Human Development A

FPDS011
Unit 1: Introduction to Development
 1.1 What is Development?

• In social sciences it is important to understand that most ideas and

theories are essentially questioned.
• Not everyone agrees with a particular concept, how it is measured and/or
how to apply it.
• Depending on which scholar we ask, the psychologist, economist,
political scientist etc., the answer to the question ‘What is
development?’ will differ.
 Development according to Rostow
Rostow’s Stages of Development
• Prior to Rostow, approaches to development had been based on the
assumption that "modernization" was characterised by the Western
world.
• These were wealthier and more powerful countries at the time; they
were able to advance from the initial stages of underdevelopment
• This forced other countries to model themselves after the West,
aspiring to a "modern" state of capitalism and a liberal democracy
 Rostow presented five steps that all countries must pass, to
become developed,
Stage 1: Traditional Society
•Subsistence
•Barter
•Agriculture
Stage 2: Transitional Stage
•Specialisation
•Surpluses
•Infrastructure
Stage 3: Take Off
•Industrialisation
•Growing investment
•Regional growth
•Political change
Stage 4: Drive to Maturity
•Diversification
•Innovation
•Less reliance on imports
•Investment
Stage 5: High Mass Consumption
•Consumer oriented
•Durable goods flourish
•Service sector becomes dominant

• Development requires substantial investment in capital.

• For the economies of LDCs to grow, the right conditions for such investment would have to created.
• If aid is given or foreign direct investment occurs at Stage 3, the economy needs to have reached Stage 2.
• If Stage 2 has been reached, then injections of investment may lead to rapid growth.

1. Stage 1: Transitional society

• This initial stage of traditional society signifies a primitive society, having no access to modern science and
technology. It is characterized by a subsistent, agricultural based economy, with intensive labour and low
levels of trading.
2. Stage 2: Transitional stage/preconditions to take-off

• In this stage, a society begins to specialise in manufacturing, with a more national/international focus, as
opposed to a regional outlook
• This covers a long period of a century or more, during which the preconditions for take-off are established.
• These conditions mainly comprise fundamental changes in the social, political and economic fields.
• During this stage of growth, foundations for economic transformation are laid and the people start using
modern science and technology for increased productivity in both agriculture and industry.

3. Stage 3: Take-off

• Rostow describes this stage as a short period of intensive growth, in which industrialisation begins to occur,
and workers and institutions become concentrated around a new industry.

4. Stage 4: Drive to maturity

• This stage takes place over a long period of time, as standards of living rise, use of technology increases
and the national economy grows and diversifies.

5. Stage 5: Age of high mass consumption

• Here, a country's economy flourishes in a capitalist system, characterised by mass production and consumerism
Development Understandings and Theories
Some of the other more important understandings and theories are as
follows:

• Development as historic progress

• Development as planned promotion
• Development as condition
• Development as human development
1 Development as Historic Progress
• Development can also be defined as a process that occurs throughout
history; as time passes, so too does development happen.
• The notion here is that development is almost inevitable, and
humanity will continue to advance as the decades roll by.
• Does development occur as some kind of evolution, regardless of
human interaction?
• Or does development occur because of people trying to change their
social, economic, political and environmental situation?
• Humans constantly thrive to improve themselves and their circumstances.
• Current understandings of progress refer to the idea of modernization
• Modernisation means to bring the political, social and economic structure of
countries up to the current standards of the world
• It is based on the view that to develop means to become ‘modern’ by adopting
Western cultural values and social institution.
• This process basically means that countries have to undergo industrial
development.
• Industrial development implies that countries have developed to the stage of
industrialising their economies;
• Therefore, moving away from agricultural societies that depend primarily on food
products for income to industrial societies that depend primarily on manufactured
goods such as cars, textiles, etc. for income.
2 Development as Planned Promotion
• Focuses on ‘deliberate efforts aimed at improvement on various agencies such as
the government, organizations & social movements.
• This means that various people from many different walks of life are all
committed to improve the lives of societies in the different countries.
• These efforts at improvement are considered planned, the mobilization of
resources to ensure planned economic, social and political growth.
• Therefore, development does not coincidently occur, it is intentional and aimed
at improving the conditions of the people.
• The planned promotion of development is in the hands of the governments,
whose ideas revolve around the notion of catching-up to other, more advanced
countries.
• This implies that the planned promotion of countries focuses on the
improvement of the military and economic forces of a country
3 Development as Condition
• The notion that there is an ultimate state of social, political and economic being
that all countries aim to achieve and this state considers a country to be
developed.
• In order for development to occur, certain social, political and economic
conditions have to be met (checklist).
• This views stress that in order for development to occur, countries must follow
certain policies or strategies.
• This viewpoint can be described ‘as a vision, description or measure of the state
of being of a desirable society’.
• This vision of a desirable state of being manifests itself in one of two ways;

 Through the ideas of modernisation

 A more people-centred vision that focuses on the efforts of development on achieving the realisation of
human potential

• This human potential would mainly focus the efforts of development around dealing with the needs of human
beings and not necessarily on the industrialisation of countries.
4 Development as Human Development

• Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices.

