Introduction
Sociology
of Development is a specialized field of study within the general field of
sociological enterprise. Since inception, sociology has focused mainly on
society generally, identifying and proffering solutions to societal problems.
However, because of diverse societal problems and the constant motion which
society experiences all the time, sociology is constrained to develop branches
for specific societal problems. This partly explains why sociology of
development has to emerge. It incorporates into its domain, analysis of
the concepts of development, growth, underdevelopment among others. It utilizes
theories of change to provide key to understanding global inequality in wealth
and development.
DEVELOPMENT AS A CONCEPT
development
as a social science concept does not have a precise meaning. As a social
science construct, development means different thing to different people.
Writing at the turn of 20th century, V.I Lenin (1968), a leader of the
great October 1917 Russian revolution defined development as a progressive
movement; an ascension from lower to higher stages, and from simple to complex
situations. The simple/lower stage(s) refers to the state of nature in
which society finds itself in the process of social evolution. Division of
labour at this level was rudimentary.nearly every member of the society
performs similar roles and functions. The transition to the complex stage
results from certain needs which arise from society. Division of labour was
raised to a higher status with every member of the society assigned a specific
role and function in the stratification system.
Development
is also the ability of a man to conquer his environment and utilize it to his
advantage. The process involves the development of tools, skills and the
mobilization of required resources for development purposes (Rodney 1972).
Again development implies increase in output per head, bur which transcends individual
level. Because development is a broad and multidimensional concept, it is
better appreciated at the societal level.
In
the course of defining development, there are those who have taken development
Growth. Nnoli (1980) for example, defined development as a checklist of
technical artifacts. To him, the availability of schools, hospitals, road
networks, electricity, boreholes and other infrastructural facilities are
indications of development even though the schools, hospitals, electricity,
road networks etc do not provide qualitative services to the target audience.
It should be pointed out that the availability of these facilities or artifacts
alone does not qualify a society as developed. These
facilities/infrastructures are necessary but not sufficient to qualify the
society as developed. If they have to be taken, then, they have to be
taken for growth rather than development. However, contrary to Nnoli, Seer
(1972) raised so many critical questions as key to understanding development.
For example, he maintains that, the questions to ask about a country's
development are three; what has been happening to poverty? What has been
happening to unemployment? What had been happening to inequality?
If
all these three have declined from higher levels, then beyond doubt this has
been a period of development for the country concerned.
All
the forgoing are clear indications that development does no have a precise
definition. Nevertheless, development means Qualitative and Quantitative
changes in the structure, composition and performance of the forces of
production. It is indicated in the quantitative living standard of the
people, via eradication of poverty, unemployment, hunger, disease, squalor,
inequality etc.. Until these social problems are eliminated or drastically
reduced, it is not enough to conclude that development has taken place.
DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH: A
DISTINCTION
sometimes
in an attempt to define development, social commentators have often mistaken
development for growth. However, while development implies that something has
arrived, growth suggests increase in certain Economic Variables such as Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), per capital income etc.
Eisentadt
(1979) maintains that development is a rapid and sustainable rise in the output
per head and attendant shift in technical and demographic structure or
variables. Thus, social progress comes to be measured in terms of
statistical variables. Thus more than anything else, the earlier definition of
development by Nnoli's (1980), fits growth rather than development. This
is because the definition implicitly implies that once these artifacts are
available, the society is developed. But far from it. Increase in
Technical Artifacts such as those earlier mentioned is an indication of growth.
It is possible for example to have large number of hospitals without
medical equipment and doctors, or ratio of 1,000 patients to 1 doctor; schools
without teachers and teaching aids etc. therefore, the concept of
development is inclusive of the concept of growth and not vice-versa.
Development transcends increase in economic variables, but considers the
positive effect of this increase on the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI).
Growth
Takes place when there is increase in domestic production, increase in
population and much money in circulation. To Dove (1981), growth is a
quantitative process involving principally, the extension of an already
established structure of production, whereas development suggests qualitative
change and the creation of new economic and non-economic structures. Thus, the
central theme of these definitions is that while development connotes a
progressive movement from stage A to B, when state B is said to be better off
than the previous stage A by certain criteria of value, growth implies increase
in the standard of living of the people.
UNDERDEVELOPMENT
The
concept of underdevelopment like development is shrouded in controversy. Like
development, underdevelopment has no precise definition. There are scholars who
see underdevelopment as the direct opposite or the other side of development.
Others define underdevelopment by comparing the levels of development of two or
more societies, while others see it as absence of development.
In
any case, underdevelopment is neither opposite nor absence of development.
This is because every society has had a course to experience a certain
level of social progress in the process of its social evolution. Suffice
it to say that underdevelopment is a process in which a country has not
sufficiently developed. This status of insufficient development was acquired
under certain historical circumstances. These historical conditions include
centuries of slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism. At each time of
these historical periods, links were made to the extraordinary exchange of
human beings for European mirror, perfume, wine and other assorted rubbish
(Rodney 1972). This continued under the colonial and neocolonial
production systems. Under the colonial and neocolonial production system
for example, Africa was assigned the role of primary producers. Europe
fixed the prices of agricultural produce in their favour and oriented the third
world production away from the demotic needs. This is part of the
critical reason for the current agrarian crisis facing the third world counties
of Africa.
