What Is Development?

Chapter 1 begins by defining development. Historically, development has referred to the increased ability of social groups to guard their independence and infringe upon the freedom of others. The term is now used exclusively in an economic sense to describe how well a society deals with the environment through its understanding of science and development of technology. Developments in science and technology, however, lead not only to increases in production but also to societal changes. In many parts of the world, specialization and the division of labor helped spur the development of political states, the unequal distribution of goods, and the emergence of social codes to govern the behavior of different groups.

Karl Marx divided European development into four stages: communalism, slavery, feudalism, and capitalism. The change from one mode of production to another occurred when existing social relations could no longer effectively promote advance. Violence sometimes accompanied these revolutionary shifts. Not all societies, however, followed Europe’s pattern of development. Different societies developed at different rates. Environmental factors also play a role in development, as does the superstructure of human society, defined by Rodney as “social relations, forms of government, patterns of behavior, and systems of belief” (9), all of which are interrelated.