus, in both sectors; agriculture and industry, it was the obliga tion of the State to
provide capital and other provisions. For Dr. Ambedkar , it is the fundamental
duty of the State to protect its citizens from economic exploitation. Such
planning should lead to the greatest productivity and benefit to the society, while
ensuring equitable distribution of wealth. However, it is to be noted that Dr.
Ambedkar was not against private enterprise, but did not want the State to delegate private persons to govern others.
7.5 Conclusion
For both Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi the path to nati on building was diverse. Dr.
Ambedkar ’s understanding of economic development was the removal of poverty, inequality and exploitation. He emphasized the varied aspects of munotes.in

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107Chapter 7: Ambedkar and Gandhidevelopment and exploitation including the economic, social, religious and political. In terms of his strategies, Dr. Ambedkar is much more insistent than
Gandhi on bringing to the fore the extent of exploitation of the masses; the labour
and marginalized castes; by the privileged capitalists and elite classes. Dr.
Ambedkar argues that poverty is d irectly linked to exploitation and that economic
development and planning must eradicate this exploitation through explicitly and
targeted measures. Dr. Ambedkar also argue d that it is not enough for the state to
create a ‘safety -net’ or a ‘welfare -basket’ for the poor. In this day and time the
non-interventionist philosophy of the state has left the poor, the landless labourers, small farmers and unorganized labour to the mercies of globalization. This has created illiberal dictatorship that Dr. Ambedkar had warn ed us of.
7.6 Summary
Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi worked towards the same objective, but differed in
terms of their perception of the problem as well as their approach to seek
adequate solution.
Dr. Ambedkar ’s ideas about economic development were always associated with
social reform. His emphasis was on the special legal, social and economic
protections for marginalized groups.
Gandhi envisaged development that centred around village self -sufficie ncy,
swaraj , and trusteeship. He believed that India did not need to be industrialized
in the modern sense of the terms, this fact being reflected in his stern opposition
to the mills and industry.
Dr. Ambedkar ’s hallmark was that he believed moving in a dire ction of social
reform and transformation using legal and economic means.
Gandhi’s views on the ills of machinery have been echoed in the writings of
Ruskin, Rousseau and Tolstoy.
Gandhi’s notion of trusteeship focuses on goodwill of employers and considers it
of paramount in maintaining harmony in the industrial sphere.
Dr. Ambedkar was wary of the psychological, moral and socially detrimental
impacts this would leave on the marginalized sections. Therefore he proposed
various provisions to safeguard t he rights of the marginalized sections. The Indian state has withdrawn from the social sector in the years after liberalization. There is a need to rethink development and the relationship between state, social change and democracy. munotes.in

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108THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
7.7 QUESTIONS
x Examin e the notion of development as espoused by Dr. Ambedkar and
Gandhi.
x Discuss Dr. Ambedkar ’s and Gandhi’s idea of planning and economic
development.
7.8 References
Rowena Robinson : Planning and Economic Development: Dr. Ambedkar
versus Gandhi, available at:
https://www.academia.edu/6890851/ Ambedkar _Nehru_Gandhi_Planning_and_D
evelopment
https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/gandhian -perspective -of-development.html

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109Chapter 8A: Social Capital Theory – Bourdieu
Unit 8
8A SOCIAL CAPITAL - BOURDIEU, PUTNAM
8(A) SOCIAL CAPITAL THEORY – BOURDIEU
Unit Structure
8A.1 Social Capital - Introduction
8A.1.1 Defining Social Capital
8A.2 Social Capital Theory – Pierre Bourdieu
8A.2.1. Theoretical Concepts
8A.2.2 Transformations and Conversions
8A.3 Critique
8A.4 Conclusion
8A.2 Social Capital Theory - Putnam
8A.2.1 Variations of Social Capital
8A.2.2 Criticisms
8A.3 Conclusion
8A.4 Summary
8A.5 Questions
8A.6 References
8A.0 Objectives
• To understand the concept of Social Capital.
• To examine the key proponents of the Social Capital Theory
8A.1 Introduction
‘Social capital’ theory can be traced back to the works of three main authors –
James Coleman, Robert Putnam and Pierre Bourdieu. In this section we will take a
brief look at the Social Capital theory and then focus on the contribution of Putnam
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110THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
The concept of social c apital came to be widely used in academic circles only
recently, but the term has been in us e for almost a century while the ideas behind it
go back still further. “Social capital” may first have appeared in a book published
in 1916 in the United States that discussed how neighbours could work together to
oversee schools. Author Lyda Hanifan refe rred to social capital as “those tangible
assets [that] count for most in the daily lives of people: namely goodwill,
fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families
who make up a social unit”. Social capital can be understo od as the links, shared
values and understandings in society that enable individuals and g roups to trust
each other and work together.
Social capital comprises the potential of individuals to secure welfares and
formulate explanations to complications through involvement in social networks.
Social ca pital orbits around three proposi tions: 1) interconnected networks of
relationships between individuals and groups (social ties or social participation), 2)
levels of trust that characterize these ties, and 3) resources or benefits that are both
gained and transferred by virtue of social ties and social participation.
The concept of social capital draws atte ntion to the effects and consequences of
human sociability and connectedness and their relations to the individual and social
structure. The concept is not really new. In various forms, social capital has been
theorized by Durkheim, Marx, Weber and Tönnies . Other authors have convincingly traced these themes to more recent and diverse ideologies . The
treatments of social capital by Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam may have some
common threads, but their different underlying ideologies make integration of the
concept difficult.
Despite its current popularity, the term does not embody any idea that is radically
new to sociologists. That contribution and participation in groups can have positive
consequences for the individual and th e community is a primary notion. This idea
dates back to Durkheim's emphasis on group life as an antidote to anomie and self -
destruction and to Marx's distinction between an atomized class -in-itself and a
mobilized and effective class -for-itself.
8A.1.1 Defining Social Capital
Coleman defines social capital as “social organization constitutes social capital,
facilitating the achievement of goals that could not be achieved in its absence or
could be achieved only at a high er cost” . Along the same lines, Putnam, Leonardi
and Nanetti (1993) provide a similar characterization, “social capital refers to
features of social organization, such as trust, norms, and networks that can improve
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111Chapter 8A: Social Capital Theory – Bourdieu
In his definition of social capital, Fukuyama (1997) argues that o nly certain shared
norms and values should be regarded as social capital: “Social capital can be
defined simply as the existence of a certain set of informal rules or norms shared
among members of a group that permits cooperation among them. The sharing of
values and norms does not in itself produce social capital, because the values may
be the wrong ones. The norms that produce social capital must substantively
include virtues like truth -telling, the meeting of obligation s and reciprocity” .
Finally, one finds in a recent book -length treatment, Lin (2001), “social capital may
be defined operationally as resources embedded in social networks and accessed
and used by actors for actions . Thus, the concept has two important components:
(1) it repr esents resources embedded in social relations rather than individuals, and
(2) access and use of such resources reside with actors” .
From these definitions, we can distinguish three main underlying ideas: (1) Social
capital generates positive externalities for members of a group; (2) These externalities are achieved through shared trust, norms, and values and their
consequent effects on expectations and behaviour; (3) Shared trust, norms, and
values arise from informal forms of organizations based on social networks and
associations.
The study of social capital is that of network -based processes that generate
beneficial outcomes through norms and trust.
8A.2 Social Capital Theory – Pierre Bourdieu
Pierre Bourdieu (1930 – 2002) was a French sociologist and pu blic intellectual
whose main concern was to understand the dynamics of power in society. His work
on the sociology of culture continues to be highly influential. Bourdieu was
concerned with the nature of culture, and how it is reproduced and transformed.
One of his key formulations was the relationship between different types of such
capital, including economic, social, cultural and symbolic.
Bourdieu’s conceptualization of social capital is based on the recognition that
capital is not only e conomic and that social exchanges are not purely self -interested
and need to encompass ‘capital and profit in all their forms’. Bourdieu has
borrowed from the theories of social reproduction and symbolic p ower. Bourdieu’s
theory helps us to fill some impor tant methodological and conceptual gaps.
Bourdieu’s main distinction is his belief that social capital operates as a tool of
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According to Bourdieu , social capital is defined as “ the aggregate of the actual
potential resources which a re linked to possession of a durable network of more of
less institutionalized relationships of mutu al acquaintance or recognition” Social
capital for Bourdieu is interrelated to the size of network and the volume of past
collected social capital demanded by the agent. Bourdieu perceives clear profit as
being the chief purpose that actors take part in and maintain associations in a
network. That profit is not necessarily economic, but according to Bourdieu, it can
be reducible to economic profit. The actors ’ potential for accumulating social profit
and control of capital are differentially circulated. This differential circulation of
potential and control is a fundamental notion in Bourdieu’s theories of social
reproduction and social space.
Check Your Progress
1. What is meant by Social Capital?
____________________________________________________________ ___
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8A.2.1 Theoretical Concepts
Three key theoretical concepts need to be explained in relation to Bourdieu’s
perspective on social capital: 1) Habitus; 2) capitals; 3) fields.
Habitus: Bourdieu uses the concept of Habitus to explain how objective structures
and subj ective perceptions impact upon human actions. The concept can be
understood as a set of regulatory schemes of thought and action, which upto some
extent, is result of prior experience. Habitus consists of ‘a set of durable,
transposable dispositions’ which control and regulate mental activity to the point
where individuals are often unconsciously aware of their influence. In essence,
habitus concept tries to explain how social and cultural messages (both actual and
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113Chapter 8A: Social Capital Theory – Bourdieu
it allows the individuals to mediate or negotiate these messages, even to the point
of resisting embodied beliefs. The habitus is influenced by social, cultural and
historical contexts. For example, some groups are more capable of mobilizing their
own deeply held beliefs on an issue. Often such values are shaped by a general set
of outlooks in their immediate environment. These values do not operate at the
conscious level, but may be deeply embodied within certain individual’s cultural
set-up. Social class factors (or other factors) play a strong role in guiding mediated
thought and action. Bourdieu refers to this as ‘class habitus’.
Capitals: The second important theme in Bourdieu’s theory is that of Capit als.
Depending on the field in which it functions, and at the cost of the more or less
expensive transformations which are the precondition for its efficacy in the field in
question, capital can present itself in three fundamental guises: as economic, soci al,
cultural and symbolic capital .
(FRQRPLFFDSLWDO refers to income and other financial resources and assets. It is
most liquid capital which is immediately and directly convertible into money and
may be institutionalized in the form of property rights. Economic capital on its own
is not sufficient as it cannot buy ‘status’ or position. For this it relies on the
interaction with other forms of capital.
SRFLDOFDSLWDO , made up of social obligations (“connections”), which is convertible,
in certain conditions, into economic capital and may be institutionalized in the form
of a title of nobility. This consists of a set of lasting social relations, networks and
contacts.
CXOWXUDOFDSLWDO is manifested through three forms: REMHFWLILHGHPERGLHGDQG
LQVWLWXWLRQDOL]HG . Each form serves as ‘instruments for the appropriation of symbolic wealth socially designated as worthy of being sought and possessed’. The
objectified for manifest in items which are concrete. The embodied form is
connected to the abstrac t form, while the institutionalized form represents the
respective institutions.
6\PEROLF&DSLWDO is used by Bourdieu to explain the ways in which capitals are
perceived in the social structure e.g., the status value attached to some objects,
places or va lues. In relation to capitals, all forms are key factors that define
positions and possibilities for individuals engaged in any field. Moreover, there is
a ‘multiplier effect’ emerges in relation to any form of capital accumulation i.e. one
capital often e xchanges for another.
Fields : In Bourdieuian language Fields relates to a structured space of forces and struggles consisting of an ordered system and an identifiable network of relationships that impact upon the habitus of individuals. According to Bourdieu, munotes.in

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114THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
all forms of capital, by being progressively related to situations in social space, act
in two ways concurrently: they reproduce all forms of capital and they use these
resources to surround the actor’s position further. So, situations of actors are both
the reason and the result of all forms of previous build -ups of capital, mainly social
capital. Bourdieu claims that as certain individuals enter the field, they (consciously
or unconsciously) are more aware of the rules of the game and therefore have a
greater capacity to manipulate these rules through their established capital appropriation.
For Bourdieu, social space is defined by the complex grouping of actor’s positions.
Those actors with prior qualifications or strong occupational social status will
engage in strategies. Strategies in the actual or symboli c form are employed by
individuals to distinguish themselves from other groups and give themselves a
vantage point. Such strategies can only become meaningful if they exhibit symbolic
relevance. Symbolic power is said to have its greatest expression in gen eral
acceptance that ‘the rules of the game are fair’. Bourdieu uses the term ‘Misrecognition’ to suggest that some individuals who are in disadvantaged
contexts ‘play the game without questioning the rules’. This amounts to, what
Bourdieu terms, ‘symbolic violence’.
Check Your Progress
1. Can you explain Habitus, Capitals and Fields.
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8A.2.2. Transformations and Conversions
The different types of capital can be derived from economic capital, but only at the
cost of a more or less great effort of transformation, which is needed to produce the
type of power effective in the field in question. For example, there are some goods munotes.in

