Modernisation theory development and underdevelopment. In this context, in the late 1940s, modernisation theory was developed. Introduction africa houses plentiful economic resources. The concept of development has been variously discussed in literature especially in the social sciences such that its definition has negated a single generally accepted definition. Theories developed by development economists have encompassed the theoretical underpinnings of empirical facts drawn across the board from socio economicpolitical realms of life of many poor countries. Modernization theory economic dimension alone is not sufficient requires institutional and social change social practices, beliefs, values and customs are barriers removal is critical backward internal structures cause underdevelopment not external factors theories of. In other words, the relation between underdevelopment and dependency is explained in a circular manner. Development and underdevelopment in the third world. Modernization theory is also a development theory that emerged before the dependency theory. Dependency theories have provided an alternative approach to looking at unilinear growth models. Paradoxically, the continent languishes in poverty as evidenced by high prevalence of famine, disease and. Which theory can help africa to develop open acc biostat bioinform. The endogenous explanation is a modernization theory. The basic assumption of this theory, in any of its versions, is that there is one general end page 157 process of which democratization is but the final stage.
A critique of modernization and dependency theories in. The basic assumption of this theory, in any of its versions, is that there is one gen. Dependency theory emerged to contest modernization theory, which contended that development would diffuse from the developed to the underdeveloped societies by means of certain kinds of contact between the two. Dependency theory of underdevelopment social development. Historical research demonstrates that contemporary underdevelopment is in large part the historical product of past and continuing economic and other relations between the satellite underdeveloped and the now developed metropolitan countries. A thesis submitted to the school of graduate studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts mcmaster university august1983. This highlights the positive role played by western countries in modernizing and facilitating development in the nonwest.
A critical introduction to third world politics 2nd ed. It is a us and europeancentric normative model of development. Still others critique modernization theory for failing to account for the unsustainable nature of the project, in an environmental sense, and point out that premodern, traditional, and indigenous cultures typically had much more environmentally conscious and symbiotic relationships between people and the planet. Dependency theory, an approach to understanding economic underdevelopment that emphasizes the putative constraints imposed by the global political and economic order. However, the question if have these theories evolved throughout the years. Chapter iii a theory of underdevelopment in sociology. International journal of development and economic sustainability vol. These are the principal theoretical explanations to interpret development efforts carried out especially in the developing countries. Modernization theory an overview sciencedirect topics. The aim of this essay is to examine how traditional dependency theory, which was popular in the 1960s and 1970s as a criticism of modernization theory, can still be a useful tool for explaining global inequalities despite the challenges of the 21 st century. In response to this theory, andre gunder frank in 1966 propounded his. This model relates to the scholars like andre gunder frank, samir amin, immanuel wallerstein and h.
The internal factors, nnadozie said, fan the ember of. The main objective of this document is to synthesize the main aspects of the four major theories of development. Pdf the causes of underdevelopment in the third world. They are one because wealth entails not only consumption but also waste, not only.
The dependency theory is an important tool for understanding latin americas relative underdevelopment. Modernization theory maintains that there is a traditional element of society that prevents development, and that a relationship to the developed world is necessary for development. These theoretical perspectives allow us not only to clarify concepts, to. Modernization theories and the illusion of trickle down. Modernization theory, underdevelopment and multiple modernities. Andre gunder frank proposed the notion of the development of underdevelopment to explain how certain kinds of hierarchical.
Modernization theory is subject to criticism originating among socialist and freemarket ideologies, worldsystems theorists, globalization theorists and dependency theorists among. He, in the beginning, criticized the wellrecognized contribution of rostows. Although it is true, to a large extent, that modernization approach is still valid for the economic, social and political development of the countries, the approach has appeared questionable to many scholars of the field. The theory arose around 1970 as a reaction to some earlier theories of development like the modernization theory which said that all societies progress through similar stages of development, and that underdeveloped areas are thus in a similar situation to that of todays developed areas at some time in the past, and that therefore the task in. Modernisation and dependency repub, erasmus university. A critique of modernization and dependency theories in africa. The discourse pins hope on the african renaissance theory of development. However, nobody can deny that dependency theory opened up a new perspective on the realities of international political economy. Modernization theory is a theory used to explain the process of modernization that a nation goes through as it transitions from a traditional society to a modern one. The second part finishes by drawing attention to current critiques of the way in which social anthropology has inherited the narrative of temporal rupture from sociology, in so doing conflating. They have critically evaluated the continued unequal relationships between countries, which have their history partly in colonialism and imperialism.
Pdf on jan 1, 2010, prateek goorha and others published modernization. Modernisation theory explained the underdevelopment of countries in asia, africa and latin america primarily in terms of cultural barriers to development, basically arguing that developing countries were underdeveloped because their traditional values held them back. This has necessitated the evocation of dependency theory in explaining africas cum nigerias underdevelopment situation, hence africas underdevelopment has been linked to two categories of factors. Modernization and dependency theories are two attempts to explain the current state of underdevelopment in the world today. Still, since our purpose is not the piecemeal criticism of one or another version of modernization theory but. Generally, modernization theory and dependency theory are antipodal theoretical approaches. I may briefly add that, according to this theory, underdevelopment doesnt mean a simple backwardness that may be caught up upon, nor merely an intermittent stage in a general process of modernization. Change is resisted because it brings in elements of uncertainty. Modernization theory is a description and explanation of the processes of transformation from traditional or underdeveloped societies to modern societies.
