What is Development Flashcards
global development
global divisions between the rich an privileged and the poor and underprivileged and about the attempt to eliminate these divisions
development
the process by which societies change - a controversial term w diff writers having diff conceptions of what processes are involved and what the outcome should be
what is meant by ‘good change’
•many writers begin with the economy and ‘economic growth’
•means that the economy is getting bigger, providing more goods and goods of higher value
•economic development involves a change from an economy based on subsistence agriculture and small workshops to factory based mass production of goods, mass consumption and service industries e.g. financial banking
measuring development - economically
•look at country’s economic figures such as gross domestic product (gdp), gross national income (gni)
gross domestic product
market value of all final goods and services from a nation given in a year
advantages of gdp
•gives ball-park figure for development so easier to measure
•does generally sort the wealthier countries so is more accurate
disadvantages of gdp
•favours bigger countries as can sell more (india and china)
•doesn’t account for inequality - will have extreme rich areas and extreme poor areas
•doesn’t account for difference in population
•doesn’t account for differences in cost of living
•no account of social factors
•figures vary widely
gross national income
•measures the total value of goods and services produced by a country in a particular year
•usually given as a ‘per capita’ figure to allow for difference in size/populations between countries, given in us dollars
advantages of gni
•reveals dramatic scale of inequality between developed and developing worlds
•changes in gni from year to year give a measure for economic growth e.g. some countries in developing world are experience rapid growth (china, india) while others have suffered a fall in gni from already low levels in recent years
disadvantages of gni
•econ. growth does not show all aspects of social development that sociologists are interested in
•averages for whole pop, conceals inequality - high gni ≠ high standards of living for all members of pop, applies to developed countries too where high gni per c can conceal sig. minorities living in poverty
•only counts what happens in ‘official econ’ some important are outside the market and are not counted e.g growing food for one’s own consumption - more likely to be more important in developing countries rather than developed countries, are often activities carried out by women’s so can be viewed as gender biased
what is a solution to the population issue w gdp
•divide gdp by population
•an attempt to correct the imbalance between bigger and smaller counties
advantages of dividing gdp by population
•gives ball park figure for development
•seen as a measure of standard of living
•accounts for differences in population
disadvantages of dividing gdp by population
•doesn’t account for inequality, differences in cost of living, social factors
•bali judgments that gdp is primary factor in judging development
•says nothing ant individual income
purchasing power parity (ppp)
•economists look at a basket of goods in each economy and make a calculation that equalises what an individual can buy in each country
•an attempt to factor in cost of goods in each country, cost of living and inflation rates
advantages of ppp
•gives ball work figure for development
•accounts for cost of living
•accounts for diff in pop