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115Chapter 8A: Social Capital Theory – Bourdieu
and services to which economic capital gives immediate ac cess, without secondary
costs. Other goods and services can be obtained only by virtue of a social capital
of relat ionships or social oblig ations. Such relationships are cultivated over a period
of time and for their own sake (and not for the sake of economic benefits). These
cannot act instantaneously, at the appropriate moment, unless they have been
established and maintained for a long time, and therefore outside their period of
use, i.e., at the cost of an investment in sociability . This is necessarily long -term
because th e time lag is one of the factors while converting a pure and simple debt
into that recognition of nonspecific indebtedness which is called gratitude. In
contrast to the cynical but also economical transparency of economic exchange, in
which equivalents cha nge hands in the same instant, the essential ambiguity of
social exchange, which presupposes misrecognition, in other words, a form of faith
and of bad faith (in the sense of self -deception), presupposes a much more subtle
economy of time.
It has been seen , for example, that the transformation of economic capital into
social capital pres upposes a specific labour. This requires a substantial expenditure
of time, attention, care, concern, wh ich, for example, is seen in the effort to
personalize a gift. This has the effect of transfiguring the purely monetary import
of the exchange and, by the same token, the very meaning of the exchange. From a
narrowly economic standpoint, this effort is bound to be seen as pure wastage, but
in the terms of the logic of socia l exchanges, it is a so lid investment. The profits
will appear, in the long run, in monetary or other form. Similarly, if the best
measure of cultural capital is undoubtedly the amount of time devoted to acquiring
it, this is because the transformation of economic capital into cultural capital presupposes an expenditure of time that is made possible by possession of economic capital. More precisely, it is because the cultural capital that is effectively
transmitted within the family itself depends not only on the quantity of cultural
capital, itself accumulated by spending time, that the domestic group possess, but
also on the usable time (particularly in the form of the mother’s free time) available
to it (by virtue of its economic capital, which enables it to purchase the time of
others) to ensure the transmission of this capital and to delay entry into the labour
market through prolonged schooling, a credit which pays off, if at all, only in the
very long term.
8A.3 Critique
Bourdieu’s theory has been critiqued as reductionist for benefitting economic
capital as the crucial source and ultimate interchange form of all other capitals.
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116THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
theorists, ) an interest -bound, utility -orientation in all human action. In Bourdieu’s
theory , social capital develops vastly context -specific as a straight result of the
relativity amongst the social, cultural, economic and symbolic arenas. This makes
any automatic accumulation of social capital challenging.
8A.4 Conclusion
Various disciplines of social sciences have applied and analysed the concept of
social capital. Social capital is seen as an important resource which lies in social
relations, ties or connections in a social or network structure embedded with certain
elements such as trust, shared norms, cooperation, etc. In some cases it consists of
certain important characteristics of physical and human capital. Its nature ranges
from pure private good to merit and public good, depending on the level of
beneficiaries and exclusivity.
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117Chapter 8B: Social Capital Theory – Putnam
Unit 8
8B SOCIAL CAPITAL - BOURDIEU, PUTNAM
8(B) SOCIAL CAPITAL THEORY – PUTNAM
Unit Structure
8B.0 Objectives
8B.1 Variations of Social Capital
8B.2 Criticisms
8B.3 Conclusion
8B.4 Summary
8B.5 Questions
8B.6 References
8B.0 Objectives
Putnam’s theory of social capital is rooted in the functionalist perspective as its
central focus is on social integration. But it is further more influenced by notions
of pluralism and communitarianism. His core idea is that a well-functioning
region’s economy ; along with a high level of political integration are the result of
that region’s capacity to successfully amass social capital.
Social capital has three components: 1) moral obligations and norms; 2) social
values (with a focus on trust); and 3) social networks (membership of voluntary
associat ions).Social capital in this format is important for the creation and nurturing of civil communities and civil society in general. According to Putnam,
the productive capacity is manifested through its capacity to ‘facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit’. However, the productive capacity can be threatened. The threat comes from changing social trends which
appear to indicate that such ‘coordination and cooperation’ is on the decline.
Putnam observes that social capital is eroded in modern societies. He cites the
example of America in terms of the falling participation numbers in various
organizations. Union membership, net religious involvement, parent -teacher
organ izations and group associations have seen a decline over the years. There munotes.in

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118THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
may be some counter trends, but the general observation is that social capital is
being eroded. This can have disastrous consequences and can be noted in the
loosening of bonds within the family and a decline in social trust and relationships within communities.
In recent years, the term social capital entered the popular imagination with the
publication in 2000 of Robert Putnam’s bestseller, Bowling Alone: The Collapse
and Revival of American Community . Putnam argued that while Americans have
become wealthier their sense of community has withered. Cities and traditional
suburbs have given way to “edge cities” and “exurbs” – vast, anonymous places
where people sleep and work and do little else. As people spend more and more
time in the office, commuting to work and watching TV alone, there’s less time
for joining community groups and voluntary organisations, and socialising with
neighbours, friends and even family.
To demonstr ate this decline, Putnam looked at the way Americans play 10 -pin
bowling, a sport with a big following in the United States. He found that although
bowling has never been bigger, Americans are no longer competing against each
other in the once -popular loca l leagues. Instead, they are – literally – bowling
alone. Putnam argued that the decline of the community networks that once led
Americans to bowl together represents a loss of social capital.
In Putnam’s analysis , social capital is pre -eminent from a feat ure of individuals
and small groups in local communities to a feature of large population masses. Fukuyama observes that social capital is a feature of a stable democracy. Therefore, those citizens who obey norms of strong associational contribution and
who are owners of high social capital are certainly more inclined to work together
on economic and political projects.
One more reason is concrete. Social capital decreases transaction costs linked
with formal harmonisation instrum ents. Therefore social capi tal is regarded as
‘universal lubricant’ of social relations. The informality that is produced in soc ial
capital relations makes the functioning of contemporary economies relatively
simple . Social capital in this respect may function either as bridging or as
bonding. The first type of capital enlarges networks and linkages while the second
increa ses their interconnection. Thus one should presume a positive link between
indicators or types of social capital and outputs such as civic engagement,
economic pros perity and growth and level of (democratic) citizenship.
8B.1 Variations of Social Capital
There’s much debate over the various forms that social capital takes, but one
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119Chapter 8B: Social Capital Theory – Putnam
Bonds : Links to people based on a sense of common identity (“people like us”) –
such as family, close friends and people who share our culture or ethnicity.
Bridges : Links that stretch beyond a shared sense of identity, for example to
distant friends, colleagues and associates.
Linkages : Links to people or groups further up or lower down the social ladder.
The potential benefits of social capital can be seen by looking at social bonds.
Friends and families can help us in lots of ways – emotionally, socially and
economically. In the United Kingdom, for example, a government survey found that more people secure jobs through personal contacts than through advertisements. Such support can be even more important in countries where the
rule of law is weak or where the st ate offers few social services. There are
numerous cases wherein clan members and kinship group fund the education of
relatives and find them work, and look after orphans and the elderly.
But bonds can hinder people, too. Almost by definition, tightly knit communities,
such as some immigrant groups, have strong social bonds , with individuals
relying heavily for support on relatives or people who share their ethnicity.
Simultaneously, their lack of social bridges can turn them into eternal outsiders
from wid er society, sometimes hindering their economic progress. Of course,
social exclusion works both ways: tightly knit groups may exclude themselves,
but they may also be excluded by the wider community.
Like almost any form of capital, social capital can also be put to ends that harm
other people. The links and trust that allow drug cartels and criminal gangs to
operate are a form of social capital, albeit one that the rest of us could do without.
Compani es and organisations can also suffer if they have the wrong sort of social
capital – relationships between colleagues that are too inward -looking and fail to
take account of what’s going on in the wider world. Conversely, social capital can
also help busin esses. In Bowling Alone , Putnam attributes a large part of the
success of Silicon Valley in the United States to formal and informal co -operation
between start -up companies in the area.
8B.2 Criticisms
The concept of social capital has its critics. One arg ument that is made is that
Putnam got it wrong when he said social engagement is eroding. Instead, it may
just be evolving. Rather than joining groups in our neighbourhoods, like bowling
leagues, we’re now joining groups made up of people who share our bel iefs –
fighting for environmental protection or gay rights, for instance – rather than our
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120THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
– can exist in the “real” world. But they may also exist only virtually on the
Inter net, which is arguably creating whole new “communities” of people who
may never physically meet but who share common values and interests. Not
everyone, however, is convinced that these new forms of community have the
same value as more traditional forms.
Critics also argue that the term “social capital” is vague, hard to measure, poorly
defined and perhaps not even a form of capital at all. Economists often argue that
capital involves making some form of sacrifice in the present – like studying in
school t o raise your human capital when you could be playing outside – to
produce gains in the future. Despite the debate, social capital is a concept that’s
attracting interest among politicians and policy makers. One reason for this is the
increasing concern ove r marginalisation in our societies.
8B.3 Conclusion
The knowledge economy puts a premium on human capital and can worsen the
job prospects of people with limited education, who are also often the least well
off in our societies. Some analysts speak of the emergence of an “underclass” in
developed countries, a group that is outside the mainstream of society and has
little chance of re -entering it, both because of a lack of human capital and,
arguably, the “right” sort of social capital. Indeed, that twin absence may not be a
coincidence.
8B.4 Summary
The concept of social capital draws attention to the effects and consequences of
human sociability and connectedness and their relations to the individual and
social structure
Bourdieu’s conceptualization of social capital is based on the recognition that
capital is not only economic and that social exchanges are not purely self -
interested and need to encompass ‘capital and profit in all their forms’.
Bourdieu uses the concept of Habitus to explain how objecti ve structures and
subjective perceptions impact upon human actions.
The second important theme in Bourdieu’s theory is that of Capitals, which can
present itself in three fundamental guises: as economic, social, cultural and
symbolic capital. munotes.in

