Underdeveloped Societies Research Articles

The Effects of Foreign Investment upon Political Protest and Violence in Underdeveloped Societies

The Effects of Foreign Investment upon Political Protest and Violence in Underdeveloped Societies

The Rockefeller Foundation's medical policy and scientific research in Latin America: the case of physiology.

Some studies have challenged the role played by philanthropic agencies in the organization of scientific work in underdeveloped societies. This paper is intended to add to this literature by studying the relationships developed between the Rockefeller Foundation and physiological research in four Latin American countries. The latter received sizeable grants during the 1940s and 1950s, not only as a result of the degree of excellence achieved in some laboratories of the region, but also as a means of spreading an academic model inspired by the élite medical schools of the United States. Rockefeller's philanthropy failed to modernize Latin American research structures, mainly because of the difficulty of transferring a model of scientific work from one culture to another. The paper shows how local resistance and conflict, rather than imitation and passivity, characterized this process of attempted transfer.

Counterrevolution and Structural Change: The Case of Argentina

This article discusses the reversal of development in Argentina. It argues that this country switched developmental tracks: from being a "land of recent settlement," it became an underdeveloped society. This shift was the unintended consequence of two policies that were institutionalized in the postwar period: autarkic industrialization, and a corporatist system of labor relations. The author claims that these policies were a response by the state elite to a perceived revolutionary threat, that this fear of revolution was unrealistic, and that these policies had the effects they did because of the "modern" characteristics of Argentina. The peculiar pattern of Argentine development could not have been understood by either modernization and dependency approaches, and thus this case calls into question the basic assumptions of these theories of development.

The urban geography of underdevelopment: a case of petty commodity production

The study in urban geography of underdevelopment has serious inadequacies although there are numerous studies on unemployment, housing, transportation and poverty problems of the city in underdeveloped societies. Urban petty commodity production (a group of activities normally seen as lying outside the principal spheres of large-scale production in underdeveloped economies), for example, has been the focus of development economics and geography in the last two decades but the specific problem of appropriation of urban landscape by this group of activities, which in turn reproduce and transform the landscape has, at the very best, been only partially and indirectly addressed. This paper deals with this problem with particular reference to material derived from fieldwork in the Turkish city of Bursa.

Clientelism and Patronage in Senegal

Patron/client relationships have fascinated scholars and students of the Third World for more than a generation. These relationships have emerged as an important paradigm in the literature on development and underdevelopment, to the point that there has recendy been a boom of work in this area (Schmidt et al., 1977). Patron/client relationships are usually conceived of as symbols of a persistent “tradition” impinging on, and/or retarding the transition to “modernity.” They are also presented as evidence of the limited theoretical and explanatory usefulness of class analysis. I shall seek to demonstrate, however, that while patron/client relationships are a useful heuristic tool to understand the politics of underdeveloped societies, they are neither a substitute for class analysis, nor should they be construed as an independent paradigm of their own. They should be used as complementary and not as contradictory variables to class, as a close examination of clientelism and patronage in Senegal shows. The pre-colonial African culture of the Muslim brotherhoods (Foltz, 1977) and the rather liberal electoral patterns established by French colonialism in the eighteenth century (Johnson, 1971) imparted to Senegal patron/client relationships which have permeated its politics since independence (Schumacher, 1975). These relationships, which many scholars have considered to be part of the transitional mode of behavior characteristic of modernizing societies (Foltz, 1977; Lemarchand, 1977; Barker, 1973), represent serious road blocks to Senegalese development (Foltz, 1977; Schumacher, 1975; Cottingham, 1970; O'Brien, 1975).

Africa between the Ages

Africa is the second largest continent in the world. Partitioned into what is now fiftyone or more territorial units at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the continent presently has the largest number of states represented at the United Nations. This numerical strength has advantages and disadvantages for Africans. It is advantageous because it gives Africa greater visibility in the international voting process. It is disadvantageous because it turns this vast continent into a highly fragmented sector of the international community. Yet Africa's size and fragmentation have great significance for Africanists because together these factors make the continent a major laboratory for research on human society. Africa's numerous political and socio-economic units provide many examples of political and social engineering for students of underdeveloped world societies. My presidential address tonight deals with Africa and its role and position in world history between two ages. The two ages addressed are the ancient/medieval and the modern/contemporary. As a historian, I see ancient African history as going back to the appearance of Homo Sapiens whose origins are now conclusively identified with East Africa. In tracing the historical past of Africa, I do not wish to travel so far back as to link up with those early Homo Sapiens, rather I wish to go only as far back on the world continuum as ancient Egypt to show in time how this magnificent civilization served as the birthplace of many cultural ideas that later travelled in all directions from the Nile Valley.

