Course: SOCL1013
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE ERA OF
GLOBALIZATION
PART 3: GLOBALIZATION, POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?
Development = improvement of humankind. European elites saw it as how
industrialized a country is. Improving the standards of living.
The Market = an institution as it has consequences
Measuring development:
• Gross National Product (GNP) – measures economic/income growth. This can
be problematic, as it does not mean the growth is equally distributed.
• Human Development Index (HDI) – measures levels of income, education,
infant mortality etc.
• Happiness Index: measures how happy people are in a country based on
their perceptions of crime, freedom and more
Poverty in South Africa:
• Poverty is a gendered experience
• Poor children had limited access to safe playing areas
• Females had better access to housing and electricity, but not to water,
sanitation and refuse removal services
• Types of poverty: absolute poverty and relative poverty
DEVELOPMENT AND COLONIALISM
• Development is an ideology, which emerged from the colonial period and is
associated with the west. Europeans saw colonialism as introducing
development to others.
• When you realise that development can look multiple ways (not just the
European way, which has become a model for the rest of the world), you
realise that this was just a tool for power play.
• Development is presented as something that can “help others.”
1
,Course: SOCL1013
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
• Development & colonialism
o Extraction facilitated European industrialization
▪ Taking “cheap” raw materials from other countries and adding
“value” to it.
▪ The more they extracted, the more they destroyed
o Development is something that is used to civilise the “white man’s
burden”
▪ Difference was seen as a problem
o Development was believed to be the destiny of all humans
o Used as a justification for forced labour
▪ Schools and education were used to make people align
• Development = power relation = political
o Unequal ecological exchanges between Europe and the rest of the
world
• Social organization
o Colonialism socially reorganised the colony and the colonised
o The Third world was made due to the system
• Colonial Divisions of Labour
o Colonised – used for the extraction of raw materials
o Coloniser – manufactured goods
o The development project becomes a way to continue these divisions
POLITICAL CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT
• Post-Cold War World Order (1939 -1944)
o First world – capitalist
o Second world – communist soviet
o Third world – postcolonial states
• Capitalism can only happen through freedom but presents itself as though it is
freeing
• What is the development project?
o Rich countries helping poor countries to develop
▪ Destiny of the world to become capitalist
▪ development determined by the rich countries
▪ USA and Western Europe become the 3rd world’s aspiration
2
,Course: SOCL1013
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
o Ingredients of the development project
▪ Nation-state
▪ Economic nationalism
▪ Economic growth
▪ Import substitution Industrialization (ISI)
o A new relationship is established between the rich and the poor
countries.
▪ A new world order that is mutually “beneficial” for both the
developed and underdeveloped in developing the
underdeveloped. The developed were very determined to help
▪ More developed countries cannot be expected to compete
with developing countries at an industry scale
o The communists were willing to help with no strings attached (even if
the country was not communist) however the capitalist had strings
attached when they offered help.
▪ The strings that were attached perpetuated the colonial
divisions of labour.
• Development is also a top priority for “new” countries, but the question was
how to achieve it.
o Development Theory addresses 2 questions:
▪ How did the current situation develop? (Oriented towards the
past)
▪ How can countries develop? (Oriented towards the future)
EXPLAINING UNDERDEVELOPMENT
These theories attempt to explain the reasons behind underdevelopment
MODERNIZATION THEORY
“HOW DID THIS DEVELOP?”
• Modernization theory assumes that poverty and lack of development are the
“original” state of all countries.
• The inequality we see is because some countries developed while other
countries didn’t
• Rostow’s concept of “traditional society”
3
, Course: SOCL1013
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
o If a country does not break past this point (due to internal reasons), it
remains underdeveloped.
▪ Lacks “Newtonian” understanding of science
▪ Limited levels of productivity
▪ Agricultural focus
▪ Lack of centralised political rule
o If you do not succeed, it is your fault.
• Ignores genuine scientific discoveries made by other countries because it is
not “western/ Newtonian.”
• Why was the West able to develop?
o Capitalism introduced a mindset within them to do what is best for
them. This meant not caring about the harm their actions could do to
others to be at the top.
o Capitalism can only exist in a democracy (because one needs
freedom to do whatever one wants)
• This description certainly did not apply to the Southern countries in the 1950s
and postcolonial countries (Rostow does recognize that)
• The stages:
1. Traditional Society
2. Preconditions for take-off (potential)
3. The Take-off (all the shackles of tradition are completely gone)
4. Drive to maturity
5. The age of high consumption
“HOW CAN COUNTRIES DEVELOP?”
• Modernization theory took two forms:
o Cultural modernization
▪ Cultural Modernization theory assumed that culture had to
change for everything else to change
▪ The question was how to transform culture from “traditional” to
“modern.” Focused on:
• Politics
• Family
• Education
• Work
4
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE ERA OF
GLOBALIZATION
PART 3: GLOBALIZATION, POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?