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121Chapter 8B: Social Capital Theory – Putnam
In Bourdieuian language Fields relates to a structured space of forces and struggles consisting of an ordered system and an identifiable network of relationships that impact upon the habitus of individuals.
Putnam’s Social capital has three components: 1) moral obligat ions and norms; 2)
social values (with a focus on trust); and 3) social networks (membership of
voluntary associations).
There’s much debate over the various forms that social capital takes, but one
fairly straightforward approach divides it into three main categories: Bonds,
Bridges and Linkages.
8B.5 Questions
1. Elaborate on the concept of Social capital.
2. Examine the key id eas of social capital formulated by Bourdieu.
3. Discuss the significance of community relationships in understanding social
capital as formulated by Putnam.
8B.6 References
https://home.iitk.ac.in/~amman/soc748/bourdieu_forms_of_capital.pdf
https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/bourdieu -on-social -capital -theory -of-
capital/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232978586_Bringing_in_Bourdieu's_th
eory_of_social_capital_Renewing_learnin g_partnership_approaches_to_social_in
clusion/link/53e4d3dd0cf25d674e94f203/download
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122THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Unit 9
9A AMARTYA SEN – CAPABILITY APPROACH
Unit Structure
9A.0 Objectives
9A.1 Capability Approach – Introduction
9A.2 Core Concepts of the Capability Approach
9A.2.1 Functionings and Capabilities
9A.2.2 Capabilities as Real Freedoms
9A.2.3 Conversion Factors
9A.2.4 The means -ends Distinction
9A.2.5 Acknowledging human diversity and agency
9A.2.6 A metric for interpersonal comparisons
9A.3 Conclusion
9A.4 Summary
9A.5 Questions
9A.6 References
9A.0 Objectives
• To understand the relevance of Capability Approach in development thought
• To examine key components of the Capability Approach
9A.1 Capability Approach - Introduction
The Capability Approach was put forth by Amartya Sen in the 1980s, and remains
most closely associated with him. It has been applied in the context of human
development, for example, by the United Nations Development Programme, and is
considered as a broader and deeper alternative to economic metrics such as growth
in GDP per capita. Sen was concerned about the crudeness of the Human
Deve lopment Index (HDI), but agreed upon Mahbub ul Haq’s argument for a
composite index of human well -being that could compete directly with the crude
GDP and its influence in development thinking. Over the last decade Amartya
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123Chapter 9A: Amartya Sen – Capability Approach
economic frameworks for thinking about issues such as poverty, inequality and
human development.
There may be some philosophical disagreements about the best description of the
capability approach; nevertheless, it is generally seen as a conceptual framework
for a range of normative exercises . The Capability Approach is a theoretical
framework that involves two normative claims : 1) the assessment of the individual
well-being; 2) the evaluation and assessment of s ocial arrangements; and 3) the
design of policies and proposals about social change in society . This approach is different from other approaches such as utilitarianism or resourcism, which emphases on particular well -being or the accessibility of means to the worthy life,
respectively.
While the roots of the capability approach can be traced back to Aristotle, Adam
Smith and Karl Marx, it is possible to identify more recent links. Economist -
philosopher Amartya Sen pioneered the approach and philosopher Martha Nussbau m and a growing number of scholars across the humanities and social
sciences have c ontributed to its development such as Martha Nussbaum , Elizabeth
Anderson, John Alexander, Sabina Alkire and others). The capability approach
states that freedom to achieve well -being is concerned with what people are able to
do and to be, and by effect, the kind of life they are able to lead.
9A.2 - Core Concepts of the Capability Approach
9A.2.1 Functionings and Capabilities as doings and beings
At the centre of the capability approach is a normative commitment to understand
well-being in terms of capabilities and functionings. Functionings are ‘doings and
beings’, that is, various states of human beings and activities that a person engages
in such as being well nourished, getting married, being educated and travelling. On
the other hand, capabilities are the real, or substantive, opportunit y that they have
(or are available) to achieve these doings and beings. The person’s ‘capability -set’
denotes the set of capabilities that he or she can choose from, while the term ‘basic
capabilities’ has two alternate meanings: a) “the innate equipment o f individuals
that is necessary for developing the more advanced capabilities” such as the
capability of speech and language, which is present in a newborn but needs to be
nurtured ; or b) freedom to do some basic things considered necessary for survival
and to avoid or escape poverty or other serious deprivation. Thus, f unctionings are
capabilities that have been realized.
In this way, the capability approach changes the focus from means (the resources
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do and be with those resources and goods). This shift in approach valid since
resources and goods alone cannot ensure that people are able to convert them in
actual doings and beings.
The Capability Approach focuses directly on t he quality of life that individuals are
actually able to achieve. This quality of life is analysed in terms of the core concepts
of ‘functionings’ and ‘capability’.
Functionings are states of ‘being and doing’ such as being well -nourished, having
shelter. They should be distinguished from the commodities employed to achieve
them (as ‘bicycling’ is distinguishable from ‘possessing a bike’).
Capability refers to the set of valuable functionings that a person has effective
access to. Thus, a person’s capability represents the effective freedom of an
individual to choose between different functioning combinations – between
different kinds of life – that she has reason to value. (In later work, Sen refers to
‘capabilities’ in the plural (or even ‘freedom s’) instead of a single capability set,
and this is also common in the wider capability literature. This allows analysis to
focus on sets of functionings related to particular aspects of life, for example, the
capabilities of literacy, health, or political freedom.)
Resources (such as a bicycle) are considered as an input, but their value depends
upon individuals’ ability to convert them into valuable functionings (such as
bicycling), which depends, for example, on their personal physiology (such as
health) , social norms, and physical environment (such as road quality). An
individual’s capability set is the set of valuable functionings that an individual has
real access to. Achieved functionings are those they actually select. For example,
an individual’s ca pability set may include access to different functionings relating
to mobility, such as walking, bicycling, taking a public bus, and so on. The
functioning they actually select to get to work may be the public bus. Utility is
considered both an output and a functioning. Utility is an output because what
people choose to do and to be naturally has an effect on their sense of subjective
well-being (for example, the pleasure of bicycling to work on a sunny day).
However the Capability Approach also considers s ubjective well -being – feeling
happy – as a valuable functioning in its own right and incorporates it into the
capability framework.
9A.2.2 Capabilities as Real freedoms
Sen introduces the concept of ‘freedom’. There are many kinds of freedom (some
valuable, some detrimental, some trivial) and ‘freedom’ could mean different
things to different people. A thorough reading of Sen’s work clarifies that
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means having all t he required means to achieve that ‘doing and being’ that one
wants to. This does not refer to formal freedom, but the actual, substantial
opportunity to achieve it. For example, a person may have the formal freedom to
vote in elections , because the person has the right to vote. But he/she may lack the
substantial possibility to vote either because there is no transportation facility or
vehicle ownership to reach the polling station which is kilometres away.
Conversely, another person may be living close to the voting station, but may still
not have the real freedom to vote because of cultural or societal restrictions or threat
of violence . Capabilities are thus real freedoms in the sense that they are corrected
for any potential impediments. ‘Functioning’ si mple denote that those capabilities
that have been achieved whether voluntarily or by change. For example, a person
may have the real freedom to vote, but may choose not to, and thus does not have
the functioning of voting.
Check Your Progress
1. What is Capability Approach?
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____________________________________________________________ ___
2. Mention core concepts related to Capability Approach.
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9A.2.3 Conversion factors
Merely having the capability to achieve something is not sufficient. The success of
the task depends on what Sen calls the ‘conversion factors’. Resources in the form
of marketable goods and services have certain qualities which make them of
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is an object made from specific material, having a particular colour, size or shape,
but because it can increase our speed and it is better and faster than walking. These
characteristic s of a good/commodity enable to contribute to a functioning. A bike
enables the functioning or mobility, to be able to move a person freely and more
rapidly than walking.
There is a close relation between a good/product and the achievement of certain
‘beings and doings’. This relation is understood as the ‘conversion factor’ which is
understood as: the degree in which a person can transform a resource into a
functioning. For example, an able bodied person who has learnt to ride a bicycle as
a child has a h igh conversion factor, which enables him to turn a product/bicycle
into the ability to move around eff iciently. On the other hand, a person with
physical disability, or a person who was never taught to ride a bike has a very low
conversion factor. The conv ersion factors thus represent how much functioning one
can get out of a good or service; and in case of the above example, how much
mobility the person can get out of a bicycle.
Sen puts forth a variety of conversion factors which may be categorized into three
groups. All conversion factors influence how a person can be or is free to convert
the characteristics of the resources into a functioning, yet the sources of these
factors may differ.
(1) Individual /Personal conversion factors – are internal to the person, such
as the metabolism, physical conditions, variations associated with illnesses,
disability, age, and gender , reading skills or intelligence . If a person’s is
disabled or suffering from bad physical health, or has never learned to cycle,
then the bike will be of limited help in enabling the functioning of mobility.
In order to achieve the same functionings, people may have particular needs
for n on-standard commodities – such as prosthetics for a disability – or they
may need more of the standard commodities – such as additional food in the
case of intestinal parasites. Note that some of these disadvantages, such as
blindness, may not be fully ‘co rrectable’ even with tailored assistance.
(2) Local environment diversities – emerge from the physical or built environment in which a person lives. Geographical factors such as location
and climate, epidemiology, and pollution and the presence or absence of seas
and oceans . Among aspects of built environment are the stability of buildings,
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127Chapter 9A: Amartya Sen – Capability Approach
(3) Variat ions in social conditions – are factors from the society of which one
is a member , such as the provision of public services , public policies,
education and security, social norms, nature of community relationships,
social hierarchies, practices that unfair ly discriminate, or the power relations
related to caste, class or ethnic divisions.
Besides the above, there are other conversion factors, which are as follows:
Differences in relational perspectives – Conventions and customs determine the
commodity requi rements of expected standards of behaviour and consumption, so
that relative income poverty in a rich community may translate into absolute
poverty in the space of capability. For example, local requirements of ‘the ability
to appear in public without sham e’ in terms of acceptable clothing may vary widely.
Distribution within the family – distributional rules within a family determining,
for example, the allocation of food and health -care between children and adults,
males and females.
The diagnosis of capa bility failures, or significant interpersonal variations in
capability, directs attention to the relevant causal pathways responsible. Note that
many of these interpersonal variations will also influence individuals’ abilities to
access resources to begin with. For example, the physically handicapped often have
more expensive requirements to achieve the same capabilities, such as mobility,
while at the same time they also have greater difficulty earning income in the first
place.
Referring back to the examp le of the bicycle; how much a bicycle contributes to a person’s mobility depends on that person’s physical condition (a personal conversion factor), the social norms and attitudes including whether women are
socially allowed to ride a bicycle (a social con version factor), and the availability
of decent roads or bike paths (an environmental conversion factor) will determine
the success.
The capability approach usually focuses on the conversion of resources into
individual capabilities and functionings. Some scholars have argued that this is too
individualist. They observe that many capabilities can be only be held or achieved
through collective action. This has given rise to the notion of ‘collective capabilities’. For example, the capabilities for frien dship, collaboration, assembly
will be realized only in relation to other individuals. Cultural contexts also
influence individual agency gals and thus the capabilities that we choose to pursue.
In these ways, social relations, collectiv es, and the larger social, cultural and
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9A.2.4 The means -ends Distinction
Against the context of the conversion factors, the capability approach clearly relies
upon a key analytical distinc tion: the means -ends distinction. The approach
emphasizes on the fact that we should always be clear, when valuing something,
whether we value it as an end in itself, or as a means to a valuable end. Within the
capability approach, the ultimate ends of int erpersonal comparisons are people’s
capabilities. This means that the capability approach evaluates policies and other
changes according to how much these policies have impacted people’s capabilities
as well as their functionings. It ask s whether people are able to be healthy and
whether all resources to ensure and pro mote good health are in place. It enquires
into t he means of resources n ecessary for this capability such as clean water,
adequate sanitation, and access to medicine, doctors, protect ion from infections,
basic knowledge of diseases and health issues and checks whether these are present.
It asks whether people are well -nourished, and whether the means of conditions for
the realization of this capability, such as having sufficient food s upplies and food
entitlements are being met. It also asks whether people have access to high -quality
education system, real political participation, to community activities which fosters
care and friendships and which support them to cope up with the chall enges of daily
life.
9A.2.5 Acknowledging human diversity and agency
One of the important highlights of the capability approach is it understands human
diversity. The capability approach is critical of other normative approaches, such
as the distributive justice approach; on the basis that they do not acknowledge the
full human diversity among people. This also explains why the capability approach
is favourably regarded by the feminist scholars or philosophers who are concerned
with care and d isability issues. The scholars complain that the mainstream moral
and political approaches have been relatively indifferent to the problems of the
invisible, marginalized and disadvantaged groups. They observe that there is
relative invisibility of the fat e of those people who do not belong to the able -bodied,
‘non-dependent’, ‘caregiving -free’ groups of people who belong to the dominant
ethnic, racial and religious groups. People of colour, marginalized people, disabled
persons and many socially disabled g roups like women do not fit that picture.
The capability approach thus takes account of human diversity in three ways.
Firstly, it focus es on the plurality of functionings and capabilities as important
evaluative spaces. There are a wide range of dimensio ns in the understanding of
the concepts of well -being and well -being outcomes. During assessments, some
dimensions may be of particular importance for some groups, but less so for others.
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129Chapter 9A: Amartya Sen – Capability Approach
on personal and socio -environmental conversion factors that make it possible to
convert commodities and other resources into functionings. It also emphasizes on
the social, institutional and environmental contest that affects the conversion f actor
and the capability set directly. Third, the capability approach acknowledges human
agency and the diversity of goals people have in life, hence reflecting human
diversity.
9A.2.6 A metric for interpersonal comparisions
The capability approach consid ers ‘functionings’ and ‘capabilities’ as the best
measurement for most kinds of interpersonal evaluations. In other words, those
interpersonal evaluations should be understood in terms of people’s functioning
and their capabilities. The ‘beings and doings’ together make life more valuable. Whereas ‘functionings’ are the proposed conceptualization for interpersonal comparisons of (achieved) well -being, ‘capabilities’ are the conceptualization for
interpersonal comparisons of the freedom to p ursue well -being, which Sen refers
to as ‘well -being freedom”.
9A.3 Conclusion
Thus, according to the c apability approach, overall well-being , freedom, justice and
development should be understood in terms of people’s capabilities. What is
relevant is not only whic h opportunities are available by themselves, hence in a
segmental and piecemeal way, but rather which combinations of sets of potential
functionings are open to people. The Capability Approach is not concerned with
information collection for its own sake, but rather with the appropriate use of
information for assessment. The approach is successful in demonstrating that
capability related information can be used systematically as a credible supplement
to economic metrics. Sen admits that the Capability Appro ach is not a theory of
justice but rather an approach to the evaluation of effective freedom.
9A.4 Summary
The Capability Approach is a theoretical framework that involves two normative
claims: 1) the assessment of the individual well -being; 2) the evaluation and
assessment of social arrangements; and 3) the design of policies and proposals
about social change in society.
The Capability Approach focuses directly on the quality of life that individuals are
actually able to achieve. This quality of lif e is analysed in terms of the core concepts
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130THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
Merely having the capability to achieve something is not sufficient. The success of
the task depends on what Sen calls the ‘conversion factors’ which are individual,
geographic al, social, cultural, political, health and well -being.
The capability approach usually focuses on the conversion of resources into
individual capabilities and functionings.
One of the important highlights of the capability approach is it understands huma n
diversity.
Sen admits that the Capability Approach is not a theory of justice but rather an
approach to the evaluation of effective freedom.
9A.5 Questions
1. Examine the contribution of Amartya Sen towards the Capability Approach.
2. Examine the significan ce of Capabilities and Functionings in the context of
the Capability Approach.
9A.6 References
The Capability Approach
Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/capability -approach/
Clark, D.A.(ed.): Economics and Social Research Council. Retrieved from the
Capability Approach: Its Development, critiques and Recent Advances http://www.gprg.org/
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131Chapter 9B: Jean Dreze – Rights Based Approach
Unit 9
9B JEAN DREZE – RIGHTS BASED APPROACH
Unit Structure
9B.1 Objectives
9B.2 Rights based Approach – Introduction
9B.2.1 Research and Action
9B.2.2 Poverty Alleviation
9B.2.3 Right to Food
9B.2.4 Employment Guarantee
9B.3 Conclusion
9B.4 Summary
9B.5 Questions
9B.6 References
9B.1 OBJECTIVES
x To examine the key components of the rights based approach
x To discuss the relation between rights based approach and social transformation
9B.2 Rights Based Approach - Introduction
Several development agencies have promoted a rights -based approach to affect a
positive transformation of power relations among the various development actors.
The approach integrates norms relating to human rights and principles in the
design, implementation, mon itoring, and evaluation of policies and programmes.
Its central thesis is the principle of equality and freedom from all forms of
discrimination. A rights -based approach invests beneficiaries as ‘rights -holders’,
creates an avenue for their voices to be heard, and enables them to play an active
role in rebuilding and development. This is in contrast with the need based
approach which provides suppor t or services to beneficiaries who have no say in
what action is taken. In this section, we take a look at the rights -based approach to
development vis -à-vis the writings of Jean Dreze. We focus on Poverty, Food,
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132THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
There is a fundamental difference between the needs -based approach and the
rights -based approach. While both focus on manifestations of problems and seek
immediate causes of problems, t he needs -based approach is passive, works toward outcome g oals, recognizes needs as valid claims. It focuses on meeting
‘needs’ but underplays empowerment. It accepts charity as the driving motivation
for meeting needs. Generally, it involves narrow sectoral projects and focuses on
social context with negligible emphasis on policy. The rights -based approach, on
the other hand, seeks to work toward outcome and process goals, it emphasizes
realization of rights. It also recognizes that rights always imply obligations of the
State and that rights can be realized only through empowerment. It does not
believe that charity is the solution; instead, it states that charity is insufficient
motivation for meeting needs. To that effect, it involves intersectoral, holistic
projects and programmes. It focuses on varied the social, economic, cultural, civil
and political context of the problem and is policy -oriented.
9B.2.1 Research and Action
Jean Dreze in his essays focus on action -oriented research, or “research for
action”. The book titled ‘Sense and Solidarit y: Jholawala Economics for Ever yone ’ which is written by Dreze states that the aim of research is contribute to
practical change. He argues that r esearch for action is still research – it need not
involve compromises with scientific methods or objective enquiry. However, it
differs in some important ways from the conventional approach to research in
academic circl es. In an article called “On Researc h and Action”, Dreze argues for
the complementarity of research and action, and challenges the traditional v iew
that involvement in action deviates from objective enquiry.
First, action -oriented research is not a stand -alone activity , rather it involves
democratic action, that is, action based on democratic means and institutions –
public debate, the media, the courts, the electoral process, and street action,
among others. He quotes the example of one useful form of action -oriented
research , which is to counter some of the propaganda that appears in th e
mainstream media . Academic research rarely engages with ac tion. This proves
that action -oriented research has an important role, and has the potential to
become a form of democratic action in itself.
Second, social scientists must refrain from falling into the trap of “verbose
phraseology” . Research needs to be presented in a reader -friendly manner and
must appeal to a wider audience if it has to translate into action.
Third, action -oriented research resists the common tendency to think of the
government as t he main agent of change and this is reflected in the co nclusions of
research papers categorized as “policy implications” . This assumes that public
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bringing about practical change. Research for action addresses itself to the public
at large, not just to the government.
Fourth, ac tion-oriented research challenges the traditional perspective of action
and resea rch as diametrically opposing activities. The conventional view which is
popular in academic circles is that involvement in action detracts from objectivity. However, objectivity requires intellectual honesty, not an abdica tion
of convictions. We have to remember that academic institutio ns are not neutral
spaces. Each institution is integrated with other institutions of power, such as the
government, funding agencies, and the corporate sector. Action can be a great
eye-opener, and thus contribute to more enlightened research, just as research can
lead to more effective action.
Fifth, research for action also makes demands on ethica l standards. Ethical lapses
in academic papers are seen to take place in the form of plagiarism, opportunism,
fudging, and selective reporting o f results and so on. They may or may not have
serious consequences. The challenges are much higher when research is linked
with real -life a ction. Another ethical issue relates to action -oriented research in
terms of maintaining aloofness. Research in the field on s ocial development, often
brings us in direct contact with people who are struggling with extreme forms of
poverty and explo itation. In such situations it is difficult not to be involved,
making this another good reason for seeking ways of linking research with action.
Sixth, a related demand of action -oriented research is to avoid obligations to
funding age ncies and institutions that may stifle our freedom of expression or
action. Indeed, the dependence of academic research on fundin g agencies is a
serious matter. Dreze observes that even some Ph.D. work is now being paid for
by the World Bank and the corporate sector. While s ome funding agencies follow
ethical standards and are independent, but many are an integral part of the
structures of power, which could effectively compromise the neutrality of the
project. In some cases researchers will have to explore ethical sources of funding
such as individual donations from people who share or support the spirit of the
project.
Last but not least, discussion, dialogue, and debate are essential features of action
oriented research. When we get involved in action, we inevitably develop strong
views on the issues at hand. There are also professional biases and pressures to
conform – of a different kind – in academic circles. This situation can be avoided
by adopting some safeguards, mainly through dialogue and arguments with people of different views. Dreze observes that r esearchers, action -oriented or not,
can turn dangerous when they think of themselves as experts who are competent
to design public policies on their o wn.
Needless to say, research for action can be either valid form of research or it
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134THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
makes a claim that research for action carries innumerable possibilities especially
in a country like India where relatively sound democratic institutions coexist with
massive social problems.
9B.2.2 POVERTY ALLEVIATION
With regards to many social programmes in India, o ne of the gre atest difficulties
is the selection of eligible households. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the standard
approach was to restrict them to households “below the poverty line” (BPL). The
identification of BPL house holds, was far from easy and posed several technical
issues. Caps on the number of BPL househo lds were imposed state -wise, based
on poverty estimates supplied by the Planning Commission. These estimates essentially involved a headcount of households with monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) below a pre -specified threshold, called the poverty line,
using National Sample Survey (NSS) data. There are obvious limitations in the
ways to estimate poverty and identify BPL families.
In the ab sence of valid data, proxy indicators such as occupation or asset
ownership are used . Due to the imprecise nature of the proxy indicators, compounded by unreliable survey methods, the entire approach had a hit -or-miss
character. This method is fraught with risks such as exclusion errors (the omission
of eligible households) as well as inclusion errors (the insertion of ineligible
households). The stringent nature of the poverty caps, which are based on a
relatively low poverty line, does not help matters.
In the early 2000s, many social programmes targeted BPL households. If the
central government had had its way, even programmes such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) would have been restricte d to BPL households. Around
that time however, the idea that many of these social benefits should be r egarded
as a right of poor households, if not all households, g ained ground. BPL targeting
does not agree in principle with a rights approach, since it tends to leave out many
poor households. Gradually, BPL targeting gave way to three alternatives.
First, some entitlements were universalised. School meals, for instance, were
extended to all children, at least in government and government -assisted
schools. It would have been difficult to identify only BPL children. Second, some
programmes were built on the p rinciple of self -selection – allowing people to
decide for th emselves whether to participate . NREGA is a prime example: every
rural household is eligible for a job card, but the work requirement ensures that
most NREGA workers come from disadvantage d sections of th e population. So
far studies have suggested that this self -targeting process works relatively well, at
least in the case of NREGA. Third, in the context of implementing the National
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135Chapter 9B: Jean Dreze – Rights Based Approach
states, wherein they identified and excluded well-off households and include d
everyone else by default. They used simple, tangible, transparent, and verifiable
criteria such as: ownership of a four -wheel vehicle, land ownership, p ucca house,
etc. to narrow down the list . The main advantage of this approach is that the risk
of excluding poor households is low. Apart from the above, BPL targeting
continues in some centrally sponsored programmes such as the Rashtriya
Swasthya Bima Yojana ( a health insurance programme).
9B.2.3 RIGHT TO FOOD
One of the firs t Supreme Court orders in the “Right to Food Case” directed state governments to introduce cooked midday meals in all government and government -assisted primary schools. This order, dated 28 November 2001,
actually did nothing more than direct governments to do what they were already
supposed to under the National Programme of Nutritional Support for Primary
Education (NPNSPE), launched by the central government in 1995. The NPNSPE
aimed to provide cooked meals in primary schools, but instead, dry rations
(monthly quotas of wheat or rice) had been distribu ted to schoolchildren until
then, an d even those were conditional; only for students with regular attendance.
The court order led the governme nt to do what it intended to do.
In due course, midday meals came to be seen as one of India’s most effective
social programmes . Several studies have shown their positive impact on school
attendance, child nu trition, and pupil achievements . The scheme took some time
before take -off. Initially the schoo ls had no kitchen sheds, children had no plates,
hygiene was lackin g, and the meals were frugal, also some cases of food poisoning and caste discrimination were reported . The tears and triumphs related
to this scheme form t he first three essays in Sense and Solidarity book i.e.
‘Hunger LQWKH&ODVVURRP¶ , µFood f RU(TXDOLW\DQG0LGGD\0HDOV¶ and ‘The Joy
of Learning ¶ are part of a stream of articles that tried to convey a more balanced
picture of the achievements and failures of midday meals at that time.
Jean Dreze has also observed the w ay in which the midday me al could be
creatively used as an opportunity to educate children about nutrition, hygiene,
mutual co -operation, environmental responsibility, and more. There is a reference
to Japan and its schools in which the nutritious food sometimes grown on the
schoo l grounds by teachers and children was consumed by both . This made Dreze realise that there is still enormous scope for enhancing the nutritional, educational, and social value of school meals in India. There is every reason to
look forward to this great e nterprise of public service.

