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”

© Sage Publications, 2011.

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.)


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.


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


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


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


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.


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


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


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.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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.”


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


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


□The Outcomes of Colonialism


Soc 222 3

Education

Transcript of Soc 222 3