Promise Chidubem Okoli

A0020798

Prof. Samuel Chiedu Utulu

INF 402 – Midterm Exam (Individual)

12/13/20

1. What is Development?

Development can be defined a process that creates growth, progress and positive change
on physical, economic, environmental, social and cultural levels. The main purpose of
development is to increase the level and quality of life and education of the population, and the
creation or expansion of local regional income and employment opportunities, without damaging
the resources of the environment (Israel, 2018).

2. Identify and explain the following perspectives of development

a. Classical
b. Neoclassical
c. Modernist
d. Postmodernist

CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVE;

The classical growth theory argues that economic growth will decrease or end because of
an increasing population and limited resources. This theory was actualized by the use of a
subsistence level. Subsistence is the minimum amount of income that an individual needs to
survive and that any additional income that goes above this level are profits. Classical theorists
propounded that if real GDP was to rise above this subsistence level of income, the population
would increase and bring real GDP back down to the subsistence level. Conversely, if the real
GDP fell below this subsistence level, parts of the population would die off and real income
would rise back to the subsistence level. (Waldén, Meade, & Walden, 1961)
 This theory was propounded in the 18th and 19th century, when Great Britain was on the
verge of industrial revolution. The economists around that time; most notably Adam Smith,
Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo, were interested in understanding the forces that governed
how their economic systems operated at the time, the processes that were involved in these
operations and the outcomes of these processes in the long run. They wanted to prove that
individuals when looking out for themselves and in a free competitive market, would be
beneficial to the whole society. From their studies they found out that the drivers of the economy
were productive investment and accumulation and that under capitalism, this means the
reinvestment of profits.
The classical growth theory has been proven wrong by modern progress because it has
been shown that increasing populations also led to increasing profits and economic growth. It is
said that classical theorists didn’t account for the role that technology plays in the improvement
of the lives of individuals.

NEOCLASSICAL PERSPECTIVE;

Neoclassical growth theory is an economic theory that outlines how a steady economic
growth rate results from a combination of three driving forces—labor, capital, and technology.
The National Bureau of Economic Research names Robert Solow and Trevor Swan as having the
credit of developing and introducing the model of long-run economic growth in 1956. This
theory explains that technology is imperative to economic growth and that the growth of an
economy is also dependent on technology.
This theory shows the relationship between the necessary factors for economic
development by expressing them as mathematical formula. It is also important to note that the
capital and labour of an economy is directly responsible for its output while technology is
responsible for increasing the output of labour. The formula for determining the growth and
equilibrium of an economy is given as Y = AF (K, L), where Y = an economy's gross domestic
product (GDP), K = its share of capital, L = the amount of unskilled labor in an economy and A
= a determinant level of technology. But the formula is often rewritten as Y = F (K, AL) due to
the relationship between labour and technology.
The increase in any of the aforementioned inputs is reflected on the economical GDP.
The law of diminishing returns is however applied here. Technology is said to be limitless in its
contributions to economic growth, therefore if the other factors (labour and capital) do not
increase as well with it, they would eventually start having diminishing returns. (Dimand &
Spencer, 2009)

MODERNIST PERSPECTIVE;

This theory claims that economic development, cultural change, and political change go
together in coherent, predictable patterns and stages which become more complex as they
progress. This theory was formulated by white scientists of primarily European descent
sometime in the mid-20th century.

This theory was propounded by the scientists studying the history in North America and
Southern Europe and taking notes of the positive changes that happened during that time, they
developed a theory that explains that modernization is a process that involves: industrialization,
urbanization, rationalization, bureaucracy, mass consumption and the adoption of democracy.
During this process, pre-modern or traditional societies evolve into the contemporary Western
societies that we know today.

Modernization theory posits that this process involves increased availability and levels of
formal schooling, and the development of mass media, both of which are thought to foster
democratic political institutions. Through the process of modernization, transportation and
communication become increasingly sophisticated and accessible, populations become more
urban and mobile, and the extended family declines in importance. Simultaneously, the
importance of the individual in economic and social life increases and intensifies.

Organizations become bureaucratic as the division of labor within society grows more
complex, and as it is a process rooted in scientific and technological rationality, religion declines
in public life.

Finally, the primary means for the exchange of goods and services is taken over by cash
driven markets. As it is a theory conceptualized by Western social scientists, it is also one with a
capitalist economy at its center.

Cemented as valid within Western academia, modernization theory has long been used as
a justification for implementing the same kinds of processes and structures in places all over the
world that are considered "under-" or "undeveloped" as compared with Western societies. At its
core are the assumptions that scientific progress, technological development and rationality,
mobility, and economic growth are good things and are to be constantly aimed for.

The modernization theory has faced a lot of criticism over the years. Many scholars, often
those from non-Western nations, pointed out over the years that modernization theory fails to
account for the way Western reliance on colonization, the stolen labor of enslaved people, and
theft of land and resources provided the wealth and material resources necessary for the pace and
scale of development in the West. It cannot be replicated in other places because of this, and it
should not be replicated in this way, these critics argue.

Others, have pointed out that Western modernization is premised on the extreme
exploitation of workers within the capitalist system, and that the toll of modernization on social
relations has been great, leading to widespread social alienation, a loss of community, and
unhappiness. Other groups critique the modernization theory for not explicitly stating that
modernization is unsustainable to the environment, and point out that pre-modern, traditional,
and indigenous cultures typically had much more environmentally conscious and symbiotic
relationships between people and the planet. (Sciences, Growth, Countries, Systems, & Sci-,
2001)

POSTMODERNIST PERSPECTIVE;

This is a late 20th century movement that has to do with the skepticism, questioning and
rejection of the ideologies associated with modernism. Popular postmodern theorists are Jean-
François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, and Fredric Jameson.

Post modernists typically share at least one of the following views: there is no objective
reality; there is no scientific or historical truth (objective truth); science and technology (and
even reason and logic) are not vehicles of human progress but suspect instruments of established
power; reason and logic are not universally valid; there is no such thing as human nature (human
behavior and psychology are socially determined or constructed); language does not refer to a
reality outside itself; there is no certain knowledge; and no general theory of the natural or social
world can be valid or true (all are illegitimate “metanarratives”). Correspondingly,
postmodernism promotes tendencies to self-consciousness, self-referentiality, epistemological
and moral relativism, pluralism, and irreverence.
 Post modernism is criticized on the grounds that it promotes obscurantism. Obscurantism
means practice of deliberately presenting information in an imprecise, abstruse manner designed
to limit further inquiry and understanding. This means that critics of the post modernism theory
say that post modernism theorists do not give any viable plausible reasons for their views. Other
critics view post modernism as meaningless because it doesn’t add anything to
analytical/empirical knowledge. They say that postmodernism do not answer these questions of
the principles of its theories and the evidence to support. (Raphael, 2013)
Bibliography

Dimand, R. W., & Spencer, B. J. (2009). Trevor Swan and the neoclassical growth model.
History of Political Economy, 41(SUPPL.1), 107–126. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-
2009-019

Raphael, A. (2013). Postmodernist Perspective of Development and its applications on

Contemporary Trends of Development in Africa: a review of the conjectures. IOSR Journal
Of Humanities And Social Science, 17(3), 06–11. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-1730611

Sciences, B., Growth, E., Countries, D., Systems, C., & Sci-, B. (2001). Modernization Theory
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Waldén, L. J., Meade, J. E., & Walden, L. J. (1961). The Classical Theory of Economic Growth.
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