Development in Crisis Today - Essay Example

The worldwide aspiration for development is more than just the desire for economic progress; it is a quest for status, prestige, recognition and social and political modernization. Making the situation more complex is the reality that never before in the history of mankind has people had access to so much information. The knowledge, understandings, and experiences from every sector of society and every human culture (past and present) can now contribute their part in solving the dynamic puzzle of developmental existence.

At the same time, never before in history have we faced such complicated and pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges. Now, more than ever, we need action based upon the deepest possible understanding of our global situation, the stakeholders involved, and ourselves (Brown, 2005). The study on the phenomenon of development has led to various theorizing about the concept. Likewise, theories or perspective on the study of society and social realities have been used to analyze the various facets of development.

These theories describe society as a system at a particular time or society in its dynamic aspect. They seek to explain the consequences of the development and the cost of development or conditions that can bring about development. Dev Development can be viewed as a goal and an end or a process. But there is no single theory that can explain all the above aspects. Each theory explains only part of the highly complex process of development. Among the approaches to development are (Muhi, 1999):(a) the Evolutionary Theories which include Durkheim's Theory of Social Change, Redfield's Folk-Urban Continuum, Structural Functionalism, and Parson's theory among others; These theories held that society underwent a progressive development or unilinear evolution towards progress.(b) the Economic Theories that are found in the works of Myrdal and Rostow; The economic point-of-view of development maintains that economic progress is a very essential component of development although non-economic factors such as values, attitudes, institutions, and policies are just as important. (c) the Ecological theories such as Hawley's and Odum's; Ecology which is the study of organisms or groups of organisms to their environment has been extended to the study of man's relation to the environment.(d) the Conflict Theories to include Marx and Lenin as well as the Theory of Dependency This class of theories focuses on change as a permanent and inseparable aspect of society with conflict as an accompaniment of the change.

In a more recent example of an economic crisis, i.e. the economic crisis that gripped East Asia in 1997, Burkett and Hart (2000) cited the East Asian development process as "highly exploitative and unstable" and "only a Marxist approach" can provide insights into the reality of growth in the area. The authors conclude that Japan's "crisis of human development" will not be solved "as long as they remain within a capitalist framework." They urge the Japanese working class