An Anthropological Approach to Socioeconomic Factors of Development: The Case of Zaire

Abstract

An anthropological study of Zaire's clan structures plays a valuable role in the acquisition of information that is essential to rural development planning in that country. In the final analysis, clan relationships give rise to socioeconomic and cultural behaviour patterns that are at variance with behaviour in a modern type of economy, which is geared to the profit of the individual. The organization of work, of production, and of profit distrition and the concepts of savings and reinvestment contrast significantly with clan practices. Although clan structures constitute only one of many systems of social interaction or association, in the light of the socioeconomic effects observed in this example the anthropological approach can be used to point up obstacles as well as incentives inherent in a given society in confronting problems of socioeconomic development. Nevertheless, the importance of careful study of the populations concerned in undertaking local development and its planning should not overshadow the facts that the techniques to be applied must also be selected in accordance with the potentials and limitations of local populations and that the political intent of development of the responsible national leadership must be evolved with all possible regard for the people involved and their real interests and objectives.