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A critique of the socio-cultural approach to development planning

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  • Development Strategy
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Intereconomics

Abstract

Recent reflections on development policy have tried to eliminate the weak points in the economically oriented development theories which have dominated development planning up to now, and the traditional modernisation theories complementary to them. The propagation of strategies geared towards overcoming technological and cultural dependence is one result of such rethinking. The following article takes Black Africa as its case example for a critical appraisal of this “socio-cultural” approach.

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References

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  34. Cf. R. Chambers: Rural Poverty Unperceived: Problems and Remedies, in: World Development, Vol. 9, No. 1/1981, pp. 1–19.

  35. Cf. G. A. Amin: Project Appraisal and Income Distribution, in: World Development, Vol. 6, No. 2/1978, pp. 139–152; A. T. Sadik: A Note on some Practical Limitations of Social Cost-Benefit Analysis Measures, in: World Development, Vol. 6, No. 2/1978, pp. 221–226.

  36. Cf. R. Chambers, op. cit.; Rural Poverty Unperceived: Problems and Remedies, in: World Development, Vol. 9, No. 1/1981, pp. 1–19. Betke et al.: Partner, Pläne und Projekte: Die personelle Hilfe der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in West Malaysia (Partners, Plans and Projects: the Personnel Aid by the Federal Republic of Germany in West Malaysia), Bielefelder Studien zur Entwicklungssoziologie, Breitenbach, Saarbrücken 1978.

  37. For details of method see D. Kohnert, 1981 and 1979, op. cit. Rural Class Differentiation in Nigeria—Theory and Practice, in: Afrika-Spektrum, Vol. 14, No. 3/1979, pp. 295–315; D. Kohnert, 1981, op. cit. Rural Class Differentiation in Nigeria—Theory and Practice, in: Afrika-Spektrum, Vol. 14, No. 3/1979, pp. 295–315.

  38. (see Evers, 1982, op. cit. H. D. Evers: Group Conflict and Class Formation in South-East Asia, in: H. D. Evers (ed.): Modernization in South-East Asia, Oxford University Press

  39. E. R. Morss, J. K. Hatch et al., op. cit., Strategies for Small Farmer Development. An Empirical Study of Rural Development Projects in the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru, Vol. 1. Analysis; Vol. 2. Cases, Boulder, 1976 and the literature referred to there. pp. 202–208.

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  1. University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld

    Dirk Kohnert

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Kohnert, D. A critique of the socio-cultural approach to development planning. Intereconomics 17, 296–301 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02930175

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