The normative and scientific justifications for development theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6213540 |
|---|---|
| Authors | E A Brett (London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 197-219 |
| Publication date | 2006-08-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Politikon (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0258-9346 • E-ISSN: 1470-1014 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02589340600884691 |
| OpenAlex | W2075340631 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
This article argues that liberal and structuralist versions of development theory do provide a scientific basis for the management of emancipatory social change by answering its positivistic and cultural relativistic critics. It shows that positivism depends on methodological individualism, that this principle does not hold in societies where market systems and free individuals have yet to be created. It then shows that liberal development theory does provide a scientific basis for creating such institutions, and therefore for the necessary changes in individual behaviour that it must entail. Second, it shows that individualism is an inadequate basis for understanding and managing the complex and hierarchical institutions of late capitalist society, and therefore the need to use the scientific insights provided by modern institutional theory in order to do so. Then, third, it shows that imposing these principles threatens many of the values and understandings that governed societies that have been based on ethnic exclusivism, theocracy, patriarchy or commandism. It shows that development necessarily generates social conflict, but also that local values and understandings cannot simply be repressed because they do provide people with the basis on which they live their lives. It argues that practitioners must respect these traditions where they can, but find ways of adapting their insights to local needs, values and capacities
Economics · Epistemology · Individualism · Methodological individualism · Normative · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Positivism · Social order · Social science · Sociology · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · International Development and Aid · Law · Political Economy and Marxism
The wealth and poverty of nations
Karl Marx
Governing the Commons
Doctrines Of Development
Capitalism and Freedom
The New Institutional Economics and third World Development
Structure of Social Action
Political Philosophy and the Idea of a Social Science
Governing the Commons
Citizenship and Social Class
Rural Development
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Social Choice and Individual Values
Participation and accountability in development management
Capital
Reconstructing Development Theory
Politics and Vision
Development as Freedom
The Logic of Collective Action
Whose Reality Counts
The Possibility of Naturalism
Max Weber on Capitalism, Bureaucracy and Religion
The Order of Things
The irrelevance of development studies
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order
Toward a Rational Society
The Economic Institutions of Capitalism
Essays in Sociological Theory
How institutions think
The New Economics of Organization
The Division of Labour in Society
Politics, economics and rationality
The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism
Encountering Development
| Highly cited | No |
|---|