From Progress to Development to Globalisation

Introduction
Progress
Development
Economic Growth
Modernisation
Human Development
Globalisation and Development
Conclusion

Introduction

The terms progress and development are frequently interchanged and refer to various social change mechanisms. These phrases typically denote the progression of a person, a group, or an action. The global exchange of socioeconomic and political information between different nations has increased during this period of progress. Globalization is the term used to describe this process of growing interdependence among the nations and peoples of the world.

Since the beginning of time, academics and scholars have discussed and studied the process of social change. Since its inception, sociology has closely examined and interpreted the social change process. Historically, the concepts of social change, social evolution, progress, and development were all grouped together. The theological stage, the metaphysical stage, and the positive stage are the three stages that Auguste Comte identified in his law of three stages from the 19th century as the stages through which society develops. Herbert Spencer wrote about how societies advance over time in his book Principles of Sociology. He was an advocate of evolution and expanded the application of this idea to sociology. According to his theory of social evolution, society evolves from a simple, undifferentiated, and homogeneous entity to a complex, differentiated, and heterogeneous entity. Later, when describing the process of social change, sociologists preferred the term "development" over "social evolution.". L. T. Hobhouse regarded the growth of human reason as laying the groundwork for human society and held that social change is based on cooperation. He suggests that scale, efficiency, mutuality, and freedom are the crucial elements for development in his book Social Development: Its nature and condition.

Later, the word "development" has frequently been used in a favorable context to denote a broad process of advancement. It was viewed as modernization and economic growth at the start of the 20th century (i. e. That wasn't any more conventional. The evolution of human society has been continuous as it has gone from primitive to complex, from capitalist to postmodern, and through many stages.

These developments have been viewed in social science literature from a variety of perspectives or orientations and have been understood in a variety of philosophical, political, economic, and social terms. Over the past few decades, this process has become more intense and has accelerated quickly. According to Robert Robertson, it has caused the interconnectivity between continents to increase at a never-before-seen rate, compressed the world, and intensified global consciousness. Let's try to comprehend what the terms "progress," "development," and "globalization" mean.

Progress

In general, progress is defined as improvements to human conditions brought about by advancements in social organization, science, and technology. Therefore, progress is the movement or advancement in the direction of a desired result. Depending on the goals or objectives to be accomplished, progress can take many different forms. For instance, advancements in the fields of academia, sports, good governance, achieving health, or our ascent to a location, etc.

The discipline's founders, including Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte, assert that the advancement of society should be viewed as its evolution. According to Comte, sociology is the study of order and advancement. It can be further broken down into the fields of social statics and social dynamics, with the former falling under the category of order and the latter under that of advancement or change. In fact, he was suggesting that order was necessary for progress. Spencer believes that progress is a byproduct of social evolution. He argued that evolution is an unstoppable historical development and that he believed in progress. The pressure of a constantly growing population, according to Spencer's theory of social evolution and progress, is one of the main drivers of advancement. He argued that social and economic growth could be compared to the growth of an organism and society, and that as size grows, so does structural complexity. When discussing social solidarity, Emile Durkheim argued that pre-industrial society was characterized by mechanical solidarity, while industrial society was characterized by organic solidarity.

In his book Evolution and Progress, Morris Ginsberg defines progress as a change in a particular direction that satisfies logical standards of value. P says that. Gisbert, the idea of progress takes into account two elements: the nature of the goal and the distance that must be traveled to achieve it. The conclusion here suggests that the institutions working toward the common good are those that individuals can pursue and benefit from with discretion and freedom in addition to the moral and spiritual component without which sustained happiness is impossible.

Modern thinkers disagree with their forebears because Hobhouse points out that social evolution does not necessarily imply that society is improving. As a result, it cannot be concluded that social evolution necessarily entails progress in society. Others believe that no scientific observation or conclusion should be based on moral principles. In Society: an Introductory Analysis, MacIver claims that while progress is an ethical concept, evolution is a scientific one. Human moral standards and values are as varied as human societies. The process of achieving various progress indicators is impacted by all these differences.

Modern-day thinkers began searching for a more neutral and objective term because the confluence of the normative and empirical aspects in measuring progress has caused confusion. Economic development, modernization, industrialization, globalization, etc. used by academicians to emphasize the social change process. Let's now try to comprehend the term "development" and all of its variations.

Development

Development is a multifaceted process that involves overhauling the entire socioeconomic system. There isn't a clear definition of development, but it's generally accepted that it refers to society's upward movement from lower to higher levels of productivity, complexity, and accomplishment. It has occasionally been compared to economic development, industrialization, capitalism, and personal, regional, and national independence. Although societies have been undergoing this process for ages, it has recently picked up speed. Connotations of the word "development" include economic expansion, modernization, sustainable development, ethno-development, social development, human development, freedom development, etc. Now let's comprehend how development has evolved.