Crosscultural Contacts: Changes in the Diet and Nutrition of the Navajo Indians

It is a commonly held notion in the U.S. that transforming an underdeveloped society into a more technologically advanced society with a higher economic standard of living results in an improved diet and better nutritional status. This notion, which persists to this day, colored the perceptions of early colonial administrators in America who believed that American Indians starved before the colonists arrived and would have continued to starve were it not for their aid.' The colonists chose to believe that their arrival resulted in an improved life for those who preceded them. Yet, historical analysis of the diet of one Indian tribe, the Navajos, suggests that although contact with a more economically developed culture does lead to changes in diet, improvement does not necessarily ensue. In fact, the encounter with European cultures and subsequent economic and social changes was an initial nutritional disaster for the Navajo Indians, and there is evidence that even current Navajo adaptations to white American dietary practices are not consistently an improvement over the Navajos' early pre-Western contact diet. Although there are difficulties in specifically identifying the early traditional Navajo diet, it clearly included many nutritious

Retinoblastoma in Lebanon.

The data on 58 patients with retinoblastoma managed at the American University of Beirut, Medical Center over the last 35 years is reviewed. The epidemiology, genetics and clinical features of this tumor appear to be the same in the Middle-East as well as the rest of the world. The notable difference between the data in this study and that from other studies is the marked delay in diagnosis of the tumor in this part of the world leading to a higher incidence of extraocular extension, a more advanced stage of the disease and poorer survival rates. This seems to be a feature of medically underdeveloped societies. Increased public awareness of the early signs and symptoms of the disease, as well as routine fundoscopy on all infants are advocated to improve early detection, leading to improved survival rates and prevention of unnecessary enucleations.

The Responsibilities of Competence in the Global Village

Specialists in world affairs have a special responsibility to not only teach and conduct high-quality research, but to address the major problems confronting the global village. Two basic problems today are poverty and war, and the evidence suggests that very little progress can be made in the former until considerable progress has been made in regard to the latter. Armed rivalry between East and West so permeates and corrupts the underdeveloped societies that neither resources nor infrastructure can be put into place until that rivalry is brought under control. Among our responsibilities as teachers, researchers, writers and practitioners, is the need for less tolerance and acquiescence in ‘business as usual’. For example, our research requires greater attention to reproducible evidence and to generalizations based on entire classes of cases, rather than a small number based on selective recall. Our teaching requires not only greater attention to methodological rigor, but to explicit consideration of rival and unconventional interpretations. As writers and journalists, we need to be more critical of the arguments and evidence adduced by the elites and the counter-elites. And, as practitioners, it is time for us to pay more attention to the needs of our societies than to the short-run consideration of bureaucratic and personal interests. The problems are menacing, the time is short, and the responsibilities and opportunities are clearly in our hands.

The isusu: an institution for capital formation among the Ngwa Igbo; its origin and development to 1951

Opening ParagraphTwo contrasted viewpoints are adopted by scholars towards indigenous credit institutions in underdeveloped societies. The first holds that such institutions cannot play any significant role in capital formation in those societies. Thus Firth (1964: 15–34) doubts ‘if such credit associations can contribute substantially to capital formation to promote economic growth significantly’. The second viewpoint is held by those who accept the important contributions of these institutions in the process of development but understate their functions and value in the process of development. Geertz (1962: 241–63) belongs to this group. After analysing indigenous credit institutions in Asia and Africa, he asserts that they can serve as a kind of ‘middle rung’ in economic development. He sees them as an ‘educational mechanism in terms of which peasants learn to be traders not merely in the narrow occupational sense, but in the broad cultural sense’. These conclusions seem to have influenced other scholars studying credit institutions in Africa. For instance, in his study of credit associations among the Afikpo Igbo, S. Ottenberg (1968: 237–52) adopts much of Geertz's stance.

