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Copyright Act 1968
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Reading Description:
Midgley, J. (2014). Extracts from Social development : theory & practice (pp. 4-12 ; 21-37 & 69-70). Los Angeles : Sage.
Reading Description Disclaimer:
(This reference information is provided as a guide only, and may not conform to the required referencing standards for your subject)
Approaches to definition
The term 'social development' is comprised of two words- social and developmentboth of which inform the way it has been defined. Both should be examined in
more depth. Today, the term social is used by sociologists and other social sci
entists to refer to human interactions and the complex phenomena that arise
from these interactions, such as a large number of groups and associations
including the family, neighbourhood associations, formal organisations, com
munities and even societies. These interactions also give rise to social networks,
values, cultures and institutions. The term also has a welfare connotation which
alludes to people's well-being and collective efforts to improve social condi
tions. Both meanings of the term have influenced the way the concept of social
development has been used.
The second word, development, has a dynamic connotation and refers to a pro
cess of change, growth, progress or evolution. Although originally used to connote
a process of societal change, the term 'development' has been primarily linked to
economic modernisation in the developing countries after the Second World War,
where it was originally defined as involving growth and industrialisation. This
definition has now been broadened to connote a multifaceted process that comprises
social, cultural, gender, political, environmental as well as economic dimensions.
4
DEFINING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
It is in this context that the concept of social development has been popularised and
will be used in this book.
However, the term 'social development' was not originally used in this way.
Instead, it was first employed by sociologists in the late nineteenth century to
refer to the processes by which societies evolve from a traditional or 'primitive'
state to a modern, advanced level of 'civili�.ation'. This approach was inspired
by Darwin's work and his discovery of the way natural selection shapes the
complex form of biological life that evolved since primeval times. Sociologists
such as Spencer and Sumner and anthropologists such as Morgan and Tylor
drew on Darwin's ideas to claim that similar processes govern societal evolution,
or 'social development' as it was called. A major figure in evolutionary sociology
at the time was Hobhouse, whose book Social Development (1924) popularised
the term and informed subsequent thinking in the field. He challenged the
views of the Social Darwinists, proposing the adoption of social reforms that
would modify the harsh effects of social change on vulnerable people. He also
disagreed with Marx and Engels, who argued that meaningful change will only
be brought about through revolution driven by historical forces. Together with
social liberals in Britain, known as the 'New Liberals', he helped inspire the
social legislation and social reforms introduced by the British government in
the early years of the twentieth century. There were similar developments in the
United States where these ideas were promoted by reformers known as the 'Pro
gressives'. Hobhouse's approach to defining social development was subse
quently augmented by sociologists concerned with social planning and with
what was sometimes called 'guided' social change (Bennis et al. , 1961; Chodak,
1973; North, 1932).
It is likely that these ideas influenced the first social development practi
tioners who launched community-based projects in the rural areas of African
and Asian countries in the years following the Second World War. Although
development planners and policymakers in these countries drew on ideas
from the new field of development economics, those engaged in social welfare
activities were likely to turn to sociologists for inspiration and find that
notions of evolutionary change and social planning offered a helpful concep
tual framework for their work. As will be shown in the next chapter, expatriate
social workers who established the first government welfare services in the
British colonial territories laid the foundations for social development by
introducing community-based projects that combined economic and social
activities and emphasised participation in development. Community develop
ment was also inspired by the rural reconstruction projects of Gandhi and
Tagore in India, which sought to address the problem of rural poverty at the
local level.
The colonial authorities in London approved of these developments and it
was in this context the term 'social development' was embraced by the British
government. In 1954, at a meeting in Cambridge of welfare administrators from
5
S O C IAL D EV EL O PM ENT: TH E O RY A N D P RACTIC E
different parts of the Empire, it was formally adopted to refer t o social pro
grammes and policies which would, as one o fficial document put i t, result in
'nothing less than the whole process of change and advancement of a territory,
considered in terms of the progressive well-being of society and the individual'
(United Kingdom, Colonial Office, 1954, p. 14) . Although this ambitious goal
did not accurately reflect the practical community development programmes
established at the time, i t was the first attempt to formulate a formal definition
of social development. I t also reflected the desire to promote the modernisation
of the newly independent developing countries.
Other scholars, including sociologists and social workers, subsequently
defined social development in similar lofty terms. One of the first formal defini
t ions to be offered by a social work scholar, Paiva (1977, p . 323), used t his
approach to suggest that social development is 'the development of the capacity
of people to work continuously for their own and society's welfare'. Another
example comes from Omer (1979, p. 15), who defined social development as a
process that brings about 'an i ntegrated, balanced and unified social and eco
nomic development of society, and one that gives expression to the values of
human dign ity, equality and social justice'. She goes on to say that social devel
opment seeks 'to create humanistic societies committed to achieving peace i n
the world and progress for a l l people' (p . 16) . A more recent example i s Aspalter
and Sin gh's (2008, p. 2) definition of social development as planned and
directed change that 'enables people to ach ieve greater happiness, satisfaction
and a peaceful life'.
While definitions of this kind are unobjectionable, they fail to identify the
projects a nd programmes that can achieve these abstract goals and are of l i m
ited practical val ue. Accordingly, they have been criticised by some scholars for
offering a set of 'nebulous aspirations and heuristic notions' that are 'hortatory
rather than prescriptive' (Lloyd, 1982, pp. 44-45 ). Nevertheless, socia l workers
played a major role in spreading socia l development i deas. In 1972, they
fou nded the International Consortium for Social Development, which launched
Social Development Issues, a leadi ng journal i n the field, and actively promoted
social development for many years through professional conferences and
exchange programmes (Meinert, 1991 ). These contributions built o n the pio
neering work of the social workers who introduced community development
projects in the Global South during the colonial period.
Some social workers h ave formulated definitions that are less abstract and
hortatory and more focused on practical matters . Hollister (1977) and Spergel
( 1978) equate social development with community organisation, policy analy
sis and programme administration and, in a more recent definition, Miah
(2008) emphasises the role of microenterprise and m icrofinance activities.
Midgley and Conley (2010) also h ighlight the practical aspects of social devel
opment and urge the adoption of what they call 'investment strategies' in social
work practice. Today, most social workers i nvolved in social development are
6
DEFINING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
primarily concerned with community-based interventions that mobilise local
people to participate in a variety of projects designed to improve local condi
tions. Although Pawar and Cox (2010) also approach the field from a social
work perspective and emphasise community-level interventions, they deal with
a number of conceptual issues that have broader relevance to the field.
Scholars in mainstream development stuc: ies who have offered definitions
of social development seldom recognise social workers' contribution and
some, such as Green (2002), dismiss what she described as a 'welfarist concep
tion', which she alleges is primarily concerned with the provision of services
to needy people. However, she appears to be unaware of the contribution of
social workers to community development and social policy which transcends
a limited concern for poor people. Her own definition draws on an eclectic
mix of ideas from social anthropology, social policy, public management and
development studies, and links social development to the work of interna
tional development agencies concerned with poverty alleviation, meeting
basic needs and enhancing community participation in development projects
and programmes. This is similar to definitions formulated by social workers
and, as noted earlier, social development is often associated with community
activities of this kind.
The community, project-based approach to defining social development has
been augmented by the community participation approach (Choudry et al.,
2012; Cornwall, 20 1 1; United Nations, 1975), which contends that meaningful
social change can only be achieved when the social structures that perpetuate
poverty, inequality and oppression are challenged by ordinary people and ulti
mately dismantled. This definition prioritises activism, especially at the local
level, and concepts such as conscientization, 'empowerment' and 'transforma
tive social change' are widely used to challenge those who use their wealth and
power to oppress women, ethnic minorities and the poor. Grassroots community
activism is augmented by social action at the national level and large organisa
tions, such as the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India (Chen,
2008) and the Industrial Areas Foundation in the United States (Chambers,
2003), are often cited as an example of this approach. Although many non
governmental and faith-based organisations involved in social development
are not overtly committed to activism, they are often commended for offering
an alternative to government intervention which is widely regarded as bureau
cratic and 'top-down'. Cooperatives are another example of how people can
engage collaboratively in economic activities. As will be shown later in this
book, they have an ancient history and have played a major role in social
development over the years. Popular social movements that campaign for pro
gressive social change also make a major contribution. Although these move
ments are characterised by a high degree of spontaneity that reflects the anger
and desperation of oppressed people, Smith (2008) points out that their ener
gies are often harnessed by organisations that mobilise popular support, lobby
7
S O CIAL D EVE L O PM ENT: T H E O RY A N D PRACT I C E
and use a variety of activist tactics to affect change. As Wilson and Whitmore
(2000) report with reference to Latin America, social movements have played
a major role in promoting social development in the region. Indeed, their
definition equates social development with the activities of popul ar move
ments and activist groups.
