Task F
The most common way to measure development is in terms of economic well-being. They
can be used to show change over time and between countries and some sociologists argue
that they provide a reliable measure of the wealth of the state. However, other sociologists
question this and also argue that wealth is not the only measure of development.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two reasons why economic measures of
development may be an inadequate measure of development. (10)
As item A states using economic well-being can be used to show change over time between
countries, which some sociologists believe is true while others suggest that this way of
measuring development is not representative of the people that live in that country.
Feminists tend to agree that using economic measures of development is inadequate as it
fails to value the unpaid work taken on in the home mainly by women. Using economic
measurements also cause problems as it does not show the degree of equity with how the
countries income is distributed and what it is spent on, therefore countries with similar GNP
scores may have massively different qualities of life. Maggie Black states that using GNP
does not include the “invisible economies” where people are generating valuable goods and
services but are not recorded in official figures, making countries seem poorer than what
they are. Using economic measures of development can highlight inequalities within
countries, as if you look at the gross figures USA and China tops the list but within the
country a lot of individuals suffer from poverty. Statistics tend to divide the GDP equally
among everyone in the country, but this is not true as countries like Saudi Arabia have lots
of billionaires therefore making it seem like poverty is not a problem in their country when
other evidence would state otherwise. Not all countries measure GDP in the same way
therefore making it unreliable information to use to compare different countries against
each other.
Some people believe that measuring development should not be solely economic and
suggest various other ways to measure development as stated in item A “wealth is not the
only measurement of development”. Amartya Sen is a strong advocate for this and feels like
development should be measured in terms of the removal of various types of unfreedoms.
Sen was responsible for the Human Development Index which took into consideration
factors like education, health care life expectancy and childhood morality when looking at
country’s development, it covers more factors that may shape people’s quality of life. This is
a better alternative to the using GDP primarily as it gives a better overview of countries as a
whole and does not focus solely on the economic development, helping to compare
countries more fairly. A lot of countries at the top of the GDP per capita list are top of the
HDI list, suggesting that there is a correlation between both economic development and
social development as these countries will have more money to invest into health and
education. Some people such as modernisation theorists would argue that these social
measures are interesting, but they are measuring something else and not just development,
with the idea that you need economic development in order to have social development
benefits. The happy planet index is also something that is used instead of the economic
The most common way to measure development is in terms of economic well-being. They
can be used to show change over time and between countries and some sociologists argue
that they provide a reliable measure of the wealth of the state. However, other sociologists
question this and also argue that wealth is not the only measure of development.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two reasons why economic measures of
development may be an inadequate measure of development. (10)
As item A states using economic well-being can be used to show change over time between
countries, which some sociologists believe is true while others suggest that this way of
measuring development is not representative of the people that live in that country.
Feminists tend to agree that using economic measures of development is inadequate as it
fails to value the unpaid work taken on in the home mainly by women. Using economic
measurements also cause problems as it does not show the degree of equity with how the
countries income is distributed and what it is spent on, therefore countries with similar GNP
scores may have massively different qualities of life. Maggie Black states that using GNP
does not include the “invisible economies” where people are generating valuable goods and
services but are not recorded in official figures, making countries seem poorer than what
they are. Using economic measures of development can highlight inequalities within
countries, as if you look at the gross figures USA and China tops the list but within the
country a lot of individuals suffer from poverty. Statistics tend to divide the GDP equally
among everyone in the country, but this is not true as countries like Saudi Arabia have lots
of billionaires therefore making it seem like poverty is not a problem in their country when
other evidence would state otherwise. Not all countries measure GDP in the same way
therefore making it unreliable information to use to compare different countries against
each other.
Some people believe that measuring development should not be solely economic and
suggest various other ways to measure development as stated in item A “wealth is not the
only measurement of development”. Amartya Sen is a strong advocate for this and feels like
development should be measured in terms of the removal of various types of unfreedoms.
Sen was responsible for the Human Development Index which took into consideration
factors like education, health care life expectancy and childhood morality when looking at
country’s development, it covers more factors that may shape people’s quality of life. This is
a better alternative to the using GDP primarily as it gives a better overview of countries as a
whole and does not focus solely on the economic development, helping to compare
countries more fairly. A lot of countries at the top of the GDP per capita list are top of the
HDI list, suggesting that there is a correlation between both economic development and
social development as these countries will have more money to invest into health and
education. Some people such as modernisation theorists would argue that these social
measures are interesting, but they are measuring something else and not just development,
with the idea that you need economic development in order to have social development
benefits. The happy planet index is also something that is used instead of the economic