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9B.2.4 EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE
India’s National Rural Employm ent Guarantee Act , 2005 (NREGA) is based on
the simple idea that people who have no better means of livelihood should have a
right to be employed on local public works at a mi nimum . As per this act, people
are entitled to receiv e payment within fifteen days, basic worksite facilities, and
an also unemployment allowance i f work is not provid ed. The act aims to:
improve economic security, empower rural women, activate gram sabhas, protect
the environment, control distress migration , create productive assets, and promote
social equity, among others.
The proposed Employment Guarantee Act has been supported by political parties,
social movements, and the public at large and is reflected in the recent report of
the Standing Committee on Rural Development. However, there is opposition by
powerful section of the corporate sector and its allies in government. It tends to be
rooted in a “minimalist” view of the role of the state in the social sector. This
argument should not be lightly dismi ssed. The record of anti -poverty programmes
in India is far from encouraging. Early feedback on the National F ood for Work
Programme (NFFWP) suggests that the programme is a potential lifeline for the
rural poor, and also has many other positive effects, f rom slowing down rural –
urban migration to the creation of useful assets. However, much of this potential
has been wast ed due to widespread corruption which is seen in the form of
fudging muster rolls.
There is much to learn from this experience. First, cor ruption is not an immutable feature of rural development programmes. Second, the best way to fight corruption in public works is to empower the victims of fraud and embezzlement
– starting with the labourers, for whom it is a matter of life and death. Thir d, the
right to information is a powerful tool of empowerment. The national Right to
Information Act, which is due to come into force, next month, is a major
breakthrough in this respect. Fourth, a law is not enough – legal rights have to be
combined with a process of public mobilisation that enables people to exercise
those rights.
The premise of the Employment Guarantee Act is that every adult has a right to
basic employment opportunities at the statutory minimum wage. It is a political
initiative based o n the state’s responsibility to protect the right to work. The existence of corruption should not be used as an excuse to abdicate this responsibility – it can and must be fought.
9B.3 Conclusion
The rights based approach aims to tackle issues of inequalit y and fight against all
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137Chapter 9B: Jean Dreze – Rights Based Approach
which need attention from the government agencies, NGOs and the civil society.
He is well known for his commitment to social justice. He has worked on many
issues relating to development economics including hunger, famine, education,
gender equality, childcare, school feeding, employment guarantee, etc.He is known to combine standard economic methods along with anthropology, supported by extensive field work and qualitative analysis of everyday life.
9B.4 Summary
The rights based approach integrates norms relating to human rights and principles in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies
and programmes.
Dreze argues for the complementarity of research and action, and challenges the
traditional view that involvement in action deviate s from objective enquiry.
In the early 2000s, many social programmes targeted BPL households. If the
central government had had its way, even programmes such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the National Rural Employment Guarantee A ct (NREGA) would have been restricted to BPL households.
Several studies have shown their positive impact on school attendance, child
nutrition, and pupil achievements.
India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act , 2005 (NREGA) is based on
the simple i dea that people who have no better means of livelihood should have a
right to be employed on local public works at a minimum.
9B.5 Questions
1. Discuss the key features of the Rights based approach.
2. Examine Jean Dreze’s contribution to the rights based approach.
3. “The central idea of rights based approach is equality and freedom from all
forms of discrimination”. Discuss
9B.6 References
Drèze, J. (2017). Sense and Solidarity: Jholawala Economics for Everyone.
United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
(2017). Poverty, School Meals and Employment Guarantee . In J. drèze, Sense
and Solidarity: Jholawala Economics for Everyone. United Kingdom: Oxford
University Press.