A contrasting approach to definition focu ses on the role of governments.
Thi s approach defines social development a s a process b y which improve
ments in social well-being are brought about through social planning, a vari
ety of legislative mandates, subsidies, redistributive fiscal pol icies and the
activities of social sectoral ministries responsible for education, health, hous
ing and social services. It draws on the idea that democratic governments
committed to improving the welfare of their citizens can uti l i se scientific
knowledge and the expertise of technocrats to achieve this goal. Thi s approach
is rooted in the writings of Saint Simon and Comte in the nineteenth century
and was elaborated by the American economist Veblen as wel l a s other inter
ventionists, including Hobhouse and Keynes. It has informed state directed
social development for many years and was championed by leading develop
ment economists, such as Myrdal ( 1 970, 1971) and Seers (1969). As will be
shown i n the next chapter, Myrdal made a major contribution to articulating
a statist approach to social development exemplified by what was called the
'unified socio-economic planning' approach.
Although often criticised for being bureaucratic and top-down, governments
have also sponsored community social development programmes and projects
that have, to varying degrees, promoted people's participation in development .
I t was noted earlier that the first community development programmes, which
were established in the 1950s, combined government resources and expertise
with local involvement to create community centres, clinics, feeder roads,
schools, water supplies and other projects. At this time, the theoretical princi
ples of 'self-determination' and 'self-help' were articulated to provide a norma
tive basis for community development and, although they proved difficult to
implement, have continued to shape community development practice. A
major problem was the bureaucratisation of community develop ment and its
expropriation by party officials and local elites who often redirected community
development resources to serve their own interests. With the subsequent
involvement of grassroots organisations and non-governmental organisations,
these problems have to some extent been mitigated.
Governments also contributed to socia l development by establishing social
planning units within their central economic development planning agencies
and linking the policies of sectoral ministries, such as health, education and
social welfare, to national plans. They also enhanced the developmental rele
vance of the ministries of social welfare that had inherited a remedial, urban
based approach from the colonial period. It was in thi s context that many
governments renamed their social welfare ministries as minis tries of social
8
DEFINING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
development. This innovation follows the first United Nations meeting of wel
fare ministers in New York in 1968, when many governments declared their
intention to introduce 'developmental' welfare programmes and policies
(United Nations, 1969).
The statist definition of social development also reflects the work of inter
national development agencies such as the Ur ited Nations, the United Nations
Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The World
Bank has also made a major contribution but, as will be shown in the next
chapter, its original commitment to government-sponsored social development
was replaced in the 1980s by a market-based approach that reflected the grow
ing influence of market liberal ideas as well as changing economic, social and
political realities. Nevertheless, the major international development organisa
tions have continued to support government efforts to initiate, direct and fund
social development programmes. Government involvement finds expression in
the Commitrnents adopted by the member states of the United Nations at the
World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, and in the sub
sequent adoption of the Millennium Declaration of 2000, which enshrines the
Millennium Development Goals. These are comprised of eight broad goals
which are broken down into 18 specific targets, including the reduction of pov
erty, improvements in school attendance, the promotion of gender equity,
reductions in child and maternal mortality and enhanced international cooperation
(United Nations, 2005). Today, the Millennium Development Goals exemplify the
statist definition of social development.
Definitions by a number of academics also reveal a preference for government
intervention. The first major book on social development, published by ]ones
and Pandey in 1981, favoured a statist approach but also incorporated a com
munity development and other non-governmental initiatives. In this book,
Pandey defined social development as a process that results in the 'improvement
of the quality of life of people . . . a more equitable distribution of resources . . .
and special measures that will enable marginal groups and communities to
move into the mainstream' (Pandey, 1981, p. 33). This definition is in many
respects similar to the ideals expressed in the Copenhagen Declaration some 15 years
later, and it also emphasises the importance of national interventions through the
agency of the state. As mentioned earlier, Myrdal and Seers drew attention to
the fact that the people of the developing nations were not uniformly poor.
While many lived in rural poverty or eked out an existence in the rapidly
expanding urban informal settlements, others enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle
comparable to that of the upper middle class in the Western nations. The devel
opment process, they concluded, had disproportionately benefited political and
business elites, the military and the senior civil service, creating a situation known
as 'distorted' or 'uneven' or 'unbalanced' development. This occurs when the
income and wealth generated by economic growth accrues disproportionately to
9
S O C IAL D EVELOPMENT: T H E O RY A N D PRACTIC E
elites a n d to the middle class but fai ls to raise the standards of l iving o f a size
able proportion of the population and especially the poorest groups. This idea
was developed by Midgley (199 5), who argued that the distortions of develop
ment can be addressed by harmonising economic and social i nterventions
within a pragmatic, state-directed approach. However, this involves redistribu
tive pol icies that channel public resources to the population as a whole through
social investments (Midgley, 1999).
Although the United Nations and most other i nternational development
agencies use the term social development, the UNDP prefers the term human development. This term is often regarded as a synonym for social develop ment
but a closer reading of the organisation's definition reveals an emphasis on
individual choice and responsibi l ity (UNDP, 1 990) which is not emphasised by
the other agencies. The UNDP's defin ition is contained in the first of a series of
influential reports published in 1990 that reflect a preference for interventions
that focus on individual households which, the organisation points out, can
make rational decisions to enhance their own well-being. As the report puts it,
h uman development is a process of promoting freedom by 'enlargin g people's
choices' ( 1 990, p. 3). This defin it ion of social development is based on Sen's
(19 85, 1 99 9) writings and may be contrasted with that of Myrdal and Seers,
who propose a much more proactive role for governments. Although the
UNDP recognises the need for investments such as education, access to credit
and other supports, it avoids the problem of structural i nequality and the need
for public social investments that are explicitly red istributive. As Nussbaum
(2011) poi nts out, the 'human development' approach is concerned with fos
tering capabilities among individuals so that they can choose what they want
to do and be .
The concept of social development has a lso been used i n social policy and
welfare state studies to refer to the social improvements brought about i n the
Western countries by governments in the years following the Second World
War. However, these improvements are seldom associated with economic devel
opment and instead the role of welfare services in raising standards of l ivin g is
emphasised . Whi le it is undoubtedly true that the expansion of the so-called
'welfare state' contributed significantly to social improvements at this time, the
h istorical evidence, as Midgley (2008a) points out, reveals that government
welfare programmes were origina lly l inked to economic policies and particu
larly full employment policies. The New Deal i n the United States, the imple
mentation of the Beveridge Report in Britain and social democratic welfare
i nitiatives in Northern and Western Europe share many similarities with the
statist approach to social development that emerged in the Global South in the
1960s. However, the l ink between social policy and economic development was
subsequently de-emphasised as social policy scholars such as Marshall (1950)
and Titmuss (1971, 19 7 4) stressed the role of social r ights, altruism and social
solidarity in social welfare, implying that social pol icy should be separated from
10
DEFINING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
economic considerations. On the other hand, Piachaud ( 1989) and Midgley
(1995) have questioned the neglect of the economic dimension in Western
welfare state thinking, contending that welfare objectives can best be met by
harmonising social and economic policies and by emphasising the investment
functions of state welfare.
Social development ideas have also been as .ociated with the study of social
policy in Asian countries such as Korea, Taiwan, japan and Singapore, which are
sometimes described as 'developmental welfare states' or 'productive welfare
states' (Holliday, 2000). In these countries, governments are reported to use
social policy to achieve economic goals. This approach, which Kwon (2002)
calls 'welfare developmentalism', characterises these nations which are also
known in the literature as 'developmental states' Oohnson, 1982; Leftwich,
1995, 2000; Woo-Cumings, 1999) because they have governments that proac
tively direct the economy to promote industrialisation and mass wage employ
ment. The notion of welfare developmentalism has recently attracted attention
in European welfare circles and contributed to efforts to extend Esping-Andersen's
( 1990) widely cited typology of welfare regimes to other parts of the world by
categorising the East Asian countries as productive welfare regimes (Gough,
2004). However, the concept of welfare developmentalism is still poorly defined
and, as Wah and Lee (2010) point out, is often confused with a 'workfare'
approach, by which disadvantaged people in some East Asian countries are
coerced into the labour market without having the supports they need to suc
ceed. They challenge this erroneous view and argue that social investments that
restore the 'social' in the social development approach should be more widely
employed.
