Dependence Is Dead, Long Live Dependence and the Class Struggle

Dependence is dead, long live dependence and the class struggle: An answer to critics

For social scientists it is a sobering and useful exercise in self-understanding to attempt to see clearly how the direction of our scientific exertions, particularly in economics, is conditioned by the society in which we live, and most directly by the political climate (which, in turn, is related to all other changes in society)….Responding to that cue [from the sphere of politics], students turn to research on issues that have attained political importance….So it has always been. The major recastings of economic thought…were all responses to changing political conditions and opportunities.—Gunnar Myrdal in Asian Drama

This chapter attempts to understand Asian Drama in the context of the development debates of its time, and in terms of the sensibilities that Gunnar Myrdal—the brilliant economic theorist and philosopher of knowledge, and Swedish politician—brought to the conceptualization of the problems and prospects of development. The chapter covers: (i) what Myrdal brought to the analysis of development from his long, varied, and distinguished academic and practitioner career; (ii) the development terrain in the mid-twentieth century; and (iii) how Asian Drama lay on that terrain and in the remaining years of Myrdal’s continued eventful life. There are two central questions posed in the chapter. How did Myrdal’s broad experience and perspective influence Asian Drama? How did Asian Drama influence the development debate?

This paper attempts to understand Asian Drama in the context of the development debates of its time, and in terms of the sensibilities that Gunnar Myrdal-the brilliant economic theorist and philosopher of knowledge, and the Swedish politician-brought to the conceptualization of the problems and prospects of development. The paper covers: (i) what Gunnar Myrdal brought to the analysis of development from his long, varied and distinguished academic and practitioner career; (ii) the development terrain in the mid-twentieth century; and (iii) how Asian Drama lay on that terrain and in the remaining years of Gunnar Myrdal's continued eventful life. The two central questions posed in the paper are: (i) How did Gunnar Myrdal's broad experience and perspective influence Asian Drama? (ii) How did Asian Drama influence the development debate?

<i>Stephen Schryer</i> Fantasies of the New Class: Ideologies of Professionalism in Post–World War II American Fiction<i>Fantasies of the New Class: Ideologies of Professionalism in Post–World War II American Fiction</i>. Stephen Schryer. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. Pp. 278.

The title of this article is based on that of the monumental three‐volume study by the Swedish social scientist, Gunnar Myrdal, Asian Drama – An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations. Published in 19...

Myrdal, Gunnar (1898–1987)

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Inspired by Gunnar Myrdal's core concepts discussed in his seminal work, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, published in 1968, this paper analyses the opening-up experiences of three Asian countries (China, India, and Malaysia) by triangulating between the following: (i) the orientation of selected policy tools in trade, technology, investment, and finance in shaping a country's degree of economic openness; (ii) the rational coordination of operational controls of these policy tools to achieve stated objectives; and (iii) the overall development trends observed in the Asia region. The 'rational coordination of operational controls' is interpreted with reference to the strategic use of selected policy tools in the historically successful cases of earlier East Asian industrialization. Under this framework, the paper contends that divergence in Asian growth experiences can be understood by variations in institutional capabilities to address market and firm-level (and government) failures in the catch-up process, and the pragmatic experimentation by policymakers in search of more effective institutional mechanism - carrots, sticks, and competitive pressures - in pursuit of desired development outcomes.

When Gunnar Myrdal left Geneva in 1958, he embarked on his largest study ever, which was to occupy him for a full decade: his investigation of the causes of poverty in South Asia, notably India. This chapter tells the story of Asian Drama and The Challenge of World Poverty, where the latter presents the policy conclusions of the former work. Asian Drama represents the culmination of Gunnar Myrdal’s life-long methodological endeavor. There, as heterodox and institutional as ever, he pulls together all the threads that he had been spinning since the 1920s. Explicit value premises—‘modernization ideals’—loom large. Mainstream development economics is subjected to devastating criticism, the importance of industrialization is played down and the role of labor utilization in agriculture is brought to the forefront, as is education, health and population aspects. Myrdal also remains true to his social engineering ideal. The importance of planning is stressed throughout and the problem of the ‘soft’ character of the South Indian state is analyzed at length.