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Unit 10
10 GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Theories: Women and Development
10.2.1 Cultural Dualism
10.2.2 Social Evolutionary Theory
10.2.3 Developmentalism
10.2.4 Dependency
10.2.5 Theory
10.3Women and Development Ester Boserup
10.4 Women and Develop ment Maitreyi Krishna Rai
10.4. 1 Development and Women's Dependency
10.5 Women's Relation to Development
10.6 Development Indicators and Women
10.7 Summary
10.8 Questions
10.9 References
10.1 Introduction
The debate and discussion regarding Wo men and Development has gained
momentum during the last few decades. This theme has assumed importance
because two major areas of research are concerned: the status of women and
economic development. Recently, development has been viewed as a cure for the
problems of less developed countries. It has been advocated that once a modern
infrastructure is created, the economy will develop bringing about a solution for
all ills and ameliorating the lives of people. In spite of this view, it appears that in
most developing countries and among all classes, development has brought little
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The concern about women in relation to development has led to several research
projects being undertaken, se minars and conferences being organized at national
and international levels. All these have pointed towards a need for a
multidimensional definition of development. This must include political, social
and hu man aspects along with economic aspects of develo pment, It is also seen
that development has widened the gap between the incomes of men and women
and has had a negative effect on the lives of women. This is largely due to a lack
by development planners in recognizing women's dual roles and the continuing
use of old stereotypes as a base for development plans.
The concept of women and work also needs to be understood more
comprehensively, especially the changing patterns of women's participation in the
labor force as development takes place. In this chapte r, we will look at some
theories on Women and Development, the pioneering views of Ester Boserup and
Maitreyi Krishna Raj on the subject, Women's relation to development and
development indicators and women.
10.2 Theories: Women and Development
Women seco ndary status in modern society and their subordination to men have
been traced to the beginning of history and culture. Today, as societies are
following the path of development, it is seen that the position of women has not
improved obviously and signific antly. The benefits of development have gone
mostly to the male population in society whereas it seems that women have been
adversely affected by is. The role of women in development and the impact of
development on women are undergoing serious considerati on. While this points to
the need for new theories, methodologies and research, it is necessary to
understand and analyse earlier intellectual traditions and perspectives. We shall
therefore briefly outline some theories regarding development and its relationship
with women. Some of these theories are:
LCultural dualism used by Simone de Beauvoir to look at the position of
women ;
LLSocial evolutionary theory which gave rise to both modernization theory
and the Marxist analysis of stages in the development of capitalism;
LLLDevelopmentalism, which identified obstacles to women's participation in
national development; and
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10.2.1 Cultural Dualism
The theory of cultural Dualism may be attribute d to Simone de Beauvoir who
uses it to explain woman's secondary status in society. According to her, the
origin of woman's subordinate status lies partly in her relationship to nature and
partly in nature's relationship to culture. Human societies have a universal
opposition between and culture. Human beings, by their very constitution, make
great efforts at overcoming the limits of nature through culture. In the process of
attempting to control nature man is more free than woman who is naturally
restricte d in this by her tasks of reproduction and sustaining life. At the sam e
time, man cannot live without woman, just as he cannot do away with nature. As
a result, man regards woman with contradictory and opposed feelings. He reverse
her and also degrades her . He wishes to control her but also refrains from
completely quashing her creativity. In some cultures such as the Hindu culture,
this ambivalence is all prevalent. In some others, women do play a dominant roles
in regulating nature and sexual behaviour. I n evaluating such dualistic theory, it
must be accepted that there are some universals in the social and cultural position of
women butting across almost all known societies. However, such a theory does
not throw much light on the question of women and soc iety, as it pays little
attention to differences of fundament al patterns of human existence nor is it
concerned with change.
10.2.2 Social Evolutionary Theory
The Social Evolutionary theory has viewed societies as undergoing progressive
change as a result of chan ges in population balance and in increasing division of
labour and differentiation. The question of changing status of women and their
roles has also been perceived from the Point, of social evolutionary theory.
According to this theory, societies range from simple, where the some persons
perform several tasks, to complex societies where there is higher level of
technology, formal institutions and greater occupational specialization. By
characterizing societies on the basis of division of labour, social evo lutionary
theory has tried to explain inequality b oth among and within societies. As
specialization increases, each labouring group becomes more specialized and
productivity also increased. Thus societies moving toward specialization have a
higher level of productivity. And, simple societies with less specialization remain less
productive and therefore poorer. Within complex societies those groups
performing less specialized tasks are also less productive and 'therefore
disadvantaged. This is how inequality is explained by the social evolutionary
theory. Extending this argument and applying it to the sexes shows that since
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suffer inequality. The same argument has been used to explain the effect of social
differentiation on political participation. With increasing differentiation between
domestic tasks and those of politics and governance, woman were relegated to
domestic chores and kept out of participation in public decision making. The
subordination of w omen increased as society became more complex with the
growth of a specialized state, professional armies and bureaucracies.
10.2.3 Developmentalism
The developmental approach has perceived that modernization has affected men
and women differently and seeks to locate the causes preventing women from
participating in the development process. The developmental perspective basically
views social change differently from the modernization theorists. This difference
can be found in three basic ideas:
Society is not seen as a single unit so that changes in one area will generate
changes in other areas. Therefore technologies introduced to raise productivity as
part of development planning does not benefit women as it does men.
There are contrad ictions in the process of social change thus women's exploitation
may I increases if only employment is increased and not wages and working
conditions.
Conscious policies are necessary to move society in a particular direction. In this
external forces and national leaders play a positive role.
The failure to implement development programme has led to-developmentalists
taking a modified approach to the problem of women in development. They feel
that it is important to look at women as rational decision maker s. They point out
that by concentrating on increasing the value of the GNP, the full production of a
society is undervalued and the question of distribution is ignored. The contribution of
women is hidden sectors is not taken into account. This involves neglect in non-
market work done in households, subsistence agriculture and the informal labour
market, all of which is done more often y women than men. It has also led to
policies which impade its productivity. Women suffer an increasing narrowing of
social roles and capacity to generate income as little attention is paid to upgrading
non market work. Eater Boserup and others have proposed expending of the GNP
to include women's work as a strategy to include assessment of their costs in the
formation of deve lopment goals.
10.2.4 Dependency Theory
Dependency theory developed as a result of the dissatisfaction of the
developmentalists's explanation of poverty and backwardness in Third world
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countries caused by international forces. Even after formal colonization declined,
former colonial powers controlled Third World Economies in a new garb of
neocolonialism, The backwardness of these countries was perpetuated through
economic dependence on industrialized nations. As regards women, the
dependency theory disagreed with conservative Marxists. While the latter argued that
power relations between men and women cannot be understood except in the
context of the mode of production, dependency theory points out that how the
mode of production affects Third World women is part of an international system
based on dependency. The classic Marxist explanation that women's
subordination is due to women's relegation to the domestic economy and denial in
the o pportunity to participate in production of goods for exchange in the large
society has been belied by different case studies. Dependency theory explains that
if industrial capitalism places women on the edge of the economy. Third world
capitalism makes the ir position even more difficult. Capitalism in dependent
nations finds women holding a disproportionate number of jobs in sectors such as
agriculture, domestic servants, street vendors and prostitutes and the like, in short,
the informal labour market. The significance feature of the dependency theory
regarding women is that it does not distinguish between socially productive and
domestic work, a ll women's work is taken as one and considered uniformly. It
does however (ink the role and status of women to the economic position of the
whole society which is ultimately determined by the international system.
10.3 Women and Development Ester Boserup:
The study of women and Development owes a great deal to Ester Boserup whose
contribution in this area has been very significant. Through her pioneering work
'Women and Development' she first drew attention to how the process of
development and related social change was affecting the lives of women. She
states that status of women and economic development are two sign ificant areas
in which research is needed and is rightfully being conducted especially in the
Third World. Studies on women in these countries has shown that the problems of
women in the labour force are peculiar. Women are over burdened with work while
their efforts are partly wasted because they have less training and even more
primitive equipment than the male labour force in their communities. This brings
about a need for more research to improve the working conditions of women in the
Third World, espec ially women in domestic work and in rural areas and to provide
them with better access to the labour market. Boserup states that there has been
objection to studies on women and development as they largely stress on the
Problems of labour market and produc tivity which is not seen as a major problem
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involved in agriculture, crafts, trade or construction and support themselves and
their families by such work. In spite of being who lly engaged in labour activities,
their social status continues to remain low. There fa,ra- the study of women's
status especially in relation to male family members is the main issue and should
take priority over labour market studies.
However, in Third World countries, the subordinate position of women derives
from legal or customary rules which women are unable to change. As a result,
economic self -support exists along with interior status. In some countries
important changes have taken place in the lega l status of women by giving
women the right to divorce, guardianship of her children in the case of divorce or
widowhood. But, these have not brought about a corresponding change in the
real family status of women. Economic change is also occurring in most
developing countries. This change however is making it more difficult for women to
support themselves. Women's work is mostly in the informal sector or in the
household. If women do not have opportunities to earn money their dependence on
men will increas e and their social family status will -, acrease in spite of their legal
dependence.
Studies on women and development must be integrated with studies of the
developrnerl process itself. In this process, some groups get a large share of
development benefits while others may become victims of development because their
products activities or skills may be replaced by newer, more productive or efficient
activities. Both men and women may become victims of development but it is
mostly women who suffer from the a dverse impact of development. This happens
because women find it more difficult to adapt to new conditions because of the
following reasons. (i) They are less mobil e than man due to family obligations;
(ii) traditionally their choice of occupations is more narrowly limited; (iii) they
usually have less education and training; and (iv) They face sexual discrimination
in recruitment. Also, in developing countries, a much larger percentage of the female
labour force is involved in traditional occupations which are gradually replaced
by newer enterprises in economic development. This generally points in large
numbers of women in Third World countries being adversely affected by
development.
The speed of modernization and economic growth in the different Third Wo rld
countries is at great variance. The occupational opportunities available to women are
related to the differences in natural resources, the stock of human and physical
capital, foreign relations, and government policies. In countries where economic
grow th is rapid attitudes toward women's work outside the home are also changing
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economic growth is slow and population growth is rapid, women from economically
weaker sections are forced into already crowded occupations such as market trade
and domestic service, to help support their large families. Therefore, in order to help
women improve their status in developing countries, the patterns of development to
be applied must take into account the economic conditions, institutional patterns
and attitudes to women's work in that specific country. It would make little sense
to merely apply the development models, either 'Western 'or' alternative' to the
developing country.
10.4 Women and Development Maitreyi Krishna Rai:
Yet another perspective on women and Development has been put forward by
Maitreyi Krishna Raj. According to her, the process of underdevelopment and
development has had much significance for women. The impact of developm ent on
women's status in society can be understood only if one accepts the fact that the
oppression of women is completely linked to the exploitative world system of
which development is a part. She asserts that real developments means ending the
exploitat ive system and reducing the vast gulf between the rich and poor nations.
The adverse affect that development has had on women can only be altered if t he
nature of development itself is changed. The world Conference of the U. N.
Decade for women held at Cop enhagen in 1980 has defined development as
follows, "Development is here interpreted to mean total development in the
political, economic, social cultural and other dimensions of human life as also the
development of economic and other material resources and also the physical, moral,
intellectual and cultural growth of the human person. The improvement of the
status of women requires a change in the attitudes and roles of both men and
women. Women's development should not only be viewed as an issue in socia l
development but should be seen as an essential component in every dimension of
development."
Check Your Progress
1. Explain Women's role in development .
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10.4. 1 Development and Women's Dependency:
Maitreyi Krishna Raj states that the process of development has in fact led to
underdevelopment and greater dependenc y of women. This is especially so in the
case of developing countries such as India.
In pre-colonial and pre-industrial and pre-capitalist India there was an advanced
technology and adequate resource management to provide's people with a simple
way of life. There was also a great deal of technology transfer from East to West
which has been completely reversed today. Today, India has a small modern and
developed sector of the economy which is the organized sector while the larger
sector remains scattered in small units of production called the unorganized sector.
Women, due to their subordinate status and special social responsibilities are
mostly drawn into the unorganized sector. Developmental processes have also
destroyed the earlier balance with nature, l oading to environmental degradation
creating special problems for women. Due to pressures of foreign trade, women are
used as cheap labour in export -oriented industries,
Krishna Raj further reiterates that the political economy of women has been
subjected to the continuing ideology of patriarchy. This ideology perpetuates the
unequal, discriminatory and oppressive relations between the sexes. These relations
derive their strength from a material base through production whereby the woman's
role in labour and family leaves her in a state of dependence, The discrimination
against women and their subordination is further encouraged in India through
socialization, customs and practices. The model used for development has not
tried to change these structures and p rovide a base for involving women in
developmental participation. The continuing structures of male dominance has
prevented women from receiving any benefit of development. Moreover, commercialization imposed on traditional values has broug ht tragic conseq uences
for women. Increasing violence against women and general devaluation of women through various forms of exploitations are the expressions of these new
disorders. The older anti-social practices against women such as sati, child marriage or female inf anticide have been replaced by new ones such as bride
burning for non -fulfillment of dowry and female feticides.
Discrimination against women has been persistent despite and even because of
development. This affects women, of all clas ses, but more so poor women who
have little access to social resources essential for effective human existence;
education, health and employment. They are also denied access to power and
authority and thus deprived of the opportunity to speak for themselves. Changes
brought abo ut by development have increased the contradictions for women
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Strategies for improvement in the position of women adopted until now have had
little impact because they do not attempt to change the conditions that cause
subordination of women but simply aim at alleviating some of the glaring negative
expressions. The alleviation too have not been effective as is shown by the
increasing marginalization and pauperization of women in the country and the
increasing violence against women.
10.5 Women's Relation to Development:
Development is today accepted as meaning the creation of conditions by which the
potential of all human beings can be fulfilled. This of course includes women.
However it seems that development has not only missed women but has also hurt
and exploited them if the process, Women have yet to become partners in the
development process. Development literature from developing countries in Asia
Africa and South America point to two trend s, (1) that disparities exist in
opportunities for survival and growth between men and women, (ii) that
development is bringing about new forms of oppression and subordination of
women, The status of women still remains secondary. She is essentially a
depe ndent being suffering exclusion from decision making and devaluation of her
personality. The emancipation of women has been hindered by patriarchy and
make domina tion. This is seen in society's refusal to recognize women's
contribution and independent identity.
Women support a large part of the world economy by their services in the home
and the community. Women have always worked and been part of the economy
though much of their work is not included in the definition of work. Women's
work, is plagued by low status, low pay and low skills. For reasons of bias and
prejudice in statistical and conceptual analysis, much of the work performed by
women has been officially described as non-economic activity.
A glaring discrepancy is seen in the fact that though wo men are the main growers,
providers and distributors of food, it is the men who always receive more food
than women, Women, by are excluded from ownership of land and also from
access to technological developments. Development has yet to draw women
equally into its process.
10.6 Development Indicators and Women:
Women differentially affect the process of socio -economic, growth and are
differentially affected by the changes brought about by this development.
Conventional measures and indicators have failed t o capture adequately both
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on women. Therefore, it is necessary to have gender sensitive development
indicators.
In recent years the HDI (Human Development Index) has become a development
indicator of choice. The HDI has three components, namely, adult literacy, life
expectancy and purchasing power parity. Of the three, the first two are non-
economic indicators. The use of the HDI in ranking countries has shown the huge gap
that exists between men and women, everywhere, particularly in education. The
inequality of access at all levels of education (primary, secondary, university) is only
one discriminatory factor against women.
As early as 1980, there was a demand that women's work should be counted and
included in GNP (Gross National Product). This was raised at the international
level in Copenhagen during the mid -term evaluation of the LIN Decade for
Women. During the last twenty years, several attempts have been made to include
women's work in the calculation of the GNP of various countries. However, the
prerequisites of these calculations were focused "on non-economic activity" which
includes seventy five percent of women's work not recognized in official
statistics.
The World Ba nk's World Development Report of 1991 defined economic
development as "a sustainable increase in living standards that encompass
material consumption, education, health and environment." The report also
published nine indicators, including the GNP in which there was an attempt to
desegregate data by sex. All other development indicators, namely, education,
labour, force participation, access to health, number of seats in parliament, had
data desegregated by sex over a period of twenty years for a large numb er of
countries. By using these indicators women were included for the first time in the
'parameters of development.'
10.7 Summary
The Social Evolutionary theory has viewed societies as undergoing progressive
change as a result of changes in population balance and in increasing division of
labour and differentiation. The question of changing status of women and their
roles has also been perceived from the Point, of social evolutionary theory.
The subordination of women increased as society became more complex with the
growth of a specialized state, professional armies and bureaucracies.
In pre-colonial and pre-industrial and pre-capitalist India there was an advanced
technology and adequate resource management to provide's people with a simple
way of life. The significance feature of the dependency theory regarding women is munotes.in