In recent years, definitions of social development have emphasised the
importance of social investment and the way they enhance the functioning of
individuals, families and communities. Social investments are 'productivist' in
that they generate returns not only to those who benefit from these invest
ments but also to the economy and the wider society. However, like the notion
of welfare developmentalism, both concepts are used loosely. Esping-Andersen
(1992) was one of the first to use the concept of productivism in his characteri
sation of social policy in Sweden, which, he points out, fosters full employment
through education, job training and other human capital investment as well as
extensive childcare and healthcare services that support full employment. This
approach promotes a healthy, well-educated and productive population that
enjoys a high standard of living; it also generates the resources needed to invest
in future generations. However, Esping-Andersen ( 1990) has also claimed that
the Nordic welfare states decommodify labour by delinking social benefits from
work requirements. In a discussion of productivism in these countries, Dahl and
his colleagues (2001) reconcile this apparent contradiction by showing that the
region's governments alternate between periods of productivism and deconl
modification. These ideas have been used by some Western social policy writers
11
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE
who associate social investment with human capital and labour activation
programmes (Giddens, 1998; Jenson, 2010; More! et al., 2012) .
The notion of social investment has also been used in development studies.
Schultz (1962, 1981) popularised the need for investments in education and
nutrition as an integral part of economic development policy and his ideas were
subsequently adopted by international development organisations (Watt, 2000;
World Bank, 1995) . Sen (1999) and Nussbaum (2011) do not specifically use the
term 'social investment' but their notion of 'capability enhancement' shares
some similarities with the social investment approach. More recently, Grant
(2012, p. 16) used the concept with reference to non-profit organisations, argu
ing that effective philanthropy transcends charitable giving and 'maximizes the
social rate of return' to the people, groups and communities they serve. Midgley
(1999) and his colleagues (Midgley & Sherraden, 2009; Midgley & Tang, 2001)
offer a broader interpretation of the concepts of productivism and social invest
ment by examining a number of investment-oriented practice strategies, such
as those discussed in Part III of this book. As will be shown, these include
human capital programmes of various kinds, employment creation projects,
microenterprise and microfinance, social capital and community-based pro
grammes, asset accumulation interventions and social protection, among others.
In addition to fostering social investment, these practice strategies link economic
and social programmes and promote inclusivity and participation.
A final approach to defining social development comes from market liberal
economists who contend that social development can best be achieved by inte
grating needy people into market-based economic activities. This argument has
not been popular in social development circles but it has gained some support
in recent years, as the writings of de Soto (1989, 2000), Lal (1983, 2006) and
Prahalad (2005) have been widely disseminated. These scholars reject the idea
that governments should assume responsibility for social development and
argue instead that the state should restrict its role to facilitating the effective
functioning of markets through deregulation, lowering taxes, promoting entre
preneurship and creating a legal environment in which businesses can flourish.
In addition, Prahalad believes that exposing poor people to commercial prod
ucts will promote consumption, change traditional attitudes and integrate them
into the market with beneficial results. These scholars also deny that there is
any difference between economic and social development, and claim that
market-based economic policies will on their own enhance social well-being. An
important proponent of this view was Friedman (1989), who, in a rare defini
tion of social development by a market liberal economist, argued that the crea
tion of a vibrant capitalist economy that generates rapid economic growth and
wage employment will contribute more effectively to social development than
governmental programmes.
Birdsall (1993), a former World Bank economist, also argues for the integra
tion of economic and social policies but from a somewhat different perspective.
12
T H E H I STORY O F SOC IAL DEV ELOPMENT
their budgets, retrench social programmes and adopt market-based eco
nomic polic ies as a condit ion for receiving aid .
Although these events were a setback and presented a huge chal lenge, it will
be shown that the United Nations and nther i nternational agencies, progres
sive governments and non-governmenta� organisations sought in the 1 990s to
reinvigorate social development. As mentioned in the last chapter, the World
Summit for Socia l Development, which was held in Copenhagen in 1 995, and
the adoption of the Mil lennium Development Goals in New York five years
later have contributed significantly to renewed state involvement in the fie ld .
In addition, the role of non-governmental organisations as well as interna
tional foundations has expanded significantly. However, the way government's
role in social development was conceived in the 1950s has changed signifi
cantly and today non-profit organisations, grassroots associations and even
commercia l firms are much more involved than before . These events have
fostered a more eclectic and pluralist approach to social development but, as
the chapter reveals, there are disagreements about which practice strategies,
normative perspectives and organisations are best able to achieve social devel
opment goals.
The idea of development
The idea of development has been a major theme in academic and popular
discourse i n the twentieth century and it is arguably as important as concepts
such as human rights, globalisation and the wel fare state . Like these terms, i t
encapsulates normative beliefs that have had significant practical conse
quences. Although development emerged as a formal set of theoretical princi
ples and policy prescriptions at end of the Second World War, it drew on much
older ideas about social progress and intervention. For millennia, social think
ers have specu l ated about the nature of social change and the factors respon
sible for the way societies evolve. As Nisbet (1980) pointed out, scholars and
sages of the ancient civil i sations usually took a cyclical view, which inter
preted change as a never-ending process of improvement fol lowed by decline.
Regress ive i nterpretations were also formulated and included a belie f in a
decline from a Golden Age, which was adopted by the Greeks as well as the
Judeo-Christian account of the fall of humankind. Progressive theories only
became popular in Europe when Renaissance and Enl ightenment writers rec
ogni sed the achievements and growing prosperity of their time. Although
they drew on earlier ideas that can be traced back to Plato and St Augu stine ,
the popul arisation of the progressive view owes much to Hegel's monumental
explanation of the forces that drive history. As his ideas became known i n the
21
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE
early nineteenth century, the progressive view gained widespread acceptance. It
also inspired other interpretations of historical time as an upward progression
to higher states of prosperity and justice. Of these, Marx and Engels' equally
ambitious materialistic reformulation arguably had the greatest political
impact, but evolutionary theories based on Darwin's work also became popu
lar and, as was noted in the last chapter, played a major role in the history of
social development, particularly through the work of Hobhouse (1924), who
popularised the idea that social development is a process of evolutionary, pro
gressive social change judiciously directed by governments.
Marx's explanation, which emphasises the role of class conflict in social
change, contrasts sharply with that of Hobhouse and other evolutionary sociolo
gists. He believed that class cont1ict is rooted in economic realities which can be
associated with different historical periods and modes of production. Although
he and his close friend Engels were among a small number of scholars interested
in the historical dimensions of economic development, most economists at the
time adopted a static conception of the economy which neglected growth.
Schumpeter (1934) was arguably one of the first economists to offer a modern
theory of economic development and, subsequently, as Waterston (1965) notes,
the writings of Keynes and his followers had a direct impact on development
thinking by providing a rationale for economic planning. His view that long
term economic stability could be achieved through appropriate government
intervention was widely adopted not only in the West but by the governments
of many developing countries. Another influence was Soviet economic planning
in the 1920s and 1930s, which gave practical expression to the idea of develop
ment. These plans set specific production targets and prescribed the mecha
nisms that would accelerate economic growth. Although Western governments
were disinclined to adopt formal planning, Keynesian ideas directed economic
management policy in many of these countries. These initiatives were aug
mented by the steady expansions of social service programmes which resulted
after the Second World War in sizable increases in government social spending
and the creation of what is often referred to as the 'welfare state'.
The roots of 'welfare state' programmes are often traced to the Elizabethan
Poor Law of 1601 and to Chancellor von Bismarck social insurance initiatives in
Germany in the late nineteenth century, but they were augmented during the
twentieth century when Western governments expanded their social services.
Social protection was given high priority during President Roosevelt's New Deal
in the United States in the 1930s and in Britain when the Beveridge Report was
adopted at the end of the Second World War. Since they linked social and eco
nomic policies, fostered full employment and promoted social .investments in
education, health and housing, they were a precursor to the social development
approach that was subsequently formalised in development thinking in the
Global South. Social policy scholars have paid little attention to the economic
motives behind the expansion of the social services at the time but, as Leighninger
22
THE H I STORY O F S O C I Al DEV ElOPMENT
(2007) observes, these initiatives were largely focused on economic goals such as
stimulating economic growth and employment in an attempt to address the
crisis of the Great Depression, support reflationary initiatives and secure long
term economic stability.
