Development as Practicing Progress

"Development" to me is akin to Progress, something for which our human nature hardwires us to strive. And because of its elusions, we conceive it as a practice whose methods are learned by comparative  study as well as direct experience. The aims of Progress today range from such seemingly modest ideas as individual dignity and freedom to influencing macroeconomic factors.

What it means to improve, how to get there, and how it is possible to assist the process is also Development, a field of inquiry, discipline and practice that seeks out the important points of commonality amongst people’s aspirations for progress and applies, to the extent possible, normalized measurements of progress in order to assess viable ways “forward”. The vast variation amongst working theories in differing contexts means that intense study is needed to ferret out patterns and construct methods with high reliability.

I would also like to define development in a global context, such that people seeking development in their own lives and elsewhere will think not just about what is good for the particular situation they are addressing, but what makes the globe more healthy and sustainable as a whole. I think this is a constructive direction for development thinking.

 

Comments

[Kate]

The argument in this post that “striving to develop” is innate to human nature made me think about Wangari Maathai’s opinions about holistic development. She argues that people must not wait for the state to start the development process for them but rather they must seek it out themselves and make it a priority. In theory I agree with Maathai but I wonder how it might be possible in practice considering the many heavy burdens and concerns weighing on the very poor. When you struggle daily just to survive, what time can you devote to development?

[Roophy]

While I agree that development is about progress. I’m hard-pressed to concur that progress is innate to human nature. In his piece, Culture Matters, Lawrence Harrison expounds on the constraints of development due to culture. Static/Traditional cultures are more focused on the immediate collective and are often not thinking about tomorrow. Also static/traditional cultures often do not exhibit a concern for formal education. However, the idea of progress is infused in western/modernized societies, which focus more on the individual; constantly thinks and plans for tomorrow, and puts great emphasis on formal education. Culture - the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group – are born out the identity of the group, out of what is indigenous to the members of a group. There are members of our human society who simple enjoy their simple way of life and do not wish for more, maybe they’re repressing their innate desires, but I think it’s more that they don’t have the innate desire to begin with.