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that it does not distinguish between socially productive and domestic work, all
women's work is taken as one and considered uniformly. As early as 1980, there
was a demand that women's w ork should be counted and included in GNP (Gross
National Product). This was raised at the international level in Copenhagen
during the mid -term evaluation of the LIN Decade for Women. The World Bank's
World Development Report of 1991 defined economic deve lopment as "a sustainable increase in living standards that encompass material consumption,
education, health and environment." The report also published nine indicators,
including the GNP in which there was an attempt to desegregate data by sex.
10.8 Que stions
1. Explain the role of Women in Development.
2. Explain various theories related to women and development
3. Explain the relation between Development and dependency of Women
10.9 References
1 . Boserup, Ester: Women & Development
Krishnaraj, Maitreyi:
Women and Development. Indicators of their changing role (UNESCO
1981)
Women in Development (World Bank Pub. 1990)
Women in Development (World Bank 1989
Commission on Status of Women (UN 2000)
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149Chapter 11: Mixed Economy Model (1947-1960s),
Centralism and Hegemony (1970s -1980s)
Unit 11
11 MIXED ECONOMY MODEL (1947 -1960s),
CENTRALISM AND HEGEMONY (1970s -1980s )
Unit Structure
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.1.1 Economic Policy from 1947 -1970
11.1.2 Concept of mixed economy
11.1.3 Focus of Five -year Plans
11.2 Centralism and Hegemony (1970s -1980s)
11.2.1 Five-year plans period
11.2.2 Nationalization of Banks
11.2.3 Balance of Payment crisis
11.2.4 End of License Raj
11.3 Conclusion
11.4 Summary
11.5 Questions
11.6 References
11.0 Objectives
• To examine the evolution of Indian economy in post -independence era
• To assess the challenges of the decades prior to globalization
11.1 Introduction
In the era before independence, India had the political and governance structure
which resembled a matrix where the feudal system co -existed with some areas
under direct rule of the British Raj from Delhi. Post -independence, the first
challenge was to cre ate a new political entity named India through mergers of
independent regions as much as possible. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and
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allocation related decision could be made, the first economic policy task was to assess the economic resources and productive capacity of the country. Independence gave the individual economic, social and political freedom. Since
then India’s economy has undergone a radical transformation. Sever al factors
shaped the economic policy of a newly born nation state. It is necessary to know
the history of India’s economy since 1947, and its evolution from socialism, post -
socialism, liberalization and after. Over the last several decades, India has
emerged as a stable economy. Economic policies of the Indian government have
guided and shaped India into a mixed economy. This section will deal with an
introduction to the Mixed Economy Model (1947 -1960s), followed by an era of
Centralism and Hegemony (19 70s-80s).
11.1.1 Economic Policy from 1947 to 1970
India’s independency was in itself a turning point and an important milestone in
its economic history. The country was rendered impoverished as a result of
steady deindustrialization by Britain. Problems like illiteracy, abject poverty and
sharp social differences had cast doubts on India’s survival as one nation. As
former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh observed that the brightest jewel in the
British Crown was the poorest country in the world in terms of per capita income
at the beginning of the 20th century.
In the early years after independence there were two competing thoughts. One
approach came from Mahatma Gandhi and the other from Prime M inister
Jawaharlal Nehru. Gandhi believed that India should grow by using the local,
indigenous resources where people, materials and technology are. This would
help prevent mass migration to urban centres, which would trigger problems of
unemployment, homelessness and cri me. Gandhi argued that the ideal industrial
policy would be the one that had the potential to create small scale industries
guided by the principle of self -reliance and could be used to achieve self -
sufficiency. A number of policies and programmes were d eveloped towards this
end; however, they did not accomplish much. It was understood that agriculture was to be the basis on which India would come out of its economic backwardness. But Nehru wanted rapid economic progress. He wanted to create
a large ba se of education, science and technology which could trigger growth and
development in India. Nehru found the idea of economic planning feasible for India. Indian mathematicians, statisticians and economists introduced the two -sector model of
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financier of private businesses. The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1948 proposed
a mixed economy. Earlier, the Bombay Plan, proposed by eight influential
industrialists including J.R.D. Tata and G.D. Birla envisaged a substantial public
sector with state interventions and regulations in order to protect indigenous
industries. The political leadership observed that the sta te and public sector would
inevitably play a leading role in economic progress, since planning was not
possible in a market economy.
11.1.2 Concept of Mixed Economy
A mixed economic system is a system that combines aspects of both capitalism
and socialism. A mixed economic system protects private property and allows a
level of economic freedom in the use of capital, but allows for governments to
interfere in economic activities in order to achieve social aims. According to the
neoclassical theory, mixed economies are less efficient than pure free market
economies. But supporters of government interventions argue that the base
conditions required for efficiency in fr ee markets, such as equal information and
rational market participants, cannot be achieved in practical application.
Mixed economies have the following characteristics:
• A mixed economy has the combined features of some free market elements
and some sociali stics elements. This is located on a continuum somewhere
between pure capitalism and pure socialism.
• Mixed economies typically have private ownership and control of means of
production, but it is often under government regulation.
• Within mixed economies, certain sel ect industries are socialized. These
industries are deemed essential or that produces public goods.
• All known historical and modern economies are examples of mixed economies. However, some economists have critiqued the economic effec ts
of various forms of mixed economy.
Check Your Progress
1. What is Mixed Economy ?
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11.1.3 Focus of Five Year Plans
Immediately after independence, India was in a nascent stage of growth and thus
the efforts towards planning, commissioning, and executing the programme to
hasten growth were made. Indi a set up the Planning Commission in 1950 to
oversee this process including resource allocation and appraisal of five -year
plans. The five -year plans were centralized economic and social growth programmes modeled after those prevalent in the USSR.
The first Five Year Plan (1951 -56) focused on agriculture and irrigation to boost
farm output as India was losing precious foreign reser ves on food grain imports.
It proposed roughly equal amount of investment in the two sectors. It was planned
that in agriculture, the government would provide information, subsidized loans,
seeds and irrigation to private farmers. Fortunately, the idea o f collective farms,
never reached India. By the end of the third plan (1961 -1966) the investment
ratio was 2to 1 in favour of industry - the bulk of government industrial investment in public sector large scale industries. For the private sector, the
government chalked a Plan which indicated which industries it should invest in to
realize the overall goals of the economy. Towards this objective, regulatory and
licensing structures were put in place which guided private investment into
desired areas and d iscouraged or banned investments in others.
Self-sufficiency and Self -reliance
One desirable outcome of the concept of self -sufficiency was that there was
diversion of scarce resources into investments that would directly benefit the
whole population. Co nspicuous consumption by the rich was curbed or simply
banned through the licensing requirement. For examples, automobiles were
considered as a luxury item and therefore their production was limited. While
this made political sense, it created an impact on the automobile industry for forty
years. Roads were not built, therefore road travel was discouraged. Thus the
automobile industry and its multiplier effect were delayed for forty years.
Self-reliance also meant that imports of consumer goods were b anned or were
subject to steep tariffs. This also impacted the import of industrial materials and
machinery. This economic policy has two -fold aims: to encourage domestic
economic activity; and to conserve foreign exchange which was valuable and
scarce. This foreign exchange was to be used for importing food and other
essential industrial goods for the private and public sectors.
As in many countries after the Second World War, there was a strict control on
foreign exchange. India was a signatory to t he Bretton Woods agreement, which
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currencies was promoted. As a part of the two -sector model of economic growth,
the industrial policy of import substitution was created; leading to more harm
than good for the economy. India suffered considerable economic damage and
missed many opportunities as a consequence of this policy.
The focus was to build heavy industries such as steel, chemicals, petroleum,
power generation, telephone, rad io and TV. The aim was to construct dams,
irrigation systems, atomic power plants and operate these through government
and government run entities . To achieve this Nehru had to seek financial and
technical support from nearly all industrial ized countries. Also there was borrowing from the World Bank for long -term infrastructure development. India
received foreign aid from several countries such as United States, Great Britain,
France, Germany and the Soviet Union. This enabled the rise of a h uge public
sector. India’s close ties to the Soviet Union earned it the label of a socialist
economy even though gross public sector investment in the economy was less
than 50 percent of total investment.
Here it is important to understand why Nehru focused on government enterprise. The private sector in India was weak; because it did not have the industrial base
nor did it have large scale financial capital. Government investment in the
economy was necessitated by marketplace reality and not influenced by
Nehruvian socialism and idealism. Nehru’s idea was to herald India into the
modern world as quickly as possible while at the same time maintain a free
society and a stable political system.
Dependence on Foreign Aid
Foreign aid became a significant fe ature of India’s economy during its first
twenty years after independence. Much of the aid was diverted to import food
and other necessary items, which were crucial to India’s survival as new -born
nation. It is because of foreign aid that the ‘green revo lution’ became possible.
The aid financed agro -economic research, introduced hybrid high yield variety
seeds, irrigation and use of fertilizers from Iowa and Illinois. Collaboration with
Harvard, MIT and other universities facilitated transfer of technical and engineering knowledge. Some scholars argue that foreign aid was given to make
the givers (Developed countries) feel good by absolving themselves of colonial
guilt. The criticism that foreign aid reduced domestic saving may be partially
true, but to a large extent it directly benefited India.
The government also made investments in many top class engineering colleges, polytechnic institutes, management institutes, medical institutes, as well as industries. However the Planning Commission (1992) not ed that despite a munotes.in

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154THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
substantial amount invested in education in India, there is a dearth of seats in top
class institutions.
The two sector model of economic planning can be considered to be a pragmatic
approach and a mix of private and public sectors within industry and a strong
private sector in agriculture. The path taken in the 1950s and 1960s have yielded
desirable results today. Not only is it self -sufficient in food, it manages to export
the surplus food grains. India has become the second biggest e xporter of rice in
the world after United States. Heeks (1992) observed that it is also ranked as the
12thmost industrialized country in the world with a broad base of industries,
mostly in the private sector.
The Era of License Raj
The second five -year Plan and the Industrial Policy Resolution 1956 paved the
way for the development of the public sector and ushered in the License Raj. The
resolution set out the establishment of a socialist pattern of society as national
objective. In dustries of basic and strategic importance were to be exclusively in
the public sector. The second group consisted of industries that were to be
incrementally state -owned. The third, consisted mostly of consumer industries,
was left for the private secto r. The private sector, however, was kept in tight
control through a system of licenses.
11.2 Centralism and Hegemony (1970S -1980S)
Centralism is an idea on how to organize a state or government. The idea is to
focus this organization under a single go vernment instead of using many local
government bodies. In a centralized system such as monarchy, a small circle of
elites such as; nobles, clergymen and military officers made laws, enforced laws
and judged lawbreakers. The majority of the population in a centralized system
lack the ability to challenge the system since it is very powerful.
Hegemony refers to the ability of an individual with overwhelming capability to
shape the system through both coercive and non -coercive means. The various
definitio ns of hegemony state that it is the position of being the strongest and
most powerful and therefore able to control others. The debate on hegemony revolves largely around two principal meanings; that of domination and leadership.
This section will focus on the manifestation of the concepts of centralism and
hegemony through the economic policy during the “Nehru Dynasty” years from
1970 to 1990. Here, it would be imperative to understand the political situation
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155Chapter 11: Mixed Economy Model (1947-1960s),
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eventually died of a stroke in 1964. His successor, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur
Shastri, had the tough task to deal with an attack from Pakistan in 1965. After
Shastri’s death in 1966, Mrs. Indi ra Gandhi, served as the Prime Minister of the
country.
11.2.1 Five-Year Plans Period
A shaky economy forced India to chart out annual plans in place of the five -year
plan. It was decided to suspend the five -year briefly, and draw up annual plans
between 1966 and 1969 instead. This was done as the country was not capable to
commit resources over a longer period because of a number of reasons. The war
with China, the less than average growth outcomes of the third Plan, and the
diversion of capital to finance the war with Pakistan had left a crippling effect on
India’s economy. The shortage of rainfall during 1966 -67 season worsened food
shortages leading to inflation. The constant need to import food grains or seek
foreign aid also posed a seriou s risk to India’s political economy.
The fourth plan (1969 -1974) and the subsequent Plans evolved from the successes
and failures of the 1960s. The impact of the economic policy was the growing
emphasis on industrial development, making of nuclear indust ries in the public
and private sectors. The focus shifted from increasing productivity through more
use of new hybrid seeds, expanding irrigation and more use of fertilizers.
The 1960s was a decade of multiple economic and political challen ges for India.
Two wa rs had caused hardships for the masses. The death of Nehru and Shastri
in quick succession had led to political instability. The devaluation of the Indian
rupee had led to a general price rise. In the 1970s the Indira Gandhi regime
sought t o diversify the economic base and to increase investment. During her
long tenure Mrs. Gandhi furthered the growth of private industry and of consumer
goods industries. She continued to privatize priority sectors of agriculture and
heavy and large scale in dustry, which were previously in the public sector. The
Planning Commission (1992) stated that the purpose of large scale public sector industries was to create the necessary infrastructure base for the private sector. The major aim of the economy was to increase and mobilize national savings, so
as to enable financing of investment. Financial sector was given high priority to
open banks and other saving mechanisms to promote savings.
11.2.2 Nationalization of banks
In the bid to extend financial suppo rt to all sectors, Indira Gandhi government
nationalized all ma jor banks early in her regime. As an immediate measure, Indira
Gandhi nationalized 14 private banks. She did not trust private banks as they were
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156THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
preference and therefore better access to funds that to outside borrowers. The
nationalization of banks in 1970 led to a rapid expansion of branch networks of
all banks in their areas. Some banks were allowed to open bra nches outside their
areas to create competition among nationalized banks.
In one stroke Indira Gandhi sought to make political gains from economic moves.
Gandhi’s draconian move, aimed at aligning the banking sector with the goals of
socialism, had pleas ed her su pporters. Bank nationalization helped boost farm
credit and lending to other priority sectors. Financial savings jumped as banks
were made to open branches in rural areas. However, the lender s became
complacent in the absence of any competition. Lending decisions were politically
influenced, which led to crony capitalism. Instead of focusing on project appraisals, these banks competed to please their political bosses, the long terms
consequences of this move are seen today.
11.2.3 Balance of P ayment Crisis
In June 1966, Indira Gandhi took the drastic step of devaluing the Indian rupee by
a sharp 57%. This was done to counter India’s significant balance of payment
crisis. The country’s apathy to foreign investments and neglect of the exports
sector meant that it had to bear losses in the form of constant trade deficits. The
devaluation was aimed to boost exports in the midst of limited access to foreign
exchange. Instead, it led to accelerated inflation, which attracted wide criticism.
India’s move had implications for other countries as well. Oman, Qatar and the
UAE, which used the Reserve Bank of India - issued Gulf rupee, had to come up
with their own currencies.
To tackle the problem of balance -of-payment deficit, India borrowed heavily,
from the public financing sector of the world; the IMF and World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank. India had not yet become sufficiently credit -worthy to
borrow in world banking and other commercial credit markets. This worked in
India’s favour as it avoided the debt problems faced by many countries during the
1980s. As Westerns bank’s lending activity had become saturated in the other
Third World market, it began to qualify India for borrowing. India began to
borrow just as quickly as Poland, Mexico , Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru,
Bolivia, Turkey, Nigeria and others had done in the 1970s. By the end of the
1980s, India had accumulated a total foreign debt of 75 billion dollars, which
increased to over 90 billion by 1994 and touched 99 billion b y 1996. This
oncoming debt -service problem was visible and India needed to and did avert a
default towards the end of the 1980s.
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157Chapter 11: Mixed Economy Model (1947-1960s),
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11.2.4 End of License Raj
After the Emergency, Indira Gandhi was ousted out of power, only to return to
power in 1980. Gandhi, a left -leaning populist until the 1970s, initiated ambitious
economic reforms in order to secure an International Monetary Fund loan. The
sixth five -year plan (1980 -85), made a pledge to initiate a string of measures
aimed at boosting the economy’s competitiveness. This meant the removal of
price controls, initiation of fiscal reforms, a revamp of public sector, reductions in
import duties, and de -licensi ng of the domestic industry, or in other words, ending
the License Raj. The warning signs of India’s 1991 economic crisis were visible long time ago. The country, for the first time, had to sell 20 tonnes of gold to investment bank
UBS on 30 May that yea r to secure a loan of 240 million dollars. It pledged gold
three more times after that sale, shipping 46.8 million tonnes of the yellow metal
to secure 400 million dollars in loan from the Bank of England and the Bank of
Japan. All this gold was repurcha sed by December that year. The Narasimha Rao led government with Manmohan Singh as finance minister launched a plethora of economic reforms, including the dismantling of the License Raj. This
set the stage for the processes of Globalization, Liberalizati on and Privatization.
11.3 Conclusion
Since independence the objective of India’s development strategy has been to
establish a socialistic pattern of society through economic growth with self -
reliance, social justice and alleviation of poverty. These obj ectives were to be
achieved within a democratic political framework using the mechanism of a
mixed economy where both public and private sectors co -exist. Indian econo my
evolved along various challenges, which prompted the government to embark on
the journey of globalization, liberalization and privatization, which will be discussed in the following section.
11.4 Summary
In the era before independence, India had the political and governance structure
which resembled a matrix where the feudal system co -existed with some areas
under direct rule of the British Raj from Delhi.
A mixed economic system is a system that combines aspects of both capitalism
and socialism. A mixed economic system protects private property and allows a
level of economic freedom in the use of capital, but allows for governments to
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158THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
India set up the Planning Commission in 1950 to oversee this process including
resource allocation and appraisal of five -year plans. The co ncepts of centralism
and hegemony indicate where the authority rests.
The two sector model of economic planning can be considered to be a pragmatic
approach and a mix of private and public sectors within industry and a strong
private sector in agricultur e.
The second five -year Plan and the Industrial Policy Resolution 1956 paved the
way for the development of the public sector and ushered in the License Raj.
The concepts of centralism and hegemony indicate where the authority rests.
The 1960s was a de cade of multiple economic and political challenges for India.
The major aim of the economy was to increase and mobilize national savings, so
as to enable financing of investment.
To tackle the problem of balance -of-payment deficit, India borrowed heavily,
from the public financing sector of the world; the IMF and World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank. Indian economy evolved along various challenges, which prompted the government to embark on the journey of globalization, liberalization and privatization
11.5 Questions
• Discuss the policy measures initiated by the government of India in the post -
independence period.
• Examine the key features of the Indian society under the various five -year
plans.
• Evaluate the India’s policies in the context of cen tralism and hegemony.
11.6 References
Kaushik, S. (1997): ‘India’s Evolving Economic Model: A Perspective on Economic and Financial Reforms’, In American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol.56, No. 1
https://webpage.pace.edu/skaushik/India%E2%80%99s%20Evolving%20Econom
ic%20Model.pdf
A Short History of Indian Economy 1947 -2019: Tryst with Destiny and other
stories, Available at:
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/a -short -history -of-indian -economy -1947 -
2019 -tryst-with-destiny -other -stories -1565801528109.html
™™™munotes.in