At this time, most of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific were under
European imperial rule and although colonial governments were committed to
maintaining law and order and maintaining favourable conditions for eco
nomic exploitation, they began in a limited way to adopt economic planning.
One of the first development plans in the Global South was the Guggisberg
Plan, introduced in the Gold Coast - as Ghana was known - by the colony's
governor in the 1920s (Waterston, 1965). Although limited in scope, it was a
precursor of the adoption of national economic planning throughout the devel
oping world by the governments of the newly independent countries in the
1950s and 1960s. Influenced by Soviet planning, many governments formu
lated five-year development plans that reflected wider assumptions about how
traditional subsistence societies could be transformed into modern productive
economies. These assumptions were based on a growing body of social science
knowledge which formed the core of the emerging field of development studies.
Pioneering development economists such as Boeke, Rosenstein-Rodan,
Lewis, Tinbergen and Rostow made a major contribution to formulating pre
scriptions for development. Boeke (1953) drew attention to the existence in
most developing countries of a small, modern, urban sector which could be
contrasted with a large rural subsistence sector. The former, which had been
established by the settlers and the colonial authorities was engaged in trade,
services, light manufacturing, agricultural processing and modern plantation
agriculture and was the locus of economic growth and wage employment. The
latter, which characterised the rural areas, was based on subsistence agricul
ture and had widespread underemployment, mass poverty and social depriva
tion. Together with Lewis (1954), Boeke argued that the expansion of the
modern sector would draw 'surplus' labour out of the subsistence sector into
modern wage employment. Incomes would rise, stimulate demand for goods
and services and create an upward spiral of growth that would ultimately
deplete the subsistence sector and result in the vast majority of the population
enjoying a high standard of living resulting from wage employment in the
modern, mass consumption economy. This conclusion was based on research
in a number of colonies and in Southern Europe by Rosenstein-Rodan (1943),
and also drew on historical studies of industrialisation by Rostow (1960),
which claimed that the previously 'underdeveloped' countries d Europe,
North America and japan had been transformed through industrialisation. His
theory of the stages of economic growth, which provided a conceptual sum
mary of these events, enjoyed widespread popularity. Lewis (1955) and Tinber
gen (1956) offered detailed policy prescriptions that were incorporated
into economic development planning in many developing countries and
23
S OCIAL D EVELOPMENT: THEORY A N D PRACTIC E
mathematical planning models were widely used as a basis for decision mak
ing. These economic prescriptions were augmented by the work of sociologists
such as Hoselitz (1960), who proposed that governments adopt policies that
would change traditional institutions and foster social modernisation.
To promote economic development, development economists recommended
that capital should be mobilised for industrial investment. Government, they
argued, should create incentives for entrepreneurs to establish industrial and
commercial enterprises to set the process of industrialisation into motion. This ini
tiative should be supported by investments in modern infrastructure. The dynamic
industrial sector would not only create jobs and draw labour out of the rural areas,
hut stimulate wage employment in the services sector and also finance govern
mental activities. To fund industrial investments, governments were advised to
mobilise domestic capital and borrow on international markets. These efforts
should he supported by international development organisations and donor
governments. Many governments in the Global South accepted these recom
mendations and adopted policies that they hoped would initiate a process of
rapid industrialisation.
However, the recipe for development, which is often referred to as the
'standard development model', was not universally accepted and in subse
quent years, its core ideas and policy prescriptions were widely challenged.
Nevertheless, it shaped government development policy around the world.
While many believe that the results were impressive, others claim that the
standard model is fundamentally flawed. Certainly, East Asian countries such
as Korea and Taiwan have effectively used the standard model to transform
their economies and a similar approach is being implemented today by the
government of China. On the other hand, a number of countries that imple
mented the standard model in the 1960s, such as Brazil, India and Mexico,
were less successful. In some cases, governments made feeble attempts to pro
mote development or their efforts were poorly implemented or sullied by corruption. However, they are in the minority and most countries have experienced significant rates of economic growth over the last half century. Also, as the UNDP (2013) recently reported, the Global South has experienced unprecedented social progress in recent times. But, as was argued in the previous chapter of this book, the development process has often been distorted, resulting in prosperity for some but continued poverty for many others. This situation characterises not only many countries in the Global South, but also a number of Western countries.
The critique of the standard model
Despite its widespread acceptance and implementation, criticisms of the stand
ard model soon gathered pace. These criticisms were expressed by scholars
24
THE HISTO RY O F SO CIAl D EVElO PMENT
associated with the different normative theoretical perspectives or 'schools of
thought' that have informed social development policy over the years. Among
these critics were development economists themselves, who questioned the
assumption that investment in industry would automatically promote wage
employment and high standards of living for the population. Although the
importance of economic growth was recognised, they argued that growth
policies needed to be accompanied b•r social policies that directly address the
problem of poverty.
Most notable of these economists were Myrdal and Seers. In an important
book on economic development published in the late 1950s, Myrdal (195 7)
argued for the integration of economic and social policies to ensure that eco
nomic growth raised the standards of living of the whole population. As will
be shown, he subsequently advised the United Nations on formulating an
approach to development planning known as 'unified socio-economic devel
opment' which would achieve this goal. In a much cited paper, Seers (1969)
argued that the impressive economic growth rates recorded in many develop
ing countries since the end of the Second World War had not been accompa
nied by a concomitant decline in poverty. Development, he insisted, had no
meaning unless it was accompanied by social improvements. Accordingly,
development planning should address the problem of 'distorted' or 'uneven' or
'unbalanced' development, as it also became known. For Griffin and his col
leagues (1974, 1989; Griffin & james, 1981), this required policies that would
promote equality.
The concept of distorted development (Midgeley, 1995) does indeed focus on
the inequalities in income and wealth that accompany economic growth.
Although economists such as Kuznets (1955) suggested that income inequality
is most marked in the earliest stages of development and will subsequently be
reduced, Myrdal, Seers, Griffin and others argued that government intervention
is needed to address the problem. In addition, an important study financed by
the World Bank by Chenery and his colleagues (197 4) argued that rapid eco
nomic growth would not by itself spread the benefits of development suffi
ciently widely to raise standards of living for all and, for this reason, they argued
that measures that directly reduce income and wealth inequality are needed.
They also claimed that economic growth and equality were not incompatible.
Social development could be achieved through a judicious combination of
growth and redistributive policies implemented by governments with the tech
nocratic assistance of experts. Also relevant was the concept of human capital
investment which emphasised the need for educational, nutrition and health
programmes that would enhance 'population quality' and, at the same time,
contribute to development (Schultz, 1962, 1981). As noted in the last chapter,
social investment is now a key element of social development thinking.
These ideas are linked to Lipton's (1977) critique of the standard develop
ment model's urban bias. By adopting an urban-based industrial development
SOCIAl DEVElOPMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE
strategy, governments neglected the majority of the population in the rural
areas. The urban bias thesis also reflected an older concern about the corrosive
effects of economic growth on cultural values and beliefs. Important political
figures, such as Gandhi and Nyerere, had been sceptical about the emphasis on
urban industrial development and argued instead that development should be
driven by a rural-based development strategy that draws on the resources of
local people, raises standards of living in the rural areas and preserves the tra
ditional culture.
Studies commissioned by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in
the 1960s and 1970s also questioned the standard model's assumption that
rural poverty would disappear as workers migrated to the towns and found
regular wage employment. Contrary to its predictions, employment creation
had lagged and the vast majority of the population in developing countries
continued to work in agriculture. In addition, industrialisation policies had
created sprawling settlements of migrants who had not secured employment
in the modern wage employment but eked out their livelihoods in what became
known as the 'urban informal sector'. This sector is dominated by self-employ
ment and low-wage work. For the ILO, the failure to create mass wage
employment suggested that a different approach that paid less attention to
wage employment and met the basic needs of the people of developing
countries was needed (Ghai et al., 1977; ILO, 1976; Stewart, 1985; Streeten
et al. , 1981). This approach was formally adopted at the World Employment
Conference in 1976 and formed a key component of the organisation's
World Employment Programme.