Economic Growth

Growth in the context of the economy refers to a rise in both the capacity for production and consumption of goods. It is known to be an increase in output of goods and services that is maintained over a considerable amount of time. Academics, politicians, and planners have all used the phrase "economic development" frequently over the past century. It can be characterized as a process of improved productivity and increased degree of utilisation of the available resources, which in turn contributes to the general welfare of the citizens. Up until the 1950s, economic growth was understood to mean that rising GDP and per capita income would result in a rise in the country's population's standard of living.

Due to the high unemployment rate and widening wealth disparity caused by this growth model, it received harsh criticism. The economists then discussed growth with employment opportunities and distributive justice so that the trickle-down effect that would result from economic growth reach the developing countries. The idea of modernization was born as a result of the failure of the trickle-down effect theory. The underdeveloped countries had a lot to gain from the modernization process, and the west built a great euphoria around it.

Modernisation

Everything that is no longer regarded as traditional belongs in the category of modern, to put it simply. It is a complicated process that includes industrialization and urbanization, which in turn cause the rationalization of bureaucracy and authority, which further leads to the expansion of science and secularism and the acceptance of individual accomplishments over ascriptive ties. It entails a transition from primary to secondary and then tertiary occupations, from centralized political authority of the state to a democratic nation and then to a generally effective and pro-active government.

In Order and Change: Essays in Comparative Sociology, published in 1968, Wilbert Moore claims that this process entails a complete transformation of traditional society into a modern, prosperous, and stable society.

In his book The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East, Daniel Lerner, one of the leading proponents of the modernization theory, makes the observation that no nation was born to be traditional; rather, its citizens should emulate the behaviors and viewpoints of those in the western nations that have already advanced from the traditional stage into the modern era. According to him, urbanization, industrialization, the rise in literacy, and other contemporary forces of change are global processes. , who play a significant role in the development of the new economic order. Lerner contends that social institutions as well as individual personality changes are what lead to modernity. Modernization as development is based on the capitalistic mode of production and emphasizes a high level of specialization and structural differentiation.

Since the modernization model called for structural changes that would destroy the traditional and indigenous cultures, many intellectuals have criticized it. This process also denigrated the developing nations and praised the west or developed nations. Additionally, the development organizations were attentive to the growing environmentalists' concerns.

The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich from 1968, The Limits to Growth by Donella Meadows from 1972, and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson from 1962 all raised questions about the speeding up of industrial growth and the growing reliance of agriculture on chemicals. A commission on environment and development was established by the UN in 1983 under the leadership of Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. This commission's report, which was published in April 1987, popularized the term "sustainable development" to denote a policy based on prudent resource management and the reduction of toxic emissions. The commission described it as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.". Collaboration between environmentalists and development professionals became possible thanks to sustainable development.

The idea was that since people were the means and the goal of development, the process of development should be centered on them. The United Nations Development Programme, which was established in 1965, published a report in the 1990s that was centered on the development of humans. The academics, planners, and decision-makers' perspectives on development changed as a result, becoming more focused on the needs of individuals.

Human Development

Different from the traditional approaches to development is the human development approach. The focus of earlier theories was on the creation of capital, and people were seen as means to an end rather than the goal of development. According to earlier theories, people are just recipients of this process rather than active participants.

The UNDP first released this report in 1990. The committee that created the report was led by Pakistani economist Mahbub-ul-Haq, and included Nobel laureate Amryata Sen. Placing people at the center of development was the report's main goal. "People are the real wealth of the nation," the report's opening line read. Creating a conducive environment for people to live long, healthy, and productive lives is development's fundamental goal. It might seem like this is an obvious truth. But it is frequently overlooked in the rush to amass material possessions and financial wealth. The Report has been formally acknowledged as "an independent intellectual exercise" and "an important tool for raising awareness about human development throughout the world" by the United Nations General Assembly. The UNDP now publishes the Human Development Report annually with a variety of themes, and many governments also release the Development Reports for their respective nations. Rethinking Work for Human Development is the focus of the 2015 Human Development Report. India is ranked 130th out of 188 countries in this 2015 report on the Human Development Index (HDI). In the year 2014, India's position was 135. Norway, Australia, and Switzerland are the top three countries in the 2015 HDI, respectively.

The HDI is a UNDP-measured average indicator of a nation's progress toward fundamental human development. The HDI measures a country's accomplishments across three fundamental areas: (i) Life Expectancy (ii) Educational Attainment (iii) Income. The HDI uses four indicators to cover these three dimensions, these are –

1. Life Expectancy at birth
2. (a) Adult literacy Rate (b) Combined Gross Enrolment for Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Education
3. GDP per capita in US dollars adjusted by Purchasing Power Parity

The geometric mean of these three normalized dimensions is known as the HDI. The UNDP has never asserted that its index is an exhaustive indicator of human development; rather, it is a succinct substitute for economic indicators. Regarding the suitability of the indicators used in the HDI, there were several criticisms. Others have questioned the methodology used to calculate the points and the measurement errors. However, it is important to note that the UNDP is constantly working to improve the methodology. The Human Development Index compares and ranks the nations of the world based on the three aforementioned factors. It emphasizes how the citizens are affected by government programs and policies. In measuring development and human well-being, this method offers a broad perspective.

