THEORETICAL APPROACHES

TO THE STUDY OF
DEVELOPMENT

OUTLINE
I. Evolutionary Theories
II. Structural-Functionalism
III. Economic Theories
IV. Ecological Theories
V. Conflict Theories
VI. Theory of Dependency: The Development of
Underdevelopment

EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES

THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGE

ARCHAIC/ PRIMITIVE
SOCIETY
COLLECTIVE
REPRESENTATIONS

INDUSTRIALIZATION
URBANIZATION

SOCIALIZED
INDIVIDUAL

ADVANCED/
COMPLEX SOCIETIES
CONTRACTUAL CIVIL
AND
ADMINISTRATIVE
LAW

LITTLE DIVISION OF
LABOR

INCREASING
DIVISION OF LABOR

MECHANICAL
SOLIDARITY

ANOMIE
ORGANIC
SOLIDARITY

MUST SEEK IN THE PAST THE

WE
GERMS OF NEW LIFE WHICH IT
CONTAINED AND HASTEN THEIR
DEVELOPMENT.
Emile Durkheim (1964: 391)

FOLK URBAN CONTINUUM

A construct of two ideal polar types with the folk society on
one end and the urban modern society on the other

STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
Within the social system is a complex integrated, mutually
interrelated, and functionally interdependent parts.

Order, stability, and equilibrium in society

THE IDEAS OF TALCOTT PARSONS

If the system is to constitute a persistent order or to undergo an orderly
process of developmental change:
The social system must be so structured that it is compatible with the conditions

of the functions of its members and be integrated with the cultural system
The social system must have the support of the other system
The component members must be sufficiently motivated to meet its minimum
needs like nutrition and public safety
The social system must be able to control disruptive behavior or deviant behavior.
The social system must have minimum conditions of stability or orderly behavior
to withstand deviance and conflict.

ROBERT MERTONS VIEWS ON

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Functions observed consequence which make for the
adaptation or adjustment of a given system, and
dysfunctions as those observed consequences which lessen
the adaptation or adjustment of the system

ECONOMIC THEORIES

ECONOMIC THEORIES
Gunnar Myrdal

Output and Incomes

Levels of Productivity
Levels of Living
Attitudes and Institutions
Rationality

ECONOMIC THEORIES
Watt W. Rostows Stages of Economic Growth

The
The
The
The
The

Traditional Society
Pre-conditions for Takeof
Takeof
Drive to Maturity
Age of High Mass Consumption

ECOLOGICAL THEORIES

HAWLEYS THEORY OF HUMAN ECOLOGY

Focuses on adaptations in social life as shown in a population that
maintains itself within the limits imposed by the environment

Two types of relationships: Symbiosis and Commensalism

Classification of communities: Independent and Dependent
Three Patterns of Change: Expansion, Conversion and Contraction
Ecological processes have far-reaching implications for development.

ODUMS THEORY OF HUMAN ECOLOGY

Mankind is a part of the complex biogeochemical cycles
and has the power to alter these cycles.

Relationship between human and nature strategy of

maximum protection often conflicts with humans goal of
maximum production

ODUMS THEORY OF HUMAN ECOLOGY

Certain reforms and procedures in order to implement this idea of
ecosystem management:
A firm commitment and enforcement of family planning, birth control and

abortion
Regional land
Reorientation of tax procedures to lessen growth stimulant
Efective implementation of law and medicine on environmental and
consumer protection
Agreement on definition of optimum population and how this can be attained
Cost analysis for whole product cycles

ODUMS THEORY OF HUMAN ECOLOGY

Certain reforms and procedures in order to implement this idea of
ecosystem management:
Development of a spaceship economy with emphasis on the quality of the

capital stock and human resources

Recycle and strict conservation of water and all mineral and biological resources
A by-product approach and management for waste disposal
Consideration of a total political concern for the urban rural complex as one
system
Emphasis on the modelling of long term solution to grave problems
Emphasis on ecosystem ecology from grade school to the university.

CONFLICT THEORIES

CONFLICT THERE IS NO
WITHOUT
PROGRESS. THIS IS THE LAW WHICH
CIVILIZATION HAS FOLLOWED TO THE
PRESENT DAY.
Karl Marx

THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGES

Society in a constant flux of change
Structure of Society determined by economic organization
particularly the ownership of property

Economic institutions dominant and relatively autonomous

All human history is a conflict between opposing social classes and
this will only end later in a revolutionary reconstruction of society or
common deconstruction of the contending classes

THE IDEAS OF LENIN

Imperialism as the role of finance capital
Basic features:

Monopolistic control of production and capital

The creation of finance capital by a financial oligarchy as a result of
the merger of bank capital and industrial capital
Export of capital
Formation of international capitalist monopolies
Completion of the territorial division of the world as a whole among
the greatest capital powers

THEORY OF DEPENDENCY: THE

DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT

Theory of Dependency: The Development

of Underdevelopment
Rejects the idea that economic development passes through
stages with the underdeveloped countries in an original stage
of history through which the developed countries passed
through sometime in the past.