• Enlarging people’s choices is achieved by expanding human capabilities and functioning.
• The three essential capabilities for human development are for people to lead long healthy lives,
to be knowledgeable and to have a decent standard of living.
• The aim is improving on what people consider to be the most important aspects of their lives, and
not what governments and other contributors would consider is important
• This viewpoint claims that development is an ongoing process, aimed at the improvement of
people’s lives, based on the expansion of their choices.
• The more choices they are capable of making, the better they can consider their lives to be.
1.2 Dimensions of Human Development
1. Personal dimension
• This refers to the constant and continuous growth of people’s experiences,
beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours.
• It includes:
• activities that improve the awareness and identity of people
• the ability to develop talents and individual potential
• the capacity to build human capital (knowledge, creativity)
• the capability to facilitate employability
• the enhancement of the quality of life of people
• the capacity of people to contribute to the realisation of dreams and aspirations.
1.2 Dimensions of Human Development
2. Social Dimension
• This refers to the improvement of the social conditions of a society that shape
people’s life opportunities.
• It promotes social unity in the midst of ongoing and dynamic change,
alongside social movements e.g. environmental challenges
1.2 Dimensions of Human Development

3. Political Dimension
• This refers to the political and governmental circumstances required for
development to take place.
• A stable political environment creates avenues and participation channels.
1.2 Dimensions of Human Development
4. Economic Dimension
• This refers to the increase in production through the expansion of the factors
of production and the sectors of production.
• It includes:
• the raising of the ‘productive capacities of societies in terms of their technologies (more
efficient tools and machines.
• technical cultures (knowledge of nature, research and capacity to develop improved
technologies)
• the physical, technical and organisation capacities and skills of those engaged in
production
1.3 Human Development Index (HDI)
• The United Nations has developed HDI as a tool to measure the
development of a country.
• HDI measures the average achievements in a country
• It measures in three dimensions:
• A long and healthy life (health);
• Access to knowledge (education); and
• A decent standard of living (income).
• Calculated together, these provide a single statistic of human
development that serves as a frame of reference for personal, social
and economic development in a specific country.
1.3 Human Development Index (HDI)
• This statistic is expressed as a number between 0 and 1, countries with scores
closer to 1 show a higher level of human development, and those closer to 0
show a lack of satisfactory human development.
Countries then fall within one of the four human development categories
depending on their final score on the HDI:
Level of Human Development Numerical Range Of HDI
Very High 1.000 – 0.785
High 0.784 – 0.675
Medium 0.674 – 0.475
Low 0.474 – 0.000
3.1 Uses of the Human Development Index
(HDI)
• It is used to measure the level of human development in a country; and to
emphasise that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for
assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
• It allows for the progress of human development to be tracked; by comparing
different years of HDIs with one another, it is possible to ascertain whether or not
a country’s level of development is increasing or decreasing.
• It allows for the levels of human development between different countries to be
compared.
• It is used to measure the impact of economic policies on the quality of life, by
questioning national policy choices and asking how two countries with the same
level of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita can end up with such different
human development outcomes.
1.4 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is commonly used by economists, policymakers, international
development agencies and even the media, as an indicator of the economic health of a country,
as well as to gauge a country's standard of living.
• This is done by measuring the size of an economy, by adding up the value of goods and services
produced within the country during a period of time.
• The GDP has many flaws as a measure of standard of living, just because a country has a higher
GDP, it does mean that their citizens are better off than the rest of the world.
• In 2006 China emitted so much toxic carbon dioxide due to its manufacturing and industrial activities
• However, Chinese people had to suffer living and working in a polluted environment. Even though the GDP was high
in China,
• The GDP does not take into consideration of other aspects that define human wellbeing, like life
expectancy and educational attainment.
 HDI GDP

• The GDP and GDP per capita only reflect theoretical averages in wealth
• it only shows the amount of money in circulation in an economy, not who uses it or to whom it
goes to;
• whom it goes to; it focuses on the economic wellbeing of a country.
• The HDI is a holistic measurement of human development,
• which measures health (life expectancy at birth),
• education (expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling)
• and income
Class Activity

Social Political

Human
Development

Economic
Personal