On Marxism and Ethiopian Student Radicalism in North America

The ideals and aims which motivate radical third world student movements generally reflect broader popular aspirations for political and socioeconomic change. Such movements are political in the sense that, going beyond narrow educational goals and sectional concerns, they champion the interests and struggles of oppressed classes and nations. Indeed, in underdeveloped societies where classes tend to be weakly grounded in forces and relations of production, and as such lack adequate material and ideological capacities to act as autonomous agents of socioeconomic change in the sense originally theorized by Marx, progressive student movements and other "unconventional" carriers of revolutionary consciousness and practice acquire special political importance.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Working mothers of pre-school children in an underdeveloped society

The present study attempts to understand the problems of working mothers with pre-school children. A sample of mothers who use the day care system run by the Colombian state is studied. Though this sample is not statistically representative of the female population with pre-school children, it presents similar characteristics to those of the women in the large urban centres. It was found that: (a) The living conditions of the families in the low and middle-low socio-economic positions are more limited than those observed in the families in the middle-high socio-economic position. (b) The intensity and the composition of domestic tasks also vary, not only by virtue of the different economic resources available to the family, but also by virtue of differential access to public services such as electricity, running water, public transportation and so on. (c) The very organization of the family appears to be affected by their socio-economic conditions. This is particularly evident for the single parent (mother) families which are more frequent in the middle-low and lower social positions. Although the mothers take the children to these centres looking for a service for the children and not for themselves, the centres become a very important promotion space also for the mothers. In fact, for the majority of them, this experience means a link allowing them to partly overcome the isolation that characterizes their daily life. It is concluded that the conditions of social reproduction can be substantially improved for the families from the lowest social strata, if there is an adequate state participation in this process. There is no doubt that it would be a fundamental factor advancing the circumstances of the working mothers of young children and especially those from the lower income sectors.

Traditional Zulu theories of illness in psychiatric patients.

Summary This research examines the relationship between a traditional Zulu and a modern international psychiatric diagnostic system. Traditional Zulu concepts of illness are based on a natural/supernatural division as found in theories of illness in underdeveloped societies throughout the world. In a retrospective study at King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa, the first 100 files (29%) of Black psychiatric patients in 1980, who construed the etiology of their problems in supernatural terms are analyzed. All patients are Zulu-speaking and psychiatrically diagnosed in accordance with the WHO ICD9 diagnostic schema. Indigenous supernatural concepts of illness are categorized as magical (57%), animistic (40%), and mystical (3%). Comparisons across the two diagnostic systems are made. Compatibility between the two systems is found and some treatment implications of a clinical and social nature are advanced.

Attitudes of University Students Toward Women' Work: The Case of Jordan

Economic growth in underdeveloped countries, including Jordan, is associated with substantial social change. According to the theory of social deviance, underdeveloped societies are characterized by a traditional distribution of labor where customs and values greatly influence the manners of economic performance. These customs and values shape attitudes of people toward work in general, and the issue of participation of women in the labor force in particular.

The “Islamic Bomb” and India's National Security

The periodic “bomb” debate has again been launched in India, predictably, as always, spearheaded by a section of sophisticated military-strategists. As in the mid-sixties, this time again the debate has been triggered off by a strategic perception of external threat: earlier, as a fall-out of the Lop Nor explosion, and now of the anticipated “Islamic Bomb”. This paper attempts, firstly, to question the adequacy of the military-strategic approach to provide the basis for a viable concept of national security; it argues the case for the primacy of the political and economic component of any concept of national security for meaningful policy-prescriptions, especially for underdeveloped post-colonial societies. It also pleads for the importance of political and diplomatic responses to meet any such threats to India's national security as may be posed by the “Islamic Bomb.”

Overeducation and Unemployment in the Third World: The Paradoxes of Dependent Industrialization

There is increasing recognition of the shortcomings of the development undertaken during the past decades. Developing countries based these efforts on a strategy of accelerated industrialization; that is, the creation and expansion of a modern, industrialized, and high-productivity of the economy. Educational policies were designed to provide high-level qualified manpower thought to be required for this task. In terms of the sector development theories, this strategy assumed that its benefits would spread as the modern techniques and efficient forms of organization of production activities become more widely adopted in the traditional and backward sectors of the economy. But these hopes have not been realized. Even in cases where industrial output and gross national product per head have risen impressively, there have not been commensurate improvements in the welfare and standards of living of the population, and massive poverty still persists. As to education, for all practical purposes, the majority of the population has been excluded from obtaining a complete cycle of primary education, which is necessary for functional literacy. In addition, it is claimed that neither has it fulfilled its expected role of providing the manpower requirements of an industrializing economy. This is reflected in the excessive number of enrollments within the traditional humanistic educational programs, while there are relatively few in the technological and scientific ones, even though these are indispensable for the industrialization and modernization of the economy. Worse yet, although the majority of the working population has not completed primary education, there is a growing number of educated unemployed and of underutilized educated manpower. The dominant explanations of this set of problems focus mostly on labor market imperfections, institutional deficiencies, and misguided educational and curriculum policies. It is generally assumed that government and educational institutions bear responsibility for these problems. Some of the underlying factors associated with these problems are: the mismatches of educational and training programs in relation to the occupational skills requirements for industrialization; the irrelevance of curriculum orientations to the processes of development: the traditional preferences of the people of underdeveloped societies for humanistic education over manual, technical, and scientific training; the government's discrimi-