A somewhat different critique of the standard model focused on the way
development sought to promote male industrial wage employment and per
petuated conventional gender roles. Early feminist writers such as Boserup
(1970) and Rogers (1980) pointed out that women were not only primarily
responsible for the well-being of the family but played a vital role in economic development. They are actively engaged in agriculture, crafts, trade and other productive economic activities, all of which development economists had ignored. This critique gave rise to a powerful movement that campaigned for women's contribution to he recognised and for an end to gender discrimination and oppression. It also began to influence development policy, especially after the United Nations declared 1975 as the International Women's Year and announced the First United Nations Decade for Women. A number of important international meetings and the rise of activist women's groups have all promoted an egalitarian gender perspective in development policy, and this has fostered policy changes in a number of countries. lt also gave rise to more extensive feminist scholarship and the emergence of different schools of thought which, as Moser ( 1989) reported, have since ensured that gender issues are given high priority in social development.
26
THE H I STO RY OF SO CIAL D EVELOPMENT
A group of neo-Marxist scholars known as the 'dependency theorists' claimed
that the standard model's focus on industrialisation at the national level
neglected wider global inequalities and the way the Western industrial countries
used economic development to promote their own interests. For writers such as
Frank (1967) and Rodney (1972), development is little more than an ongoing
process of underdevelopment which had begun with the expansion of European
imperialism centuries earlier, was later consolidated by direct colonial rule and
continues in the post-colonial world wr ere it is perpetuated by capitalist elites
in the developing countries, multinatior1al corporations, aid programmes, inter
national development agencies and unfair trade. This pessimistic interpretation
was counted by other dependency theorists, who argued that development was
taking place even though the process was hardly free of international exploita
tion - as Cardoso and Faletto (1979) suggested, a process of 'dependent develop
ment' is better than no development at all. They also argued that progress is
possible even in a global capitalist system and later, in his role as President of
Brazil, Cardoso revealed the possibilities of promoting national development
within the context of capitalist globalisation. Although the dependency writers
were often dismissed in mainstream development circles, they drew attention
to the problem of global inequality and, with the publication of the Brandt
Report in 1980, fostered a new approach that emphasised the need for equitable
North-South economic trade relations. This report also resulted in the adoption
of the North-South neologism, which has replaced the earlier First/Second/
Third world categories. Subsequently, Wallerstein (1979) transcended the
North-South analysis by linking dependency ideas with a world systems
approach, which suggested that opportunities for development were indeed
available in the fluid international network of economic transactions that char
acterised the global system.
Another critique of the standard model, which has contributed significantly
to the reformulation of conventional development ideas, concerns the ecologi
cal damage that results from industrialisation. Although a few development
economists, such as Mishan (1967) and Daly (1996), argue that the quest for economic growth should be abandoned and replaced with a steady state model, many others recognise the need for growth provided that the environment is safeguarded and that natural resources are not depleted. Formative critique of the standard model's negative environmental impact by Ward and Dubos (1972) and the Club of Rome (Meadows et al., 1972) were augmented by the concept of sustainable development which was adopted by the Brundtland Commission in 1983. The Commission drew on prevailing ideas in agriculture and forestry to argue that development activities should be designed in ways that meet people's current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Although extensively debated over the last 30 years, the notion of sustainable development has been widely adcpted in social development thinking (Blewitt, 2008).
27
S O CIAL DEVELOPMENT: THEORY AN D PRACTI CE
The orig ins of soc ial development pra ctice
Credit for creating the first social development programmes in the Global South
is usually given to expatriate welfare administrators in West Africa, who sought
to transcend the preoccupation of the early colonial welfare departments with
remedial social welfare. However, as was noted earlier, there was much in the
New Deal in the United States and in the Beveridge Report in Britain that were
a precursor to the social development programmes introduced in the develop
i ng world after the Second World War. Nevertheless, the contribution of the
early welfare departments in the British colonial territories was a vital step in
the evolution of social development. Mair (1944) reported that these depart
ments had been established to address the growing problem of urban destitution,
juvenile delinquency and begging, primarily through constructing residential
facil ities, providing limited social assistance and repatriating destitute urban
migrants to their original rural communities. Livingstone ( 1969) notes that
some colonial welfare officers sought to respond to concerns from senior civil
servants and economic planners that these services diverted scarce resources
from development effort by introducing programmes that would transcend the
welfare department's narrow remedial focus, cater to the needs of the rural com
m unity and contribute positively to development. Midgley (2011) points out
that development had become an important issue in colonial policy after the
F irst World War and, as nationalist movements began to campaign more vigor
ously for sovereignty, the colonial authorities placed higher priority on eco
nomic planning and related developmental interventions. A series of Colonial
and Welfare Acts which provided funding for development had been passed by
the British government since 1929 and it was in this context that efforts to
redefine social welfare as social development were made.
The colonial welfare officials initially launched adult literacy or 'mass educa
tion' programmes but this initiative was later augmented by a variety of local
income-generating and infrastructural development projects. These included, among others, the construction of feeder roads, schools clinics and community centres, the installation of village water supply, local income-generating projects such as crafts and agricultural processing, microenterprises, small-scale fanning and maternal and child health programmes. Although funded by government, these programmes relied on the participation of local people. Similar initiatives had been launched in India by Gandhi and Tagore, with the support of colonial officials such as Brayne, and they soon spread throughout the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London enthusiastically fostered their adoption and, at an important meeting of colonial welfare officials in Cambridge in 1948, the term 'community development' was officially adopted. Key community development concepts, such as self-determination and self-help, were also
28
TH E HISTORY O F SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
art iculated . The Brit ish government provided funds for train ing and technical
ass istance and also supported academic research in the fie ld . As mentioned in
the la s t chapter, the Colonial Office formal ly adopted the term ' social develop
ment ' in 1 954 to connote a combination of remedial u rban-based socia l welfare
services and community development programmes . It bel ieved that th i s
approach would foster the 'advancement' of the colonia l territories (United
Kingdom, Colon ia l Office, 1 95 4 ) . Midgley ( 1 98 1 ) reports that t h e Colonia l
Office a l so supported the spread o profess ional social work through funding
tra in ing and technical ass istance, bel ieving that the professiona l i sation of the
welfare services was a 'modern ' way of dea l ing with the socia l problems associ
ated with rapid urbanisation .
By the 1 960s, as many more colonial territories became i ndependent, com
munity development i n itiatives were consol idated and expanded . They were
o ften given high priority by the new national ist governments . The I nd ian com
munity development programme covered the whole country and was one of
the la rgest in the world (Bhattacharyya, 1 9 70) . Although i mplemented by the
states, it was viewed by the national govern ment as an i m portant way of pro
moting local democracy as well as foster ing economic and social development .
I n other parts of the Anglophone world, community development bui lt on the
West Afri can experience and was administered by m i n i stries of social wel fare,
which a l so managed urban-based remedia l wel fare services . At the local level ,
commun ity development programmes were implemented by profess ional and
paraprofess ional community development workers who reported to regional
community development officers who were, in turn, an swerable to the nat ional
government. Despite community development's bureaucratic approach, Brokensha
and Hodge ( 1 9 69) reveal that the concepts of local partic ipat ion, democracy,
self-help and self-determination featured prominent ly in the fie ld 's emergin g
l i terature .
Sim i la r programmes were subsequently introduced i n other parts o f t h e
Global South . T h e government o f t h e U nited States actively promoted commu
n ity development in Latin America as a par t of i t s A l l iance for Progress i n it ia
tive, and i t also establ i shed community development programmes i n other
regions where it had strategic geopolit ical i nterests . The French government
a lso introduced community development in its terr itories , but here the term
animation rurale was preferred (Gow & van Sant, 1 983) . In the 1 950s, the U nited
Nations actively encouraged the spread of community development throughout the Global South by provid ing technical ass istance, tra ining and convening
numerous international conferences to discuss community development issues . The organisat ion viewed community development as a h ighly desirable approach to socia l development which transcended its own for mative commitment to enhance social welfare through conventional social services and profess ional socia l work .