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159Chapter 12A: Structural Adjustment and Liberalization (1990s and Onward)
Unit 12
12A 12A STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AND
LIBERALIZATION (1990s and ONWARD)
Unit Structure
12A.0 Objectives
12A.1 Introduction
12A.1.1 Reforms in Indian Economy -1991 onwards
12A.1.2 NEP and Future Prospects for India
12A.1.3 Neoliberalism and After
12A.2 Conclusion
12A.3 Summary
12A.4 Questions
12A.5 References
12A. 0 Objectives
x To understand the features of the New Economic Policy
x To examine the impacts of the neoliberal economic policy regime
12A.1 Introduction
India’s New Economic Policy was launched in 1991.The new policy framework
reflected standard structural adjustment measures which were advocated by the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank and were applicable at the global
level. In other words, it followed a basically n eoliberal approach to economic
policy. It was felt that these measures of economic liberalization would transform
the Indian economy and trigger economic growth.
One question is who benefits from this new economic growth regime and does it
have the potenti al to improve the conditions of life for millions of poor people in
India. It needs to be understood that international neoliberal policy regime was
adopted in India when India was facing a severe economic crisis. It was introduced through coercion and con ditionality, and this is bound to create long -
term structural changes in the power calculus of global capitalism. This section munotes.in

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160THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATIONwill review the New Economic Policy and its accompanying processes of globalization, liberalization and privatization and its impact on people and society.
There is a need to take a critical look at India’s recent development. The earliest
movement toward s the neoliberal economic policy regime began to be articulated
in the 1980s.It was later reinforced and institutionalized as a result of the 1991
economic and political crisis in India. It is necessary to make a detailed study of
the international and dom estic origins of India’s NEP, it structure, its application
and results.
12A.1.1 Reforms in Indian Economy - 1991 onwards
India embarked on the project of economic liberalization and opening up of the
economy to the rest of the world was considered to be es sential in order to realize
higher internal economic growth. It was necessary to have access to foreign
exchange to avoid a major debt -service problem in the future. Around the same
time there was disintegration of USSR with whom India has had protective t ies
could result in the loss of foreign markets in terms of its exports and therefore
drastic, radical measures had to be undertaken to save the Indian economy.
Soon after coming to power Mr. Narsimha Rao and his finance minister, Dr.
Manmohan Singh annou nced the programme of economic liberalization. Dr.
Singh was a economist trained in neoclassical economics with specialization in
international trade. His strongest asset was his flexibility in adapting to ideas and
practices of market economies as well as regimes which i nclude economic
planning. The N ew Economic P olicy (NEP) and programmes announced in 1991
included the following features: significant reduction in import tariffs; elimination
of import quotas except for consumer goods; elimination or reduction of restrictions on foreign ownership; currency convertibility on the trade account;
reduction in licensing requirements; easing of regulations and red tape; opening
all industries except six to private ownership; and reduction in domestic excise
taxes, among others. The NEP introduced some very fundamental changes in the
previous state policy, for example, input subsidies, credit, extension services in
agriculture were rolled back, several infrastructure and services were privatized,
and domestic markets were opened to international trade.
The consequence of this reform is that it led to foreign direct investment from companies such as Pepsi, General Motors, General Electric, International Business Machines, Coca -Cola, McDonald’s, Enron, etc.There were similar investments from companies from Great Britain, Japan and Germany, Mutual
funds, investment banks, securities firms, insurance firms, commercial banks
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161Chapter 12A: Structural Adjustment and Liberalization (1990s and Onward)
were raising funds in the world capital markets and merging with one another and
with foreign companies. The NEP has managed to control inflation and the
budget deficit has come down. Scholars observed that the GDP grew at about 5
percent in a record time of just under three years; in an environment in which it is
still difficult to do business.
The 1991 reforms were considered a success, so Mr. Rao and Dr. Singh continued
the reform process. Universally the reforms were appreciated in and out of India.
The Finance Min ister of the time observed that the reforms were so welcomed in
the 1994 -95 budget, which included reduction in customs duties, reduction in
corporate tax, reduction in income tax, and a ceiling on the central bank financing
of government debt beyond which the government had to go to the market.
12A.1.2 NEP and Future Prospects for India
When the NEP was introduced, it held immense potential and promise to India in
terms of bringing macroeconomic stability. The policy would help control inflation, budget deficit , allow a careful management of debt and more use of
equity markets to finance growth. This policy would be beneficial to India,
promote expanded trade with other countries, increase competition within the
economy, imbibe confidenc e in its currency, and increase savings and investment
in private initiatives and activities.
The New Economic Policy envisaged privatization of public enterprises.The policies relating to public sector enterprises whether they are in agriculture, manufac turing or services and to the practice of maintaining a closed market
within a country or region with government controlled prices have proven to be a
failure in India and elsewhere. One reason for the inherent inefficiencies, low
productivity, lack of innovation and lack of progress in the public sector enterprises is the lack of autonomy. Such a system does not allow for multiple
sources of ideas for improvement and change, or provide incentives that help
foster new ideas, or encourage risk taking or bein g innovative.
Prior to globalization Indian markets in resources, goods and services were
geographically closed to outside and inside competition. This resulted in non -
innovative economic environment and uneconomical use of domestic resources
and technolo gies. Closed markets cannot take advantage of specialization. With
the introduction of the NEP India has rapidly opened its markets to inside and outside competition in all three areas of resources, products and services following the guidelines in the new General Agreement on Tariffs and Treaties
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162THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
India has been able to withstand external competition and reduce inflation
substantially. Post -1991 India was able to recorded domestic price stability with
an inflation of 5 -7 percent, a s against 15 percent in the 1980s.India did not
experience the problem of flight of capital, as was experienced by Brazil, Mexico,
Peru, Argentina, and Venezuela in the 1980s.India has maintained macroeco nomic discipline. The 1994 -95 B udget put a limit on monetization of
public debt as an automatic financing technique. This policy indicated a goal of
not letting deficit financing and inflation become a problem for India.
The NEP envisaged a reduction in income tax, capital gains tax, and excise tax es
on a large variety of items. This would create an economic environment of
incentives for savings and investment. There is no more suppression of consumer industries in favour of investment in heavy and large industry in public enterprises. Licensing and other bureaucratic nightmares have been reduced and
financial markets are being liberalized to encourage investment in the economy.
Mahatma Gandhi knew the scale of the effort required to cope with India’s
poverty. The NEP worked towards promoting economi c growth and slowing
down population growth, and thus tackling India’s poverty. Traditionally,
subsidies available to a large segment of the population for the purchase of food
and other essentials were the only ways government could help to reduce the
problem. But with the economic reforms, the idea is to remove subsidies and let
market forces do their job of signaling price and profit incentives to producers.
The new policy has also challenged the misconception about the fatalistic nature
of Indian societ y. Thus, it can be said that i n the early years of NEP , India
appeared to be on a path of significant growth. India’s economic future looked
promising as it had never before as it was moving forward on the unique path of
open economic policy. The Ministry of Finance (1995) was highly optimistic and
observed that India’s strength is its ability to absorb new ideas. India provides a
healthy political and social milieu for the economic renewal. He further stated
that India will stay on the path of economic ref orm with virtually no chance of
backsliding.
Check Your Progress
1. What is NEP?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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163Chapter 12A: Structural Adjustment and Liberalization (1990s and Onward)
2. Which reforms were made in India post 1991?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________ _________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
12A.1.3 Neoliberalism and After
Scholars question whether the neoliberal policy regimes are capable of dealing with social problems effectively; some problems have persisted for several decades after independence. India is projected as a success story of neoliberal
success in the context of deeply embedded state bureaucracy which operated in
the form of the License Raj. Within the development debate India is uniquely important because it is a country of more than one billion people, a very important human resource. But, it is also a country of paradoxes, with many
people living in hunger and poverty. Examining the Indian model of development
is instructive in itself, as well as for its considerable implications for policy in
other developing countries.
Scholars like Waquar Ahmed have linked global neolibe ralism to the specific
case of I ndia and observed that the Class and Caste has been impacted in India’s
Policy transition. The neoliberal transformation that we see in India is not simply
a ‘top -down’, ‘outside to inside’ process. The hegemonic neoliberal policy discourse at the global level has an ally in the Indian elite. This further produces
sub-hegemonic power centres and more specific forms of class -biased economic
growth. Ahmed refers to the electric power industry and shows how the coercive
power of global institutions of governance has wo rked in collaboration with the
interest of the local elite to produce neoliberal changes in the country. We need to
understand the intra -class and inte r-class and caste contestation and how it
impacts India’s economic and electric power policy .
It is also observed that neoliberalism has been accompanied by a disproportionate
increase in the political and economic power of the urban elite. This occurs
alongside the marginalization of the poor who live in villages and a part of the
urban sprawl across Indian cities. Further, class position within Indian society
intersects with caste position. The higher castes in Indian have greater access to
education and economic opportunities, and have therefore benefited the most
from India’s NEP. The reassertion of class and caste power has been fundamental
to the NEP in India. So, while neoliberalism was imposed on India due to munotes.in

