It will help students to understand development and related concepts.

1. SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT:
INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT
OF DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED
CONCEPTS
Dr. Anil Kumar
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
STJM PG College,
Bilhaur, Kanpur
E-mail: anil.aina@gmail.com

2. SOME RELATED CONCEPTS: SOCIAL CHANGE &
PROGRESS
Social Change
Social change is a term used to describe variations in, or
modifications of, any aspect of social processes, social patterns,
social interaction or social organisatiopn.” Jones
Social changes a are variations from the accepted modes of line
whether due to attention in geographical conditions, in cultural
equipment, composition of the population, or ideologies and
whether brought about by diffusion or inventions within the
group. Gillin and Gillin, Cultural Sociology, p-561.
Progress
Progress is a development towards an objective, thought to be
desirable by the general group, for the visible future. (Obgurn and
Nimkoff, p-605)
Progress is a development or evolution in a direction which
satisfies rational criteria of value. Ginsberg, p-42.
Progress is a movement towards an objective thought to be
desirable by the general group for the visible future.
According to MacIver, progress implies not merely direction, but
direction towards some final goal, some destination determined
ideally not simply by objective consideration at work.

3. SOME RELATED CONCEPTS: EVOLUTION &
GROWTH
Evolution
The idea of evolution is most commonly associated with Charles Darwin’s
(1859) theory of evolution through natural selection.
This is based on four key assumptions:
i. that more individuals are born than can possibly survive;
ii. that each of these individuals differs in some distinctive way;
iii. that these differences will mean that some of these individuals will
be better able to survive in particular environmental circumstances
than others;
iv. that those better able to survive will leave more offspring than
those less well adapted to their environment.
Social evolution describes how cultures and societies change over time.
Social evolution can be explained as the process by which structural
reorganization is affected through time, eventually producing a form or
structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form.
Growth
Growth refers to a positive/progressive change in size, quantity or
numbers, often over a period of time.
Growth can occur as a stage of maturation or a process toward fullness
or fulfillment.
Growth may be natural and continuous process which indicates a change
of features or characteristics.

4. SOME RELATED CONCEPTS: HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
In the year 1990, it was the first time, when Human
Development Report introduced a new approach for
advancing human wellbeing.
Human development/HD approach - is about expanding
the richness of human life, rather than simply the richness of
the economy in which human beings live.
It is an approach that is focused on people and their
opportunities and choices:
 People- It (HD) focuses on improving the lives people lead rather
than assuming that economic growth will lead, automatically, to
greater wellbeing for all. Income growth is seen as a means to
development, rather than an end in itself.
 Opportunities- It (HD) is about giving people more freedom to live
lives they value. In effect this means developing people’s abilities
and giving them a chance to use them. i.e. providing education to
girl and scope to access the job. There are three foundations for
human development are:
1) to live a long, healthy and creative life,
2) to be knowledgeable, and
3) to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of
living.

5. SOME RELATED CONCEPTS: HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
Calculation of Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) provides a single index
measure to capture all three human development dimensions : 1)
to live a long, healthy and creative life, 2) to be knowledgeable, and 3)
to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living.
Key Matrix: There ae four key metrics to calculate HDI:
 life expectancy at birth – to assess a long and healthy life
 expected years of schooling – to assess access to knowledge of
the young generation
 average years of schooling – to assess access to knowledge of
the older generation
 gross national income (GNI) per capita – to assess the standard
of living
Ranking of India : 129 out of 189 Countries of the World (HDR
2019)

6. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The concept of sustainable development was shaped in the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development held at Rio
de Janeiro in 1992.
The term, sustainable development, was popularized in “Our
Common Future”, a report published by the World Commission on
Environment & Development in the year 1987.
As per that report “Sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within
it two key concepts:
 the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's
poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and
 the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology & social
organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future
needs.“
The ultimate goal of sustainable development is to improve the
quality of life for all members of a community and, indeed, for all
citizens of a nation and the world – while ensuring the integrity of
the life support systems upon which all life, human and non-
human, depends.

7. SDGS
The agenda for sustainable development 2030
was adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015,
provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for
people and the planet, now and into the future.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are
an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and
developing - in a global partnership.
Year 2015 was a landmark year for multilateralism and
international policy shaping, with the adoption of several
major agreements:
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (March 2015)
Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (July
2015)
Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development (September 2015) with its 17 SDGs.
Paris Agreement on Climate Change (December 2015)

8. Source: www.un.org

9. DEVELOPMENT MODELS-ECONOMIC
Development has seen many models- capitalist, socialist, communist,
democratic, psychological, social, economic, ideal type and diffusion
oriented dependency, post communist, modernist and post-modernist
etc.
Broadly the above development models indicate two dimensions:
Economic and Non-Economic.
Economic development indicates the following:
a. Progressive increase in Gross National Production (GNP) rate and per
capital income;
b. High rate of capital formation;
c. High rate of saving and investment;
d. Progressive expansion of industrial base;
e. Rapid technological change (Automation)
f. Large Scale Standardized Production;
g. Expansion of Agriculture Based and Commercialization of
Agriculture;
h. Increase in material expectation and consumerism;
i. High level of division of labour, specialization, co-operation and
technological skill;
j. Increase in means of transportation and communication and ;
k. Strengthening of distributive machoism.