As two of the leading social scientists of the twentieth century, Alva and Gunnar Myrdal tried to establish a harmonious, “organic” Gemeinschaft [community] in order to fight an assumed disintegration of modern society. By means of functionalist architecture and by educating “sensible” citizens, disciplining bodies, and reorganizing social relationships they attempted to intervene in the lives of ordinary men. The paradox of this task was to modernize society in order to defend it against an “ambivalent modernity.” This combination of Weltanschauung [world view], social science, and technical devices became known as social engineering. The Myrdals started in the early 1930s with Sweden, and then chose the world as their working field. In 1938, Gunnar Myrdal was asked to solve the “negro problem” in the United States, and, in the 1970s, Alva Myrdal campaigned for the world's super powers to abolish all of their nuclear weapons. The Myrdals successfully established their own "modern American" marriage as a media image and role model for reform. Far from perfect, their marriage was disrupted by numerous conflicts, mirrored in thousands of private letters. This marital conflict propelled their urge for social reform by exposing the need for the elimination of irrational conflicts from everyday life. A just society, according to the Myrdals, would merge social expertise with everyday life, and ordinary men with the intellectually elite. Thomas Etzemüller's study of these two figures brings to light the roots of modern social engineering, providing insight for today's sociologists, historians, and political scholars.

This short article considers four questions about the lives led by Gunnar Myrdal and Alva Myrdal, world-famous Swedish social scientists. What were the social conditions for the development of their ideas? What implications (if any) did their developing social science theories have for their personal lives? Is consistency a necessary requirement in matching words and deeds? Is there any necessary relationship between the public and private lives of eminent scholars and public figures? All three of their children, Jan, Sissela, and Kaj, have written autobiographical accounts which, directly or indirectly, suggest that the Myrdal family was dysfunctional. The implications of this are explored.

Gunnar Myrdal published Asian Drama in 1968, which made important analytical contributions to our understanding of development but was deeply pessimistic about Asia’s future prospects. Since then, contrary to Myrdal’s expectations, Asia’s development has been remarkable, although transformations have been uneven across countries and unequal between people. This introductory chapter explains the conception and design of the study, which seeks to analyse the amazing story of economic development in Asia. It begins with reflections on Gunnar Myrdal, the author, and rethinking about Asian Drama, the book, in retrospect fifty years later. It then discusses some critical issues and lessons that emerge—diversity in development, history and context, economic growth and structural change, well-being of people, markets and governments, economic openness, and institutions and policies—to serve as a teaser. To conclude, it provides a brief narrative on the contents and scope of the book, meant as a road map for readers.

Although the debate over’ socialism’ often overshadowed purely economic analysis, there was a good economic case for the pessimism expressed in the 1950s and 1960s regarding Asia’s prospects for development. Asia seemed desperately short of the factors which economists identify as contributing to economic growth — the physical resources of land, labour, and capital, and the intangible resources of technology and entrepreneurship. Gunnar Myrdal’s massive three-volume study, Asian Drama (1968), was a classic statement in its pessimistic, nearly despairing tone. Natural resources appeared inadequate, the labour force was overwhelmingly rural and uneducated, and capital seemed to be scarce. Modern technology seemed beyond the capacity of Asian societies, whether because of the shortage of capital, the insufficient supplies of skilled labour, or the inadequate knowledge of both government officials and private capitalists. Finally, Asian societies seemed traditional, unable to provide the supply of vigorous entrepreneurs required by a dynamic economy.

Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations Get access Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations. By Gunnar Myrdal. An Abridgement by Seth S. King of the Twentieth Century Fund Study. London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press. 1972. 388 pp. Index. £3.50. International Affairs, Volume 48, Issue 4, October 1972, Page 707, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/48.4.707 Published: 01 October 1972