29
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: THEORY ANO PRACTICE
The ro le of the internationa l agencies
Social development practice has been actively promoted by the international
d evelopment agencies, including the United Nations, the ILO, UNICEF and
World Bank. They significantly influence the international diffusion of com
munity development and supported the emergence of a state-directed approach
which relied extensively on planning. Since its inception in 194S, the United
Nations has played a major role in promoting social development. Article S S of
the organisation's Charter commits it to foster 'higher standards of living, full
e m ploym ent and conditions of economic and social progress and develop
ment'. However, it did little in its early years to implement these wider goals
and instead adopted a limited view of social welfare as comprising remedial
social welfare, youth work and child welfare services. In the 1960s, it began to
reassess its original preference for remedial social welfare, conceding that this
approach had exacerbated the compartmentalisation of the social services from
economic policy and failed to identify interventions that contribute positively
to development. It re-examined its role in economic planning, which had previ
ously paid little attention to social issues. One report (United Nations, 1971,
p. 2) stated: 'The general impression given is that social factors were regarded as
resid ual to the overall process of development and that social policy would be
designed to provide remedial or palliative measures rather than positive and
dynamic activities in the social field.' The term 'social development' was
adopted to reflect its gradual shift from conventional remedial welfare to com
munity level and then to national interventions committed to enhancing social
well-being within the development process.
To implement its new developmental approach, the United Nations embarked
on a number of initiatives. The Social Commission, which was charged with
implementing Article S S of the Charter, was renamed the Commission for Social
Development and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
( U N RISD) was created. The Institute launched a major initiative to develop
q uantitative indicators that would measure social development progress
(Baster, 1 9 72), and it also supported studies of other social development issues.
The United Nations also commissioned a number of scholars to formulate a
conceptual basis for social development. A series of meetings were convened
and resulted in what became known as the 'unified socio-economic planning'
approach (United Nations, 1971). As was noted earlier, Myrdal played a leading
role in these discussions and persuasively argued for national plans to focus
directly on poverty alleviation and the expansion of the social services. He was
supported by other development economists who had also expressed criticisms
of the standard development model and its narrow focus on industrialisation.
These discussions were accompanied by the adoption of resolutions by the
United Nations General Assembly which fostered the introduction of unified
socio-economic planning among the organisation's member states. This
30
THE H ISTORY O F SO CIAL DEVELO PMENT
approach to social development contrasted sharply with the earl ier comm u
ni ty-based approach .
Although the Un ited Nations reformulated its approach to socia l develop
ment , it retained an interest in the activities of min i stries of social welfare
wh ich had struggled to redefine their role in the l ight of cr i t ic isms about their
l i m i ted contribution to development . As noted i n the last chapter, the organ isa
t ion convened the fi rst meetin � of ministers respons ible for social wel fare in
New York in 1 968 to discuss Wdys in which conventional soc ia l services cou ld
be augmented by 'developmental welfare' intervent ions . Midgley (20 1 0) reveals
that these d i scussions resulted in the i ntroduction in new developmental p ro
gra m mes in a number of countries and social workers p layed a ma jor role in
shaping developmental forms of socia l wel fare. One example i s the Ph i l ippines
where a self-employment assi stance programme, maternal and ch i ld health
services, fam i ly p lanning and a network of chi ldcare centres p rovid ing pre
school education and nutrition supplements were establ i shed by the country's
wel fa re m i n istry.
These i n it iatives i n spired other international agencies to endorse a state
d i rected approach to socia l development. Under the pres idency of Robert
McNamara, the World Bank's lending policies , which were traditiona l ly con
cerned with l arge infrastructural development pro j ects such as hydroelectric
schemes and i ndustrial plants , were focused on social i ssues and particular ly on
poverty alleviation . The Bank's series of Sector Policy Papers , which were pub
l i shed in the mid- 1 9 70s and emphasised the importance of education, health ,
housi ng, water supply and rural development, contributed s ignifi cantly to the
popu larisation of the socia l development approach . These developments a l so
showed how social programmes could contribute positively to development by
functioning as social investments (World Bank, 1 9 75a, 1 995 ) . A s mentioned
ear l ier, the Bank also sponsored a study that advocated the adoption of an
egal i tar ian development approach (Chenery, et a l . , 1 9 74) . Although largely
ignored in mainstream development c i rcles , i t articulated the i ntention of stat
ist advocates for social development to promote equal i ty.
It was noted previously that the ILO played a ma jor role i n challenging the
standard development model . Concluding that conventional economic growth
strategies were unl ikely to absorb labour and reduce the i ncidence of mass pov
erty in the foreseeable future, the ILO and its advisers argued that organisation's
mem ber states should take i mmediate steps to address the problems of poverty and deprivation by meeting the basic needs of their citizens . The basic needs approach referred to ear l ier was forma l ly adopted at the I LO World Employment Conference i n 1 9 76, and member states were urged to direct resources to expand education, vil lage health services, safe water supplies , l iteracy and s imilar socia l programmes . Instead of wait ing for econ omic gmwth to create wage employment, bas ic needs gave h igh priority to social welfare i nterventions and a l so reflected an ear l ier concern with social rights i n soc ia l pol icy equating basic
31
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE
needs with people's rights to education, healthcare and a decent standard of
living. This idea was subsequently formalised as the rights-based approach to
development (Centre for Development and Human Rights, 2004; Midgley,
2007b) . However, basic needs avoided the issue of inequality, suggesting that
meeting people's needs was more important than redistribution.
Similar initiatives were introduced by other international development agen
cies at this time. For example, the W HO's A lma-A ta Declaration of 1978 urged
governments to redirect resources from expensive, curative, urban-based medi
cal programmes to primary, community-based healthcare services in order to
meet the basic health needs of the population (W HO, 1978, 1981). Similarly,
U N ICEF refocused its attention from traditional child welfare services to pro
mote community-based nutrition and maternal and child health programmes.
Publications concerned with international trade and foreign aid, such as the
Brandt Report (Brandt, 1980), also reflected this new approach to social develop
ment, as did the expanding interest in gender and environmental issues which
were vigorously promoted by international agencies and particularly the United
Nations. As was noted earlier, the organisation convened a number of impor
tant international conferences to promote gender equality and address environ
mental concerns.
Reactions aga inst stat ism and the renewa l of soc i a l deve lopment
Unified socioeconomic planning, redistribution with growth and basic needs all
reflect the statist normative perspective, which contends that social develop
ment can be most effectively implemented through governments. However,
this assumption was not universally shared. Although market liberals had long
been critical of state intervention, their writings were either ignored or dis
missed, but events in the 1970s and 1980s facilitated the adoption of their ideas.
At the same time, some community development advocates became increas
ingly critical of the 'top-down' nature of the statist approach. Their criticisms
fostered the emergence of the activist, community participation approach as it
became known (Cornwall, 2011). This development was, in turn, influenced by
the nationalist independence struggle.
The long and bitter struggle for independence from European imperial rule
continued to influence popular opinion in the Global South after independ
ence. The creation of the Non-Aligned Movement gave expression to efforts by
the 'Third World' countries, as they became known, to challenge what President
Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana called 'neocolonialism'. Many were also enthused
by Chairman Mao's defiance of Soviet efforts to control Chinese development
policy. Popular social movements had widespread support and were often
32
THE H I STORY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
inspired by the crit ical writings of intellectuals such a s Franz Fanon and Iva n
I l l ich . The precepts of l iberat ion theol ogy and Paulo Frei re's practical propos
a ls fo r popular education a l so had a m a j o r i m pact . Revolutionaries such as
Che Guevara were admired by m i l l ions of people not only i n Lati n America
but t hroughout the world .
I t w a s i n t h i s con text t h a t govern ment com m u n ity deve l o p m e n t pro
grammes i ntroduced in the 1 9 50s were atta cked by act ivists w h o a rgued that
soc i a l development goals can best be attained i f people a re mobi l i sed to
establi s h , d i rect and own l o c a l p o j ects . I n stead of m eeti ng people's needs ,
govern ments h a d created l a rge and i n e ffic ient c o m m u n i ty d evel o p m e n t
bureaucracies , squandered scarce resources o n wastefu l pro j ects , favou red
l ocal e l it e s and u sed statutory program m e s to benefit corrupt p o l i t i c i a n s a n d
s e n i o r c i v i l servan t s . Authentic c o m m u n ity development , t h e y c l a i med, c a n
o n ly take place i f l o c a l people take control , m a ke c o l l ective d e c i s i o n s a n d
manage proj ect s . T h e i n fluence of local c i v i l servants , pa rty bosses , l a n down
ers , t radit ional leaders and business el ites , who a re usua l l y men and comfort
able with their privi leges , need to be repl aced with people's organ isat ion s .
