1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias Development theory is a collection of theories about how desirable change in society is best achieved.
The earliest principles of modernization theory can be derived from the idea of progress, which stated that people can develop and change their society themselves.
The French sociologist Émile Durkheim stressed the interdependence of institutions in a society and the way in which they interact with cultural and social unity.
[1] Other scientists who have contributed to the development of modernization theory are: David Apter, who did research on the political system and history of democracy; Seymour Martin Lipset, who argued that economic development leads to social changes which tend to lead to democracy; David McClelland, who approached modernization from the psychological side with his motivations theory; and Talcott Parsons who used his pattern variables to compare backwardness to modernity.
Growth can be restricted by local institutions and social attitudes, especially if these aspects influence the savings rate and investments.
[5] Heavy state involvement has often been considered necessary for successful development in economic modernization theory; Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, Ragnar Nurkse and Kurt Mandelbaum argued that a big push model in infrastructure investment and planning was necessary for the stimulation of industrialization, and that the private sector would not be able to provide the resources for this on its own.
In this model Lewis explained how the traditional stagnant rural sector is gradually replaced by a growing modern and dynamic manufacturing and service economy.
This structural transformation of the developing country is pursued in order to create an economy which in the end enjoys self-sustaining growth.
In Chile, he cooperated with Celso Furtado, Aníbal Pinto, Osvaldo Sunkel, and Dudley Seers, who all became influential structuralists.
Periphery states have unique features, structures and institutions of their own and are considered weaker with regards to the world market economy, while the developed nations have never been in this colonized position in the past.
Dependency theorists argue that underdeveloped countries remain economically vulnerable unless they reduce their connections to the world market.
One of the results of expansion of the world-system is the commodification of things, like natural resources, labor and human relationships.
The approach has been applied in the sphere of development assistance, to determine what a society needs for subsistence, and for poor population groups to rise above the poverty line.
Proponents of basic needs have argued that elimination of absolute poverty is a good way to make people active in society so that they can provide labor more easily and act as consumers and savers.
It would lack theoretical rigour, practical precision, be in conflict with growth promotion policies, and run the risk of leaving developing countries in permanent turmoil.
John Maynard Keynes was a very influential classical economist as well, having written his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936.
Neoclassical development theory became influential towards the end of the 1970s, fired by the election of Margaret Thatcher in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the USA.
Postdevelopment theory is a school of thought which questions the idea of national economic development altogether.
The institutes which voice the concern over underdevelopment are very Western-oriented, and postdevelopment calls for a broader cultural involvement in development thinking.
Also, postdevelopment argues for structural change in order to reach solidarity, reciprocity, and a larger involvement of traditional knowledge.
(Brundtland Commission) There exist more definitions of sustainable development, but they all have to do with the carrying capacity of the earth and its natural systems and the challenges faced by humanity.
The book Limits to Growth, commissioned by the Club of Rome, gave huge momentum to the thinking about sustainability.
This means that as an economy grows, its pollution output increases, but only until it reaches a particular threshold where production becomes less resource-intensive and more sustainable.