Meanings of development

Abstract

After World War II national development efforts focused on the achievement of rapid economic growth. In the early stages the central purpose was the achievement of industrialization. Only later, beginning in the 1950s, did the alleviation of poverty become a central concern. It soon became evident that there was little direct linkage between economic growth and the extent of poverty. New strategies were designed to achieve growth-with-equity. Some efforts were made to take account of non-economic, physical quality-of-life indicators of development.

Emphasis has remained on the material aspects of development, but in the 1970s some writers gave attention to the non-material dimensions of development. It is now argued that development should be understood in terms of the condition of consciousness of individuals, particularly in relation to their views of their capacities and rights to act in the world. Moreover, it now seems increasingly evident that the natural unit of development is not the nation and not the individual but the community. Social development requires the development of community consciousness.

At any level of society, development is best understood as the increasing capacity to identify, analyze, and solve one's own problems. The task is not so much the alleviation of poverty as the alleviation of powerlessness.