The tech n i qu e o f conscientization expl icated i n Freire's ( 1 9 70, 1 9 73 ) writ ing,
as wel l a s the notion of empowerment, featured pro m i n e ntly i n com m u n i ty
part ic ipation thinking (Cornwall , 20 1 1 ) . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e u s e o f confro n t a
t ional t a c t i c s was encou raged . These devel opments were acco m p a n ied by t h e
grow i n g strength o f the wom e n 's movement, w h i c h c a m p a i gned aga i n s t
gender di scr i m i nat ion a n d oppress io n . Subseq u e n t l y, ge nder i ssues h ave
becom e very i m portant in social development and now fea t u re p ro m i n e n t l y
i n s o c i a l development practice .
Some international agencies also supported the co m m u n ity pa rticipation
approach . The United Nations addressed what it described as ' popular partic ipa
tion ' (United Nations, 1 9 75 ) and the U nited Nations Chi ldren's Fund empha
sised local participation in its community-based chi ld and maternal health
programmes (Hollnsteiner, 1 9 7 7, 1 982) . Another example i s the WHO, which
urged its member states to actively promote community participat i o n in order
to achieve ' health by the people' (Newel l , 1 9 75 ) . Although these agencies d id
not re j ect government involvement, they advocated for far more local i nvolve
ment and control . These developments were also acco m pan ied by a greater
concern for the environment and, after the n otion of sustainable devel opment
was popu larised, the role of local communities i n ecological management was
emphasised. However, some community participation activists re j ect attempts to
combine local activism with government i nvolvemen t . The crit ic ism was rei n
forced by ' anti-development' writers such as Escobar ( 1 995) , who d rew on ear
lier dependency as well as postmodernist and post-colonial ideas to rej ect the
very notion of development. Like the dependency theorists , they claim that
development has not only failed to promote prosperity, but has i n fact impov
erished the people of the developing worl d .
33
SOCIAl DEVElOPMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE
These challenges to the statist approach were indirectly reinforced by the
rapid growth of non-governmental organisations in the Global South. Previ
ously, these organisations were comparatively rare and governments limited
or carefully controlled their activities. However, international organisations
such as the Save the Children's Fund, Oxfam, the Planned Parenthood Federa
tion, and a variety of faith-based development organisations established
national branches, encouraged the growth of local organisations and became
actively involved in social development. Donor governments and international
development organisations such as the World Bank also supported the growth
of these organisations, which they believed were more efficient than govern
ments. In time, large international foundations also sponsored non-governmental
organisations in the developing world. The result, as Lewis and Kanji (2009)
report, has been a veritable explosion in the non-governmental sector so that a
good deal of social development activity is now managed by non-governmental
organisations and particularly community-based programmes, many of which are
managed by women.
This development was accompanied by a very different critique of state
directed development based on market liberal beliefs. By the 1970s, it was clear
that the economies of the Western nations were stagnating and, despite efforts
by their governments to use Keynesian techniques to stimulate growth, high
inflation and unemployment persisted. In 1973, these difficulties were exacer
bated by the first 'oil shock' when the OPEC nations dramatically increased the
cost of energy. These events also had a serious impact in the Global South and,
as several Western governments introduced anti-inflationary monetary policies,
developing countries that had borrowed on international financial markets
were faced with high interest repayments and the risk of defaulting. Many
turned to the IMF for emergency credit, which resulted in the imposition of
structural adjustment programmes as a condition for aid. However, structural ad justment was not primarily a technical mechanism for debt relief but an ideological project that gave expression to the growing influence of market liberal ideas in development policy.
These events were fostered by the writings of market liberal economists, who criticised the statist proclivity of development studies and advocated for policies that would promote entrepreneurship, lower taxes, and that would deregulate the economy and promote international trade. Bauer (1971) was particularly well known for his criticisms of national economic planning and international aid and, in 1983, La! published a vigorous attack on many of the assumptions that had long been accepted in development circles . De Soto (1989) augmented these criticisms by arguing that state-directed development in Latin America had actually retarded development effort. The key to progress, he claimed, is to be found in the enterprising efforts of millions of street vendors, illegal taxi drivers, backyard repair workers and others who comprise the informal economy. Their entrepreneurial efforts, he argued, are more
34
THE H ISTORY OF SOCIAL DEVELO PM ENT
l i ke l y to co n tr i b ute to econ om i c growt h t h a n gove rn m e n t regu l at io n s a n d
deve l o p m e n t p l a n s .
These ideas fou n d ex press ion i n deve l op m en t pol i cy a s t h e I M F a n d Worl d
Ba n k p rom oted a market a pproac h t h rough t h e i r l e n d i ng po l i c ies . Th i s was
fac i l i tated after McNa m a ra 's ret irem en t by the a ppo i n t m e n t of rep rese n t a t ives of
t h e b u s i ness co m m u n i ty to leaders h i p pos i t ion s in t h e World Ba n k. Su pported
bv t he I M F a n d the U n i ted St; tes govern ment , t h e B a n k's l en di ng po l i c i es
c ha n ged a n d , a s i s well know n , W i l l i a mson ( 1 990 ) , a se n i o r Ba n k offi c i a l ,
co i n ed t h e ph rase Washington Consensus to c h a racte r i se t h i s deve l o p m en t . I n
ad d i t i o n , Pres i d e n t Reaga n i n t h e U n ited Sta tes a n d B r i t i s h P r i m e M i n i ste r Th a tc h e r i n creas i ng l y di rected t h e i r gove rn m en ts ' a i d po l i c i es towa rds m a r ket
based p ro j ects a n d progra m m es . In som e cou n t r ies, s u c h as C h i le , t h e ado pt io n
of m a r ket l i bera l i s m by t h e m i l i ta ry gove rn m e n t led by Ge n e ra l P i n oc het d i s
m a n t l ed decad es of state-d i rected deve l o pm en t , l owered taxes o n corporat i o n s
a n d h i g h e r i n come earners , pr ivati sed t h e co u nt ry 's soc i a l secu r i ty sc h e m e a n d
des t royl'd t h e u n io n s . A l t h ough C h i le i s t h e m ost s pecta cu l a r exa m p l e o f t h e
a d o p t i o n o f w h a t t h e Wo r l d Ba n k ( 1 9 9 1 ) ca l l ed t h e ' m a r ke t fr i e n d l y ' a p proach ,
t h ese ideas ra p i d l y d i ffu sed t h rough ou t t h e wor l d . W i t h t he co l l a pse of t h e
Sov i et U n i o n at the e n d o f t he 1 9 H0s, m a rket l i b e ra l i s m was a l so e m b raced,
a l t h ough i n m od i f i ed fo rm , by the wor l d 's few rem a i n i n g com m u n i s t gove rn
men t s , such as C h i n a a n d V i et n a m ( Wor ld Ban k, 1 99 6 ) .
T h e i m pos i t ion of struct u ra l ad j ustm e n t h a d a m a j or i m pa ct o n soc i a l d eve l
opm e n t . To e n s u re t h at t h e i r ' co n d i t i o n a l i ty' req u i rements we re m e t , t h e I M F
a n d t h e Wo rld B a n k i n st a l l ed t h e i r sta ff i n t h e m i n i st ry of f i n a n ce or i n t h e
n a t i o n a l p l a n n i n g agencies o f reci p i e n t cou n t r i e s . Severe bu dgeta ry c u t s on
gove rn m e n t p rogra m mes we re i m posed , l a rge n u m bers of c i v i l serva n t s were
l a id off a n d govern m e n t regu l at i o n resc i n ded ; i m p o rt t a r i ffs were s l a s h ed and
state-owned e n terpr i ses were p r i vat i sed . O fte n , n a t i o na l deve l o p m en t p l a n s
were a b a n doned o n t h e a ssu m pt ion t h at t h e creat i o n of a v i b ra n t m a rket system
\vou l d ab rogate the n eed for p l an n i n g . In add i t i o n , u se r fee s fo r health se rv i ces ,
sc h oo l i n g and other govern m e n t program mes were i n t roduced w i t h t h e re s u l t
that u t i l i sa t i o n rates decl i n e d . As staff w e r e l a i d off, govern m e n t soc i a l deve l o p
m e n t progra m m es were deci mated. Even where perso n n e l were reta i n ed , t h ey
were often left w i t h o u t a n y resou rces to i m p l eme n t p ro j ects . U n d e r t h ese c o n d i
t i o n s , the th rust for state-directed soc i a l deve l opm en t , w h i c h c h a racte r i sed t h e
1 950s a n d 1 9 60s, eva porated . T h e earl i e r e m p h a s i s o n red i st r ibut ion a n d ega l i
tar ia n i s m was d i s m is sed as i rre levant a n d soon forgotten .