Globalisation and Development

The increased connectivity across national borders and continents was referred to as globalization, which gained popularity in the 1980s. The populations living around the world are now more interconnected at a sociocultural, economic, and political level. Although this term was first used in English in the 1960s, it did not have any of the connotations that are now commonly used (Beyers, 2007). All humans on Earth are living in and utilizing a single social space, according to Marshall McLuhan's use of the phrase "Global Village" in 1964. In the 1990s, academics all over the world made extensive use of this term. The term "spatial distinction" between the universal and the particular, or between the global and the local, began to be understood by academics (Robertson 1992).

Another definition of globalization is the tightening of space and heightening of collective consciousness. in Robertson (1992). It is described by Anthony Giddens in the Consequences of Modernity as the strengthening of global social ties connecting far-flung locales in such a way that local happenings are influenced by events taking place far away and vice versa. For him, these are the primary causes of globalization.

1. The growth in information and communications technology (Communication satellites, Fibre optic cables etc.)
2. The knowledge based, information led global economy dominated by Multi-National corporations
3. The spread of government institutions those are international in nature such as the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN), along with rapid increase in the percentage of Non-Governmental bodies. (Giddens, 1991)

Jonathan E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner, contends that the profit motive, which is concealed in the free market ideology supported by capitalists, is what is behind this sudden increase in interconnectedness. He goes on to say that before accepting and participating in the globalization process, nations should take into consideration their unique cultures, histories, and traditions. Stiglitz contends that globalization has not been pushed fairly or with sufficient care. On the other hand, liberalization policies have frequently used subpar or outright incorrect economic analysis while being implemented too quickly, improperly, and in the wrong order. He contends that as a result, we are currently experiencing terrible consequences, such as an increase in social conflict and destitution as well as widespread frustration.

Anthony Giddens has very explicitly delineated the three broad positions that exist regarding the significance of the process of Globalisation. These are –

1. Hyperglobalisers (These are in favour of globalisation)
2. Skeptics (These are against globalisation)
3. Transformalists ( Thses are neutral to globalisation)

The proponents of hyperglobalism see it as a necessary and righteous process that will eventually result in a world order based on the market and international institutions. It ushers in a fresh phase of growth. This procedure is desirable on a social level and is progressive. For them, globalization represents the most effective form of society and a kind of final, self-reinforcing process of development.

The detractors claim that this method is exaggerated and that it generates unneeded hype. They contend that interdependence among nations existed long ago. These people think that this process is unsustainable because it causes fundamental conflicts within individual cultures that could result in cultural wars. (Huntington, 1999). In the process of globalization, it is challenging to achieve the desired effects, sustainability, peaceful coexistence, and distributive justice.

Regarding the effects of globalization, the transformalists adopt a moderate stance. They contend that it does not represent a linear progression but rather streams of development subject to cycles and related issues. Although they are unsure of the outcomes, these do not contest the socioeconomic influence of globalization. Giddens claim that the Transformalists' strategy is multifaceted, taking into account socioeconomic, cultural, and political dimensions.

As a result, globalization is a major trend that has an effect on everyone on the planet. Regarding its effect on the local economies and cultures, there has been a significant theoretical discussion. Through trade, investment, and financial flows, the effects of economic globalization are reflected in the integration of the global economy. Many issues have arisen as a result of the globalization process in developing and underdeveloped nations. One cannot avoid this process because it has become inevitable. The goal is to maximize the benefits of globalization and reduce its drawbacks.

Conclusion

The terms "progress" and "development" refer to the process of improvement in socio-economic and political facets among different nations. These processes follow different patterns in different parts of the world. Development is a multifaceted process that involves adjustments to the social structure, socioeconomic institutions, as well as a rise in international interdependence.

The definition of the word "development" has evolved over time. In the 18th century, it was compared to social evolution; later, it was compared to economic growth and modernization; and as of the 1990s, it has also been defined in terms of an increase in personal possibilities, capabilities, and functioning. It has also been linked to the globalization process, which is currently the subject of intense, multidisciplinary debate.

References

Al-Rodhan Nayef R.F. and Stoudmann, Gérard 2006. Definitions of Globalisation: A Comprehensive Overview and a Proposed Definition, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, At http://www.gcsp.ch/e/publications/Globalisation/index.htm
Beyer, Peter, 2007. Globalisation and Glocalization, in the Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, Edited by James A. Beckford, and N Jay Demerath III, London: Sage
Comte, Auguste 1853. The Course in Positive Philosophy, translated into English by Harriet Martineau and condensed to form The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte.
Giddens, Anthony 1991. The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Giddens, Anthony 2006. Sociology, Fifth Edition, Cambridge: Polity, Wiley India Pvt. Ltd