Soc 222 3
Transcript of Soc 222 3
PhD Fatma Altinbas Sarigul
SOC 222Social Change and
Development
What is Development?□Emerged during the colonial era□19th Century Europeans saw
development as something specifically European□Over time, viewed as a universal
necessity□Development as social engineering
framed European colonization of the non-European world.□The proverbial “white man’s burden”
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What is Colonialism?□The establishment, exploitation,
maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colony in one territory by a political power from another territory.
□Predates the era of European expansion when several European Empires established colonies in Asia, Africa and America. (15th to 20th C.)
□Extends to Japanese colonialism (20th C.)
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Two Main Forms of Colonialism□Colonies of settlement
□Often eliminated indigenous people □Examples: Spanish destruction of Aztec and Inca
civilizations in the Americas□Colonies of rule
□Colonial administrators reorganize existing cultures by imposing new inequalities to facilitate their exploitation □Examples: British creation of local landlords
(zamindars) to rule parts of India; confiscation of personal and common land for cash cropping; depriving women of their customary resources; and elevating ethnoracial differences
Outcomes of Colonialism1. The cultural genocide and marginalization of
indigenous people.2. Colonists introduced new tensions around class,
gender, race and caste that continue to disrupt postcolonial societies.
3. The extraction of labor, cultural treasures, and resources to enrich the colonial power and their private interests.
4. Elaboration of the ideologies justifying colonial rule, including racism and notions of backwardness.
5. Punishments to any resistance, ranging from death to submission applied.
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Misinterpreting European Superiority□Perceived social-psychological advantage of
Europeans built around non-European stereotypes□Cultural comparison through the lens of Europe’s
missionary and military-industrial apparatus.□Devalued (or misinterpreted) indigenous cultures
(both simple and complex) and social systems
Assumptions of “backwardness” based on European idea of land as private and alienable.
□Aborigines did not “work” the land□African peoples as “static” and only “occupying” land
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Spiritual Lives Compromised□Degrading extractive processes and conditions
compromised non-European (spiritual) lives.□Land, water, cultivars, and food converted
into economic categories□Non-European scientific, ecological, and
moral achievements ignored.□Post-colonial African saying: “When the white
man came he had the Bible and we had the land. When the white man left, we had the Bible and he had the land.”
□Development came to be seen as destiny
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The Colonial Division of Labor□Colonies forced to produce and extract raw
materials and primary commodity unavailable in Europe □These primary commodities fueled European
manufacturing
□This colonial division of labor transformed social and environmental relationships□Established unequal ecological exchange
in which colonies exported sustainability
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Disruption of Cultures and Ecologies
□The colonial division of labor devastated producing communities and their craft and agriculture based cultures.
For example: Dacca city of India and its change
□While native industries declined under colonial systems, local farming cultures lost their best lands to commercial agriculture supplying European consumers and industries.
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Decolonization□ Colonial subjects engaged European discourse of
rights and sovereignty against their own subjugation. □ Haitian revolution, first successful independence
movement, turned rhetoric of French Revolution successfully against French colonialism
□ Resistance to colonialism evolved□ Early 19th century independence of Latin American republics
to dismantling of South African apartheid in early 1990s. □ Peak of decolonization when World War II sapped the
French, Dutch, British and Belgian states’ power□ The nation-state
□ Offered formal political independence□ But sovereignty was shaped by cultural and economic
legacies of colonialism
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Colonial Liberation□Racism is the highest expression of the
colonial system.□Albert Memmi, a Tunisian philosopher, wrote
in The Colonizer and the Colonized (1967) of the unchanging nature of colonial racism
□Franz Fanon, West Indian psychiatrist, responded with The Wretched of the Earth, a manifesto calling people of former colonies to transcend the mentality of enslavement
Reading: Case study page 40-41
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Decolonization□ New world order: the era of development
□105 new states joining the United Nations from 1945 to 1981; sovereignty for millions of non-Europeans
□Idealism: First and Third World coordinated to stimulate economic growth, social improvements and promote political citizenship
□New national leaders proclaimed goal of equality in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Social Contract: everyone is entitles to realization,
through national effort, an international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
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Decolonization and Development
□ Decolonization gave development new meaning□ Influence of French and US ideologies of liberal-
nationalism □ Ideal of sovereignty, converting subjects into citizens□ Pursue economic development for social justice
□ United States led an international project that viewed development as a national enterprise□ Publicly supported agro-industrialization, commodity
stabilization programs, and industrial inputs□ U.S. export of capital-intensive industrial farming
defines agricultural modernization with disastrous global ecological consequences
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Post WW II Geopolitical Divisions
□Post-World War II geopolitical divisions:□1st World: Capitalist, Western countries and
Japan□2nd World: Communist, Soviet bloc□3rd World: Postcolonial (or ex-colonies) bloc
□Economic disparity□First World: 65% of global income and 20%
of global population□Third World: 67% of world population and
18% of global income© Sage Publications, 2011.
The Development Project□ President Harry S. Truman’s 1949 speech
□ Proclaimed development program calling for “helping the least fortunate”
□ Suggested a new paradigm: the division of humanity into developed and undeveloped regions
□ Gustavo Esteva: On this day, “two billion people became underdeveloped”
□ Development required restoring capitalist world markets to sustain First World wealth through access to strategic natural resources and opportunity for Third World nations to emulate First World civilization and living standards
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The Development Project□Presented as universal, natural and
uncontentious; obliterated its colonial roots
□But Third World states could not repeat the European experience of development by exploiting labor and resources of other societies
□Devalued non-European cultures and discounted what the West learned from the non-European world
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Development Project□A political and intellectual response to world
conditions at time of decolonization □Understood social change as economic □Nation-State as framework
□Territorially defined political systems based on 19th century European government-citizen relationship.
□Economic Growth□Objective of 1945 UN Charter was “rising
standard of living,” measured by gross national product (GNP) or national average of per capita income
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Development Project□Introduction of market system
□Need to overcome “traditional obstacles,” i.e., wealth sharing, cooperative labor
□Solution: Introduce private property and accumulation of wealth
□Required introduction of banking, accounting, education, stock markets, legal systems, and public infrastructure
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Problems with Economic Measures
□Average indices of per capita income obscure inequalities among social groups
□Rising consumption measures do not reflect improvement in quality of life
□Rising consumption includes environmentally harmful activities
□Economic criteria marginalize other criteria for evaluating quality of life and discount social wealth of nonmaterial activities
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Framing the Development Project
□Both Cold War blocs understood development as destiny□West:
□Goal of free-enterprise capitalism□Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarian philosophy of
common good arising from pursuit of individual self-interest
□Communist bloc:□Goal of central planning and abolition of private
property□Karl Marx’s collectivist “from each according to
their ability, and to each according to their needs.”
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National Industrialization□Assumed that agrarian civilization would be
displaced by urban-industrial society □Policies deliberately transferred people and
resources from agrarian sectors.□Industrial growth would ideally feed back
and technify agriculture Assumed a linear direction for
development – catch-up with the West□Development not just a goal, it is a method
of rule
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Economic Nationalism□ Effort of Third World governments to reverse the
colonial division of labor by protecting domestic industrialization with tariffs and public subsidies and reducing dependence on primary exports
□ Built national development states to organize economic growth by mobilizing money and people□ Using individual and corporate taxes, export and sales taxes
to finance transportation systems and state enterprises□ Popularized by Raul Prebisch, adviser to the
Argentine military government in the 1930s and executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission on Latin America
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□The Outcomes of Colonialism
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