Internal Colonialism, Transnationalization and Spatial Inequality

Abstract With the paradigm-shift in development studies from ‘diffusionist’ to ‘dependency’ views on world development several concepts are being newly introduced into development geography. This paper examines and reviews the two concepts of internal colonialism and transnationalization. The two concepts are located in the context of polar positions within the dependency paradigm as represented by reformist and radical views towards dependency. Some implications for studies in the geography of development of employing the concepts of internal colonialism and trans-nationalization are illustrated with reference to a discussion on spatial inequalities. Williamson’s (1965) ‘inverted-U’ thesis is re-examined and refined in light of the class nature of the State in underdeveloped societies.

Soldiers and Politics: The Case of Ghana

The politics of the succession of military coups d'état in Ghana represent an illuminating case of militarization processes in an underdeveloped society. The paper shows that the main reasons why Nkrumah's 'anti-imperialist' regime fell (1966) were to be found in the inner dynamics of Ghanaian political, tribal, and class contradictions, strengthened by personal rivalries. External interests — at that stage Western imperialist quarters notably — were however more than sympathetic to the overthrow, the new regime more than willing to accomodate to the policy of these quarters, and the coup thus represented a major change in the ideological Great Power struggle over Africa. With Ghana's decreasing international significance, external factors also came to represent a decreasing influence over successive internal conflits and repeated military coups. The paper shows in some detail the dynamics of these coups. It practically refutes the assumption about the military as 'modernizing developers'. And it shows how the civilian-military distinction in the process of struggle and changing administrations becomes blurred. According to the author, the distinction is generally much overemphasized: the civilian-military relationship in reality is a matter of various mixes with distinct interests, civilian and military, behind each interest.

Population Pressure and Cultural Adjustment

Integrating research from anthropology, biology, and history, this provocative, brilliant book proposes a theory of demographic equilibrium. The author's hypothesis is that human beings, like many other species, are able to adjust their population numbers to the carrying capacity of the environment. Abernethy points out that in response to perception of scarcity or abundance of resources, culturally mediated values, beliefs and behavioral patterns are modified in ways that can either raise or lower rates of population growth. Abernethy in this way moves beyond the ideological debates that have sundered the field of policy and population. In real world time and space, cultural adjustments that balance population and resources are made over a long stretch in relatively stable or known environments. These adjustments also operate in processes that involve technological advances that appear to increase carrying capacity, and these usually act to support and underwrite population growth in any given area. In her new introduction to this first paperback edition, Abernethy shows how many of the cultural changes the book predicted in 1979 have come to pass. She details a complex of behaviors that favor single life-styles or small family size that have contributed to low fertility rates among native-born Americans while fertility rates among immigrants continue to climb. Population Pressure and Cultural Adjustment is not simply a theoretical slogan, but discusses a rich set of different cultural situations where this homeostatic process has been disrupted or aborted. Often, disruption occurs after the infusion of foreign value systems as well as new forms of technological innovation, or when highly permeable social boundaries result in the importation of resources for which the limits and consequences are not fully appreciated by the host population. This work will inevitably be controversial because of its implications for the limits as well as the potential of public policy in both advanced and underdeveloped societies.

Socialism and Dependency in Parsons' Theory of Evolution

According to Parsons' theory of evolution, socialist (communist) societies deviate from the progressive line of evolutionary development. But Parsons' empirical analyses indicate that socialist societies exhibit many of the features which, according to his theory, are supposed to characterize societies at the apex of evolutionary development. An endeavor to elicit from Parsons' works plausible solutions to this contradiction fails. Juxtaposing Parsons' treatment of the relationships between the developed and the underdeveloped societies to that of the imperialism-dependency theory it is found that the assumptions, propositions, and interpretations of the two are incompatible, or even diametrically opposed to each other. Moreover, Parsons completely disregards the rich theoretical and empirical research emanating from the school of imperialism-dependency. It is concluded that Parsons' theory of evolution can explain neither the socialist path, of development, nor can it address the issue of change of underdeveloped countries within the context of the contemporary world system.