Development = improvement of humankind. European elites saw it as how
industrialized a country is. Improving the standards of living.
The Market = an institution as it has consequences
Measuring development:
• Gross National Product (GNP) – measures economic/income growth. This can
be problematic, as it does not mean the growth is equally distributed.
• Human Development Index (HDI) – measures levels of income, education,
infant mortality etc.
• Happiness Index: measures how happy people are in a country based on
their perceptions of crime, freedom and more
Poverty in South Africa:
• Poverty is a gendered experience
• Poor children had limited access to safe playing areas
• Females had better access to housing and electricity, but not to water,
sanitation and refuse removal services
• Types of poverty: absolute poverty and relative poverty
DEVELOPMENT AND COLONIALISM
• Development is an ideology, which emerged from the colonial period and is
associated with the west. Europeans saw colonialism as introducing
development to others.
• When you realise that development can look multiple ways (not just the
European way, which has become a model for the rest of the world), you
realise that this was just a tool for power play.
• Development is presented as something that can “help others.”
1
,Course: SOCL1013
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
• Development & colonialism
o Extraction facilitated European industrialization
▪ Taking “cheap” raw materials from other countries and adding
“value” to it.
▪ The more they extracted, the more they destroyed
o Development is something that is used to civilise the “white man’s
burden”
▪ Difference was seen as a problem
o Development was believed to be the destiny of all humans
o Used as a justification for forced labour
▪ Schools and education were used to make people align
• Development = power relation = political
o Unequal ecological exchanges between Europe and the rest of the
world
• Social organization
o Colonialism socially reorganised the colony and the colonised
o The Third world was made due to the system
• Colonial Divisions of Labour
o Colonised – used for the extraction of raw materials
o Coloniser – manufactured goods
o The development project becomes a way to continue these divisions
POLITICAL CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT
• Post-Cold War World Order (1939 -1944)
o First world – capitalist
o Second world – communist soviet
o Third world – postcolonial states
• Capitalism can only happen through freedom but presents itself as though it is
freeing
• What is the development project?
o Rich countries helping poor countries to develop
▪ Destiny of the world to become capitalist
▪ development determined by the rich countries
▪ USA and Western Europe become the 3rd world’s aspiration
2
,Course: SOCL1013
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
o Ingredients of the development project
▪ Nation-state
▪ Economic nationalism
▪ Economic growth
▪ Import substitution Industrialization (ISI)
o A new relationship is established between the rich and the poor
countries.
▪ A new world order that is mutually “beneficial” for both the
developed and underdeveloped in developing the
underdeveloped. The developed were very determined to help
▪ More developed countries cannot be expected to compete
with developing countries at an industry scale
o The communists were willing to help with no strings attached (even if
the country was not communist) however the capitalist had strings
attached when they offered help.
▪ The strings that were attached perpetuated the colonial
divisions of labour.
• Development is also a top priority for “new” countries, but the question was
how to achieve it.
o Development Theory addresses 2 questions:
▪ How did the current situation develop? (Oriented towards the
past)
▪ How can countries develop? (Oriented towards the future)
EXPLAINING UNDERDEVELOPMENT
These theories attempt to explain the reasons behind underdevelopment
MODERNIZATION THEORY
“HOW DID THIS DEVELOP?”
• Modernization theory assumes that poverty and lack of development are the
“original” state of all countries.
• The inequality we see is because some countries developed while other
countries didn’t
• Rostow’s concept of “traditional society”
3
, Course: SOCL1013
Lecturer: Thabang Sefalafala
o If a country does not break past this point (due to internal reasons), it
remains underdeveloped.
▪ Lacks “Newtonian” understanding of science
▪ Limited levels of productivity
▪ Agricultural focus
▪ Lack of centralised political rule
o If you do not succeed, it is your fault.
• Ignores genuine scientific discoveries made by other countries because it is
not “western/ Newtonian.”
• Why was the West able to develop?
o Capitalism introduced a mindset within them to do what is best for
them. This meant not caring about the harm their actions could do to
others to be at the top.
o Capitalism can only exist in a democracy (because one needs
freedom to do whatever one wants)
• This description certainly did not apply to the Southern countries in the 1950s
and postcolonial countries (Rostow does recognize that)
• The stages:
1. Traditional Society
2. Preconditions for take-off (potential)
3. The Take-off (all the shackles of tradition are completely gone)
4. Drive to maturity
5. The age of high consumption
“HOW CAN COUNTRIES DEVELOP?”
• Modernization theory took two forms:
o Cultural modernization
▪ Cultural Modernization theory assumed that culture had to
change for everything else to change
▪ The question was how to transform culture from “traditional” to
“modern.” Focused on:
• Politics
• Family
• Education
• Work
4