Contributions of andre gunder frank to the theory of. The use of the term development to refer to national economic growth emerged in the united states beginning in the 1940s and in association with a key american foreign policy concern. Human nature has a propensity to resist change in favour of the status quo. Pdf conceptualizing development and underdevelopment. The modernization theory has changed over level of three waves.
One of the first major theories to surface as a solution to this new issue of underdevelopment was the modernization theory. Society for comparative studies in society and history. In the words of one of the major proponents, historically, modernization is the process of change towards those types of social, economic, and. Modernization theory has been one of the major perspectives in the sociology of national development and underdevelopment since the 1950s. Rostow 1971 suggested that following initial investment, countries would then set off on an evolutionary process in which they would progress up 5 stages of a development ladder.
Pdf dependency theory and africas underdevelopment. Development theory economics and political science. Critics of dependency theory social science theories. Modernity and modernization oxford research encyclopedia. Comparison of dependency theory with modernization theory. The first subsection of this article will discuss the controversy surrounding the definition of each term and ultimately reach to a final.
The thesis argues, in fact, that dependency theory must be rejected as an analytical framework for the reason that it locates the crucial deter minant of uneven levels of development in the realms of circulation and of exchange, and not at the level of production. Modernization theories backwardness theories according to modernization theories, internal factors in the countries, such as illiteracy, traditional agrarian structure, the traditional attitude of the population, the low division of labour, the lack of communication and infrastructure, etc. The main weakness of dependency theory lies in explaining the origin of underdevelopment. Modernization theory describes the transformative processes of societies from underdevelopment to modern societies. Development rostows of development and ist relevance in. Modernisation theory historical context 1940s and 50s by the end of ww2 it had become clear that despite exposure to capitalism many of the countries of the south had failed to develop. Modernization, dependency, rural underdevelopment, african. Anupam debashis roy howard university, usa before discussing the causes of development and underdevelopment in the third world, we must address the debated controversy of what constitutes the definitions of the key terms. In examining modernization, postmodernization and dependency theories the emphasis is on outlining briefly the thrust of geographical studies before tying them. The theories of underdevelopment are essentially dependency theories. In this sense, the dependency theory can be viewed as a reaction to modernization theory. The most wellknown version of modernization theory is walt rostows 5 stages of economic growth. The case of bengal chapter iv potentialities of capitalist transformation.
Critiques of modernization theory are then documented, notably the rise of dependency theory and notions of underdevelopment. The causes of underdevelopment in the third world and possibility for human development. Concepts of the underdevelopment and dependencies politics. Modernization versus dependency in the context of colonial. Modernization theory both attempts to identify the social variables that contribute to social progress and development of societies and seeks to explain the process of social evolution. The stages of economic growth published in 1971 and popularized the views of baran. Difference between modernization theory and dependency. However delinking in this sense can be seen to be somewhat a complex notion, since globalization has increased interdependence in the world binding economic, social, political relations of the world together and so isolation from the world economic system would only give impetus to underdevelopment. Modernization theory and the culture of dependency among third world democracies modernization theory is a description and explanation of the processes of transformation from traditional or underdeveloped societies to modern societies. Why africa remains underdeveloped despite its potential.
Dependency theory itself believes that the only way out of underdevelopment is socialism, however a structuralist argument, closely linked with the ideologies of dependency theory believes that with the eastern worlds social collapse, this will not provide an alternative to underdevelopment, therefore reforming a capitalist system was believed to help development. Modernization and its discontents 1 the crisis in modernization theory 5 towards a sociology of knowledge 11 2. Towards a politics of modernization and development. Franks theory of underdevelopment your article library. This has necessitated the evocation of dependency theory in explaining africas cum nigerias underdevelopment situation, hence africas underdevelopment has been linked to. Development theory, cluster of research and theories on economic and political development. While the dependency theories have provided a welcome critique from the south about the north, they. Modernization consists of a gradual differentiation and specialization of social structures.
This theory conceived underdevelopment as an original state, as something characteristic of a traditional society, as something that has internal origin. Paul baran, in his work the political economy of growth 1973, first published in 1957, pioneered the theory of underdevelopment. When it comes to a solution to the problem, it is right to say that the contexts of countries are different and the solutions for their economic and. Modernization theory modernisation theory has been defined as a theory reyes, 2001a that uses a systematic process to move underdeveloped countries to a more sophisticated level of development. Modernization, dependency, rural underdevelopment, african renaissance. Most economics students have either never encountered the theory in their curriculum, or have only heard of it as a theory employed in the past. Frank is of the view that the world capitalist system involves both development and underdevelopment as the two aspects of the same system. For instance development strategies such as new partnership for africas development nepad were. As a group of young scholars interested in how global economic. Modernization or dependency 72 95 modernization theory and underdevelopment dependency theory and underdevelopment dependency in a specific historical context. The theoretical assumption common to them which justifies this categorization is that the underdeveloped. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, modernization theory has been one. Read this article to learn about the dependency theory of underdevelopment. The causes of underdevelopment in the third world and.
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