It
was earlier argued, that every country had attained a certain level of
development before it was overtaken by others in the process of development.
Thus, all the countries named underdevelopment with which the world is now
preoccupied in, a product of colonial, neocolonial and imperialist exploitation
(Rodney 1972, Frank 1968). Therefore, underdevelopment is synonymous with
exploitation and plunder of one country by another. The outcome of this
is the gross imbalance in wealth and development at the local, national and
international levels.
MODERNIZATION
Modernization
is another concert relevant to the subject of development. The term modernization
is used to refer to the experience of social change in the new nations, that
is, countries that are emerging from centuries of colonial exploitation and
domination. According to Tilly (1985), modernization is an
all-encompassing process, which includes the creation of industrial labour
force, urbanization, wide spread education of the population, wide spread
political participation and other independent transformation in the society.
Modernization also implies a process of change towards those types of
social, economic and political systems which had developed in Western Europe
and North America from 17th century and had then spread to other European
countries and in the 19th and 20th centuries in South America, Asia and African
continents (Eisentadt 1976). Thus, while development incorporates
economic and political dimensions into its domain, modernization represents
change in values, behavior or attitude of society towards the direction of
developed societies.
WESTERNIZATION
Westernization
is separate but related to the concept of modernization. However, while
modernization implies the process of change in the direction of developed
western and non-western capitalist countries, westernization equally suggests
processes of change but towards the direction of western societies.
Westernization is a sociological situation in which the value systems of the
western societies are freely allowed to diffuse to the non-industrial societies
of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This process has been systematic and
dates back to the epochs of slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism.
Western values include the values of capitalism, individualism, self
orientation among others. Because Europe possesses these values, it is expected
their diffusion would enhance the process of modernization.
PROCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT
There
are many processes of development. Central of these processes are:
(a). Development as interaction
It
is the contention of this process that society is dynamic and experiences constant
motion. This motion propels change and development. But because
parts of society which correspond directly with social institutions are
interdependent and interconnected, a change in one part will result in a
corresponding change in others. Change results from the interaction of
parts of two or more societies. For example, change takes place when
society A interacts with society B. This process can either be peaceful
or violent. Through this interaction, development can take place as attributes
and traits diffuse from one society to another.
(b). Development as action
This
process of development refers to the conscious efforts of the state to induce
development in the society. At the local, regional or national levels,
government decides the path of development for the citizenry. This can be
achieved through genuine state policy formulated and implemented on behalf of
the people.
(c). Development as a process
Development
as a process takes the form of evolution. This can either be social or natural
in content. The natural sphere places emphases on the evolution of human
society utilizing social Darwinism as a platform for understanding the analogy
of change. Darwin argued that every organism developed from a single cell, and
assumed a complex structure. The same thing applies to human society,
which transited from a simple form to a complex form, characterized by division
of labour and a differentiation of roles and functions. Each of these processes
influences development at all levels of human society.
WHY SOCIOLOGY DEVELOPMENT?
Change
and development are inseparable. Interest in the study of change and
development is as old as human society itself. The study of change and
development has been the integral part of sociological enterprise and major
preoccupation of the founding fathers of sociology, such as Auguste Comte
(1798-1857), Herbert Spencer (1820-1883), Emile Durkheim (1857-1917), Karl Marx
(1818-1883) etc. Each of these founding fathers has been able to document the
process of change in his society and provide key to understanding the direction
of change in the contemporary society. They were also deeply concerned
with how to proffer solutions to the numerous social problems of the society of
their time. For example, the problems of poverty and affluence, war and
peace, child-labour, commercial sex work etc. are all documented in the works
of these founding fathers. This explains why development as a subject
needs to be studied.
Another
reason why sociology of development is central to the entire sociological
enterprises today is because of the increase in global inequality in wealth and
social progress. Sociology of development emerged as a response to this
reality as well as a response to culture-contact and acculturation processes.
Culture contact and acculturation process is instrumental to reversing
the path distorted by the process of development in the new nations and
enhances their dependency status. This situation is best appreciated with
development as a subject.
Above
all, a study of development provides in sight to understanding the direction of
societal change and evolution. For example, how has Nigeria fared from 1900
when the colonial system of production was entrenched, to 1914 when it was
consolidated and to the present neocolonial structure imposed on the country
and the people? What was the structure, composition and the outcome of
anti-colonialism? The onus of providing explanation for these, strand by strand
falls directly on the sociology of development.
LIKELY EXAM QUESTIONS:
1.
Development and underdevelopment are two side of the same coin discuss?
2.
Distinguish between westernization and modernization
3.
Is it necessary to study sociology of development ?
4.
What is growth?
5.
How has the study of social change provided the basis for understanding
development as a subject?
REFERENCE:
Otaki,
O. (2006) Sociology of Development: Kaduna, Nigeria.
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