WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?
• "Development never will be, and never can be, defined to
uni–
versal satisfaction.
It
refers, broadly speaking to desirable social
and economic progress, and people will always have different views
about what is desirable." This comment from the
Brandt Report
sums up the essence of the controversy in the notion of develop–
ment.
It
must, by definition, mean progress, but this implies a value
judgment, and what constitutes an improvement varies consider–
ably according to views and ideology. Having defined development
as "a process of improvement with respect to a set of values", au–
thors Colman and Nixon come to the conclusion that "the rate or
the relative level of a country's development are normative con–
cepts whose definition and measurement depend upon the value
judgements of the analysts involved". [They
1
also point out what is
widely supported among social scientists today: [thatl "value judge–
ments are inescapable elements of factual study in the social sci–
ences" . This problem, therefore, should by no means be a stum–
bling block to further analysis, but should serve to keep us alert to
ideological frameworks within which judgements are made. More–
over, despite diHerent viewpoints, there is often considerable agree–
ment over the major goals of development.
Sorne objectives for development which would probably meet with
widespread acceptance are:
1) Family incomes should be sufficient to at least provide food,
shelter, and clothing at subsistence level;
2) Jobs should be available to all family heads;
3) Education and literacy rates should be raised;
4) The people should be given the opportunity to participate in
government;
These objectives cover economic factors necessary for survival, cul–
tural factors relating to the satisfaction of non-material needs, and
political factors allowing for the greater involvement of people in
the running of their own aHairs.
(Texto basado sobre Latin American Society. de
T.
Cubbit)
Eng1ish for Economists
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