Development and Inequity

Social scientists note that development encourages the growth of wealth differences and structured social inequality in peasant communities. Recognizing this, some have advocated welfare and equity-oriented development strategies. It is proposed that development on Tubuai, an island society dominated by a welfare economy, approximates such strategies and that this case can be examined to assess their value. The structure of household socioeconomic differentiation which has emerged in response to new economic opportunities is described. The paper then examines the impact of a new potato cash-cropping project, documenting the structure of differential participation and isolating household level factors which are strongly associated with variable levels of development participation. It is argued that although development strategies are welfare and equity-oriented, development does not have a broad base of participation among Tubuai families and that a small segment of the population is expanding cultivation and rapidly concentrating capital. This case suggests that such strategies are not an effective means of encouraging equitable growth in the context of a regional capitalist economy. The implications of development trends for the future structure of Tubuai society are projected

Context (archaeology) · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Equity (law) · Geography · Inequality · Market economy · Peasant · Political science · Population · Social Welfare · Sociology · Welfare · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Rural development and sustainability

• The Economic History of the French Territories

  Robert Aldrich•France and the South Pacific…•1993

  Incluir item

• Development and Return Migration to Rural French Polynesia

  Victoria S Lockwood•International Migration Review•1990

  Incluir item

• Development and Return Migration to Rural French Polynesia

  Open Access•Victoria S Lockwood•International Migration Review•1990

  Incluir item

• Resource development and inequality in indigenous societies

  Open Access•Ciaran O’faircheallaigh•World Development•1998

  Incluir item

• Capitalist Development and the Socioeconomic Position of Tahitian Peasant Women

  Victoria Joralemon Lockwood•Journal of Anthropological Research•1988

  Incluir item

• Development, French Neocolonialism, and the Structure of the Tubuai Economy

  Open Access•Victoria S Lockwood•Oceania•1988

  Incluir item

• The Political economy of development and underdevelopment

  Charles K Wilber•The Political economy of…•1984

  Incluir item

• Wage Labour and Cash Cropping

  Open Access•Thomas G Harding•Oceania•1971

  Incluir item

• Community Wealth Concentration

  C Smith, Courtland L Smith•Economic Development and Cultural…•1980

  Incluir item

• Elementary Applied Statistics for students in Behavioral Science

  Open Access•Linton G Freeman•Revista Mexicana de Sociología•1965

  Incluir item

• Political Change in Tahiti and Samoa

  Open Access•F Allan Hanson•Ethnology•1973

  Incluir item

• Collective Land Tenure and Agricultural Development

  Victoria Joralemon•Human Organization•1983

  Incluir item

• Dependence in a Micronesian economy

  Open Access•James G Peoples•American Ethnologist•1978

  Incluir item

• Inequalities in wealth, adoption of technology, and production in a Mexican ejido1

  Open Access•Billie R Dewalt•American Ethnologist•1975

  Incluir item

• Rent, Differentiation, and the Development of Capitalism among Peasants

  Open Access•William Roseberry•American Anthropologist•1976

  Incluir item

• Ethnographic Aspects of the World Capitalist System

  June Nash•Annual Review of Anthropology•1981

  Incluir item