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164THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
imperatives of global capital market, by the World Bank and the IMF and the US.
However, its continuation has been ensured by a large sections of caste and class
elite. In other words, the exogenous power of the global institutions of governance has worked hand in hand with the interest of the local elite. This has
produced, what Gramsci calls, Hegemony – consent through non -physically
coercive mean s.
Economic growth should, as a rule, be accompanied by development. The immediate question is about the socioeconomic effects of private entrepreneurship in the 1980s and the adoption of neoliberalism in the early
1990s.It is clear that the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy, touted as
the “Indian Miracle” have become dominant within the Indian economy since
1991.However, sharp disparity between the urban and rural areas still persists.
The neoliberal growth has come at the cost of rural indebt edness, mounting
unemployment, and depleting natural resources. These have contributed to large -
scale agrarian distress, reflected in high and persistent level of malnutrition,
illiteracy and preventable illnesses.
There is a claim that is made by governments, intellectuals, business and the
media that neoliberal growth has the potential to produce development in India
and elsewhere. In reality the economic growth under the new economic policy
regime as persistently and consistently benefitted a min ority of the population.
Neoliberal growth appears to have spectacular effects, in the way of buildi ng tall office buildings, opulent houses, high level of conspicuous consumption, “modern -looking” young people, new cultural styles, cosmopolitanization, et c.
This gives the impression to the most critical minds that a process of development
is underway and will benefit everyone in the future. Therefore, State power must
be exercised ruthlessly whenever necessary, because the powerful have seen the
future, an d it works, whereas resistance merely blocks the way towards progress
for all.
However, the perspective from the “other side” is completely different. This is the
perspective of the people who have been “left behind” and have been ravaged by
neoliberal gro wth. Dependency theory observes that neoliberal development goes
hand in hand with the under -development of the vast majority of people. There is
sufficient statistical evidence to show that neoliberalism’s main socioeconomic
product is inequality, because that is the very intention of the process. In turn, the
main outcome of inequality is poverty. Inequality is exploitative and emanates
from the process of power and capability of some to benefit at the cost of others.
In other words, neoliberalism cannot solve social problems because it causes
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165Chapter 12A: Structural Adjustment and Liberalization (1990s and Onward)
12A.2 Conclusion A developmental approach to understanding the growth scenario means to evaluate policy in terms of whether it has brought about any impact on the living
standards and conditions of majority of the people. Mere economic growth is not
enough, it should lead to development. The neoliberal policy regime has brought
about poverty and negatively impacted rates at the national, regional, and local
levels in India, damaged people and caused deficiencies in aspects of life.
12A.3 Summary
India’s New Economic Policy was launched in 1991.The new policy framework
reflected standard structural adjustment measures which were advocated by the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank and were appli cable at the global
level.
The NEP introduced some very fundamental changes in the previous state policy,
for example, input subsidies, credit, extension services in agriculture were rolled
back, several infrastructure and services were privatized, and dom estic markets
were opened to international trade.
Scholars question whether the neoliberal policy regimes are capable of dealing with social problems effectively; some problems have persisted for several decades after independence.
It is also observed that neoliberalism has been accompanied by a disproportionate
increase in the political and economic power of the urban elite.
The neoliberal growth has come at the cost of rural indebtedness, mounting
unemployment, and depleting natural resources
Inequality is exploitative and emanates from the process of power and capability
of some to benefit at the cost of others. In other words, neoliberalism cannot solve
social problems because it causes them.
12A.4 Questions
x Elaborate on the characteristics o f the New Economic Policy.
x Discuss how globalization has led to uneven and unequal growth in the
developing countries.
x Evaluate the impacts of the neoliberal economic policy regime.
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12A.5 References
India’s New Economic Policy – A Critical Analysis (ed) by Waquar Ahmed,
Amitabh Kundu, Richar Peet, Routledge Publisher, UK, 2011 Kaushik, S. (1997):‘India’s Evolving Economic Model: A Perspective on Economic and Financial Reforms’, In American Journal of Economics and
Sociology, Vol.56, No. 1
https://webpage.pace.edu/skaushik/India%E2%80%99s%20Evolving%20Econom
ic%20Model.pdf
A Short History of Indian Economy 1947 -2019: Tryst with Destiny and other
stories, Avail able at:
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/a -short -history -of-indian -economy -1947 -
2019 -tryst-with-destiny -other -stories -1565801528109.html
™™™
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167Chapter 12B: Development and Social Justice (Caste-Tribe)
Unit 12
12B DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
(CASTE -TRIBE)
Unit Structure
12B.0 Objectives
12B.1 Introduction
12B.2 Development and social justice
12B.3 Understanding the notion of social justice
12B.4 Dr. Ambedkar and social justice
12B.5 Constitutional Safeguards
12B.6 Social justice and women’s emancipation
12B.7 Conclusion
12B.8 Summary
12B.9 Questions
12B.10 References
12B.0 Objectives
x To understand the contributions of Dr. Ambedkar to social justice
x To examine the relevance of social justice to development discourse
12B.1 Introduction
Dr. Ambedkar is regarded as a visionary who, through his political writings
dedicated his life working for a socially just and egalitarian society. His
thoughts and philosophy paved the way for a ‘roadmap to progress’ for the
nation and its people. He believed that it was necessary to accelerate the
process of social change in the country. So, he worked towards securing
human rights and challenged the forces which suppressed humanity. Using a
radical approach, he waged a war against the indignity and inhumanity forced
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168THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
society. Sh owing a clear relation between social emancipation and political
emancipation, he argued that no economic or political reform would be
successful unless the monster of social justice was eliminated. He strived
towards making the Indian polity free from s ocial exploitation because he
strongly believed that political justice cannot be possible in the absence of
social justice. These thoughts have been reflected through the writings of
Dr. Ambedkar who believed that no true development can take place without
social justice. In this section we will first trace the relation between development and social justice . This is followed by Dr. Ambedkar’s understanding of social justice and hi s efforts towards the upliftment of
oppressed sections of the Indian society.
12B.2 Development and Social Justice The concern for social justice is an important driver of progressive development policy. It is necessary to explore social justice as a val ue and its
implications for development policy and programming. Scholars have identified four basic principles of social justice: equal citizenship; entitlement
to a social minimum; equality of opportunity; and fair distribution. In
development discourse Amartya Sen has reiterated on the human development paradigm. Sen focuses on the centrality of rights and freedom
and links individual entitlements to the wider understanding of justice. Seen
through this prism, it becomes the obligation of individuals an d collectivities
to deliver human rights. This thinking is also reflected in the Millennium Declaration, 2000. The Declaration is generally remembered for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but the goals are located in a
general framework of rights and justice, viz., freedom, equality, solidarity,
tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility. Other definitions have included aspects such as human rights, democracy, sustainability and multilateralism. These different formulations provide a platform for discussion on development and social justice.
12B.3 Understanding the Notion of Social Justice
Social justice is an application of the concept of distributive justice to the
wealth, assets, privileges and advantages that accumulate within a society or
state. This is because the essence of justice is the attainment of the common
good for all as dist inguished from the good of individuals. It is a novel and
revolutionary ideal and encompasses both the economic and social justice. It
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169Chapter 12B: Development and Social Justice (Caste-Tribe)
The concept of social justice is dynamic and changes according to the needs
of the society. It takes on new dimensions as it encompasses new patterns
and expands to hitherto unseen areas. Indian society is classified on the basis
of caste and communities. The caste system is hierarchical division of
society, in whi ch the status is ascribed, with limited or no mobility. The
caste -based inequalities pose serious c hallenges to human rights and are a threat to Indian democracy. Social justice is the availability of equal treatment and opportunities for the development of the individual without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, race, ethnicity, etc. At an operational level, social justice is understood as the process of bringing
together individuals form all strata and ensuring just and equal treatment. As
an extension of this, social justice is associate d with the idea of social good.
The primary responsibility of the State is to establish and maintain justice
within its borders and enable the functioning of a well -ordered society. As
members of a socie ty, we would prefer justice to injustice. Justice is related
with wisdom, benevolence and virtue. Scholars and social thinkers have
explained and eulogized the concep t of justice in various ways.
12B. 4 Dr. Ambedkar and Social Justice
In the Indian conte xt, social justice is a distant dream for most sections of the
society even today. The Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women
under the Hindu caste hierarchy have suffered mistreatment for centuries,
which have rendered them socially, economically a nd politically deprived.
Social justice aims to address the historical injustices meted out to the low
castes at the hands of the high caste. Social justice is thus a compensatory
justice to offset the accumulated disabilities suffered by a disadvantaged
section of the society. The absence of social justice would manifest itself
through social imbalance and tension resulting in anarchy and disobedience to
the rule of the law.
Dr. Ambedkar ’s concept of social justice can be unders tood in the context of
the depressed, the underprivileged and the untouchables who have been at the
receiving end of the Varna system of the Hindu social order. Dr.
Ambedkar ’s views on social justice are relative to the victims of the caste
system of Hindu so ciety.
Dr. Ambedkar ’s Vision
For Dr. Ambedkar social justice is related to the concep ts of liberty, equality
for all, thereby leading to the emotional integration of all human beings. The
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170THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
towards equal distribution of social, economic and political resources of the
community. He was fully aware that different sections of society harboured
different aspirations, which could lead to conflict of interest among the
groups. He strived t o achieve social justice and social democracy in terms of
one man -one value. He treated social justice as a true basis for patriotism and
nationalism. His view on social justice was to remove man -made inequalities
of all shades through law, morality and public conscience; he stood for justice
for a sustainable society.
He believed that democracy was possible only through a society based on
equality for all. Democracy, to Dr. Ambedkar, is not just a form of government but also primarily a mode of associated living. He observed that
the caste system ensured that democracy was dysfunctional or absent. In such
a social order large sections of the disadvantaged sections are denied their
basic human rights. He remarked that rights are protected not by law but b y
the social and moral conscience of the society. He said that equality in the
absolute sense is not possible, but equal treatment of men is possible.
Dr. Ambedkar led a historical and peaceful movement for social justice and
human rights for the untouch ables. Owing to his untiring struggle during pre -
independence and post -independence era, a number of benefits and safeguards have been conceded to the oppressed sections by the government.
He will be remembered for his efforts to redeem the untouchables f rom the
centuries old evil practice of untouchability. Certain basic human rights were prohibited to a particular section of the Hindu society in the name of untouchability. The world untouchable indicated that people from the lowest
caste, also consider ed as ritually polluted, shall not be touched by others and
vice versa. They were denied admission and free movement into the areas
wher e the high caste Hindus lived. They were denied the right to dignity, right
to movement and access, right to liberty, ri ght to equality, right to education,
right t religion, etc. This meant that human dignity, which is the core and
essence of the concept of h uman rights and social justice, and by extension,
‘Right to Life’ was denied to them. Dr. Ambedkar’s commitment to social
justice is proved from the fact that he resigned from the post of Law Minister
in the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru in September 1951, on the issue of non -
acceptance of Hindu Code Bill. In the context of social justice, Dr. Ambedkar concluded that: The untouchables must rekindle pride and self -respect for themselves. To achieve
this, they must disconnect themselves from traditional bonds of untoucha ble status. They must seek to reform themselves, become professionally qualified, and transform themselves to contribute to a modern civilization. munotes.in

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171Chapter 12B: Development and Social Justice (Caste-Tribe)They must be represented by their own representatives at all levels of government . Such leaders will be the true leaders with genuine interest in
their community. He called upon the government to take on the responsibility
for their welfare by creating special rights and access to educational and
economic opportunities. The untouchables should have recourse to legal
channels for the protection of their rights and all forms of caste must be
abolished. Since the caste system is a creation of man, man alone should take
the responsibility to abolish the system. Functions of each member of society
should be redefin ed on a rational basis, corresponding to each individual’s
skill, training and educational achievement s.
Check Your Progress
1. Can you explain Dr. Ambedkar's vision of development?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ___________________
12B. 5 Constitutional Safeguards
Describing the miserable situation of the untouchables, Dr. Ambedkar said,
“Depressed by the government, suppressed by the Hindus and degraded by
the Muslims, we are left in a most intolerable position of utter helplessness to
which I am sure there is no paral lel”. Dr. Ambedkar remarked that there was
powerlessness, alienation and hopelessness for the lowest section of the
society. Owing to the concrete efforts of Dr. Ambedkar , untouchables secured
many privileges and rights. The preamble of the Indian Constitution ai med to
secure to the people of India, Social, economic and political justice, l iberty
equality and fraternity. The provisions are stated as under:
In pursuance of the above ideals, a new constitutional name was provided to
the untouchables, ie., Scheduled Castes. The Preamble promises to secure
social, economic and political justice.
x Article 14 provided equality and assured human dignity. It decla res that
the equality before law and equal protection of laws shall be available to
all.
x Article 15(4): Compensatory discrimination for the SC/ST
x Art. 15: No discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or
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172THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
x Art. 1 5(5): This clause was added in the 93rd amendment in 2005 and
allows the state to make special provisions for backward classes or SCs or STs for admissions in private educational institutions, aided or unaided.
x Ar. 16: Equality of opportunity in public e mployment.
x Art. 16(4): To reserve vacancies in public service for any backward
classes of the state s that are not adequately represented in the public
services.
x Art. 16(4A): To implement reservation in the matter of promotion for
SCs and STs.
x Art. 16(4B): To consider unfilled vacancies reserved for backward
classes as a separate class of vacancies not subject to a limit of 50%
reservation. Constitutional protection to the marginalized/vulnerable
group
x Art.17: aims to abolish untouchability and its practi ce in any form. (the
Protection of Civil Rights Acts, 1955, The SC/STs (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989.
x Art. 29 & 30: Guarantees cultural and educational rights.
Besides the above, the Directive Principles of State Policies aim at (Art.
36-51). It comprises of the Social and Economic Charter, Social
Security Charter, Community Welfare Charter. It ensures the following:
x Right to adequate means of livelihood, 39(a)
x Equal pay for equal work for both men and women 39(d)
x Protection of health and streng th of female, male and child workers
x Art. 40: Provides reservation in 1/3 seats in Panchayats
x Art. 46: Enjoins the state to promote and safeguard the educational and
economic interests of the weaker sections, especially SC and STs.

Check Your Progress
1. Mention any 5 constitutional safeguards.
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_______________________________________________________________
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173Chapter 12B: Development and Social Justice (Caste-Tribe)
12B. 6 Social Justice and Women’s Emancipation
The concept of social justice that Dr. Ambedkar envisioned was incomplete
without emancipation of women, especially women from the SC and STs; as
they are crushed under the double burden of caste/ethnicity and patriarchy .
They have been ignored as a weaker sex, and have been denied full social,
economic, political and educational justice. The self -respect for women and
struggle for women’s emancipation came to occupy the central position in his
life. He criticized the traditional and conservative values which worked to
downgrade the status and dignity of women in India. His views on the
Maternity Benefit Bill and on birth control recognized the dignity of women
and were revolutionary even in those times.
12B. 7 Conclusi on
Dr. Ambedkar ’s notion of social justice is based on equal rights and human
dignity through a legal framework. As a result of his thought, Indian
Constitution guarantees equal rights to all. Dr. Ambedkar was
concernedaboutoveralldevelopmentofvulnerablesectionoftheIndiansocietyand
strived to demolish existing castes discrimination. He proposed affirmative
action for the disadvantaged groups as the only recourse to social justice, as
centuries of discrimination could not be abolished with in a few decades.
Therefore, Dr. Ambedkar ’s notion of social justice is relevant in
contemporary Indian society to accomplishing justice within the framework
of constitutional and legal methods.
12B. 8 Summary
Dr. Ambedkar is regarded as a visionary who, through his political writings
dedicated his life working for a socially just and egalitarian society.
It is necessary to explore social justice as a value and its implications for
development policy and progr amming.
Social justice is an application of the concept of distributive justice to the
wealth, assets, privileges and advantages that accumulate within a society or
state.
Dr. Ambedkar ’s concept of social justice can be understood in the context of
the depress ed, the underprivileged and the untouchables who have been at the
receiving end of the Varna system of the Hindu social order.
The preamble of the Indian Constitution aimed to secure to the people of
India, Social, economic and political justice, liberty e quality and fraternity.
Dr. Ambedkar ’s notion of social justice is relevant in contemporary Indian
society to accomplishing justice within the framework of constitutional and
legal methods. munotes.in

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174THEORIZING DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION
12B. 9 Questions
x Write a note on Development and Social Justice.
x Discuss the notion of social justice. Examine Dr. Ambedkar’s
contribution towards social justice in the Indian context.
12B.1 0 References
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Ideas on Social Justice in Indian Society, available at:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2455328X16628771
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Vision on Social Justice in India , available at:
http://www.ijim.in/paper -34-b-r-ambedkars -vision -on-social -justice -in-india/
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as a Social Worker for the Marginalized Sections ,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320337917_Dr_B_R_Ambedkar_as
_a_Social_Worker_for_the_Marginalised_Sections
™™™
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