10. CRITIQUE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
It is well known that economic development model
could not able to explain/fulfill the expectations at
the micro and macro levels. Tribal development is
linked to both micro and macro levels of the
development.
Mahbub ul Haq criticized the economic development
model on the basis of:
1. Growth of GNP often does not filter down, what is needed
a direct attack on mass poverty;
2. Market mechanism is often distorted by the existing
distribution of income and wealth: It is generally
unreliable guide to setting national objectives;
3. Institutional Reforms are generally more decisive than
appropriate price signals for fashioning relevant
development strategies;
4. New development Strategies must be based on the
satisfaction of the basic human need rather than market
demand;

11. CRITIQUE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
5. Development Style should be such as to build development
around the people rather than people around development;
6. Distribution and employment policies must be an integral
part of any production plan: It is generally possible to
produce first and distribute letter.
7. A vital element in distribution policies to increase the
productivity of the poor by a radical change in the direction
of investment toward the poorest section of society.
8. A drastic restructuring of political and economic power
relationships is often required if development is to spread
to the vast majority of the population.
Social Development Summit of 1995 at Copenhagen
agreed to follow the path of social development.

12. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Long back, L. T. Hobhouse (Social Development, Its
Nature and Conditions, 1924) laid down the criteria of
social development: increase in scale, increase in
efficiency, increase in mutuality and increase in
freedom.
However, his criteria were evolutionary in nature and
more general in approach later on several sociologists
propounded different criteria which are as follow:
a. Progressive opening of the social structure and
establishment of open social system in place of closed social
system.
b. More emphasis on the achievement principle in place of
ascription particularly in determination of an individuals ’
social status.
c. Progressive replacement of involuntary and sacramental
relationships by voluntary contractual relationships in all
section of society.
d. Stress on voluntarism in individual’s choice and action, e.g.
abandoning the notions of fatalism and predetermination.
e. Establishment of an egalitarian social order based on the

13. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT …..
f. Free flow of communication through ought the society.
g. Cultivation of rational and secular outlook towards the
institutions of society, e. g. cultivation of the belief that social
institutions such as law, government, education, economy,
language etc. are human creations and hence they can be
changed in accordance with the historical experiences.
h. Cultivation of belief that society grow by the efforts and
activities of its members. Differently speaking no
superimposed plan of social changes and development can
bring about fundamental changes in society if they are not
desired by the members of society who do not actively strive
for the same.
i. Establishment of free institutions for maintaining law and
order and for carrying society forward to the desired goals.
j. Progressive increase in creative opportunities and individual
freedom particularly ion regard to sex, marriage, education,
religion, occupation and life style.
k. Increasing social mobility, mobilization and activisation.

14. UNDER DEVELOPMENT:
ANDRE GUNDER FRANK
In economics, underdevelopment is when resources are not used to
their full socio-economic potential, with the result that local or
regional development is slower in most cases than it should be.
The origin of underdevelopment theories are outcome of two
distinct sources i.e the theoretical debate within Marxism and ii) the
experiences of development in Latin America.
In his book “Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America”
Andre Gunder Frank explains that development and
underdevelopment are both necessary result and contemporary
manifestation of internal contradictions in the world capitalist
system.
Andre Gunder Frank (1971) argues that developing nations have
failed to develop not because of 'internal barriers to development'
as modernization theorists argue, but because the developed West
has systematically underdeveloped them, keeping them in a state
of dependency.

15. UNDER DEVELOPMENT:
GUNNAR MYRDAL
Gunnar Mydral argued that development and
underdevelopment were like two sides of a coin.
Economist Gunnar Mydral in his book (Asian Drama: An
Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, 1968) defines
development as “the process of moving away from
underdevelopment” and characterizes under developed
country as one where there is “a constellation of
numerous undesirable conditions for work and life,
outputs, incomes and levels of living are low, many
modes of production, attitudes and behavioural patterns
are disadvantageous and there are unfavourable
institutions, ranging from those at the state level to
those governing social and economic relations in the
family and the neighbourhood.

16. SAMIR AMIN
•Samir Amin believe that, underdevelopment is not a lack of
development. It is the reverse side of the development of the rich
countries. ... In common with other dependency theorists, he
argues that the global economy systematically favours the
continued enrichment of rich countries at the expense of poor
countries.
•Developed Nations wants to maintain monopoly through:
•Technology
•Finance (World Market)
•Monopoly on Natural Resources
•Media (Information and Communication)
•Mass Killing Weapons