As a result of these developments , the i nc i de n ce o f pove rty a n d deprivat i o n
i n m a n y devel o p i n g cou n tr i e s i nc reased . A l though t h e Wo rld B a n k i n it i a l l y
den i ed that soc i a l deprivat ion h a d worsened, stat i s t ics revea l ed that structural
ad j ustment had produced economic stag n a t i o n and even reversed t h e soci a l
ga i n s of t h e precedi n g t w o decades ( H a l l & M idg l ey, 2004) . The B a n k subse
q u en t l y sought to a l l eviate the excesses o f structura l a d j ustment by establ i s h i n g
35
SOCIAl DEVElOPMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE
w hat were known as Social Funds in badly affected countries; these chan
m· l l ed resources to poor com munities and were usually administered by non
governmental organisations. However, it became clear that the Funds were a
l i m i ted pal l i ative, particularly in the poorest developing countries . The advent
and rap i d spread of H I V I A I Ds exacerbated the problem, as did increased inter
na t i onal and civil conflicts, ethnic strife and political repression.
Reinvigorati ng and redefi n i ng socia l development
T h e c ha l lenge to sta te-directed social development from populist activists and
market l i berals eventuall y provoked a response primarily from the United
Nat i o n s and its affiliated agencies, and efforts were made to reinvigorate social
develo pment ideas. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) led
t h e way with the publication of the first of a series of human development
reports t hat d iffered significantly from the conventional state-directed approach
to soc i a l development but nevertheless shared many of is features. As noted in
the l a st chapter, Sen's ( 1 999) conception of capabilities and of development as
a p rocess of 'enlarging choice' featured prominently in this approach (UNDP,
1 990) . U nder the leadership of Ul Haq, UNDP collaborated closely with the United
Nat ions Secretariat in planning for the 1 995 World Summit in Copenhagen,
wh ich was a major step in reinvigorating social development.
T h e u n an i mous adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration and its CommitI IH 'I l ls by t he member states of the United Nations resulted in a renewed
i n t e rn a t i o nal commitment to expanding government's role in social develop
m e n t . By acced ing to the Copenhagen Declaration, governments agreed to
red u c e th e incidence of poverty, hunger, unemployment, gender discrimina
t i o n , child mortality and other pressing social problems. This commitment
was s u bseq uent ly confirmed by the adoption of the Millennium Develop
m en t C o a l s ( United Nations, 2005 ) . As noted earlier, the Goals currently form
t h e ba s i s for much social development effort around the world and have been
s u p ported by other international agencies, including UNDP, UNICEF, ILO and
t h e Wor l d Bank (2008) , which has recently advocated an 'inclusive growth'
s t ra tegy that is i n m any ways similar to the social development approach
ou t l i n ed i n t h i s book. International donors and large foundations also play
a n i m portant role in funding non-governmental organisations to implement
socia l development proj ects . Non-governmental organisations are especially
active in impl e menting the relatively affordable 'Quick Win' projects that can
be more rea d i l y implemented than longer-term national programmes . These
proj ects i n clud e assistance to cooperative microenterprises, the provision of
mosquito nets to poor families, funding for local nutritional and immunisation
services, support for women's groups and technical assistance for local com
munity forestry proj ects .
36
THE H I STORY O F SO C IAL D EVELO PMENT
In addition, different n ormative perspectives have also i n formed social deve l
opmen t . These i nclude the livel ihoods (Chambers & Con way, 1 992; Scoons,
1 998) , capabil it ies (Nussbaum , 20 1 1 ; Sen, 1 985 , 1 999) a n d a sset (Moser & Da n i ,
2008) approaches that focu s o n households a n d t h e i r role i n soc i a l d eve lo p me n t
ra ther t h a n on comm u n i ty a nd state involvement. Although t h e i r p ropo n e n ts
d o not rej ect t h e contribution o f gove rn m e n ts, they u rge that i nce n t i ves a n d
resources a re provided to households to fac i l itate their pa rt i c i pat i on i n devel op
ment . I n addition, a number o f soc' a l development i nterve n t i o ns t h at i m p l e
m e n t ma rket frie n d ly i deas have be.:n adopted . One o f these i s m i crofi na nce
which has assumed a prom i n e n t position i n soc ia l deve l o p m e n t . M ore rece nt
i n novations, such a s microfranchis i ng, h ave rei n forced t h e bel ief t h a t t h e com
m e rci a l i sat ion of social development wi l l ra pidly d i ffuse a ca p ita l i st ethos a m o n g
poor peop l e and result i n s ignifi cant i m p rovements i n sta n d a rds o f l i vi n g ( Fa i r
bourne et a l . , 2007; Prahalad, 2005 ) . A s w i l l b e shown i n t h e next c h a pter, soc i a l
enterprise , socia l economy, and s i m i lar concepts have b e e n i n corporated i nto
socia l development.
A l t h ough m a ny com m u n i ty activists and l eaders of n o n -gove r n m e n ta l orga n
i s a t i o n s a re host i l e to the m arket l i beral approach, t h ey a r e a l so c r i t i c a l of stat
i sm and many bel i eve that soc i a l development i s s t i l l excess ively de pe nde n t on
govern m e n t . I n 1 995 , many n o n -gove r n m ental orga n i s a t i o n s we re a n n oyed
t h at t h e y were n ot i nvited to participate i n t h e Cope n h age n Worl d S u m m i t a n d
m a n y atte nded t h e Alternative S u m m i t w h i c h adopted t h e Copenhagen A ltcmatil 'e lJeclaration, a s i t i s known . Th i s docu ment u rges t h e U n i ted N a t i o ns to
e m b race a n u m be r of i n n ovati o n s , such a s a tax on i n te r n a t i o n a l fi n a n c i a l
t ran sact i o n s, first proposed b y Tobin i n 1 9 7 2, a n i n crease o f offi c i a l d eve l o p
m ent assistance to poor countries and to accord greate r recogn i t i o n of t h e role
of c iv i l society in social developme n t . S i m i l a r i deas were reflected in pop u l a r
a n t i -gl obal i sat ion demon strat ions i n Seattl e , Wa sh i ngton , D C a n d G e n oa ,
w h i ch di sru pted meetings of the World Trade O rga n i sa t i o n , t h e Worl d Ba n k a n d
t h e G7 gro u p of nat ions (Amoore, 200 5 ) . T h e Porto A l l eg re con ference o f orga n
i sa t i o n s o pposed t o t h e Davos gather ings of business a n d pol i t ica l leaders a l so
gave expression to t h ese sentim e n t s .
O n the other h a n d , advocates of state-d i rected devel opm e n t con t i n u e to
bel i eve that governments should have primary respo nsibi l ity for soc i a l develop
ment. They recognise that the state should not monopo l i se the fi e ld, a n d u rge
that greater efforts be made to enhance popular part ic i pat ion, to foster demo
cratic decis ion maki ng, and also to uti l i se markets judic iously. Som e h ave offered
a n ew versio n of state-directed development which is m i ndful of the role of m u l
t i p le agents and socia l i n stitutions i n socia l development . Despite real ten s i o n s
between the advocate s of different approaches, they a re not i rreconci lable and, as
was argued in the last chapter, i t i s possib le to forge a pragmatic and p l u ra l i sti c
approach to soci a l development that accommodates these d i ffere n t perspectives
with i n the broader framework of what wil l be cal l ed the i n stitut ional structural ist
37
TH E O RETI CAL PR INC IPLES & S OCIAL DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
who are disadvantaged , oppressed and di scrim i nated agai n st can be b rough t into the development process and en joy its benefi ts . Th e r igh ts-ba sed a p p roach also facilitates the removal of barriers that prevent d i sadva n t aged groups from participating in development .
As will be apparent, the participatory natu re of soc ia l development pract icl' reflects the wider principle of u n iversalism discussed ea r l i er i n t h i s book w h i c h seeks to benefit the population as a whole but at the same t i m e t a rget a d d i t io n a l
resources at those who have special needs . Th i s fac i l itates pa rt ic i pat i on a m ong those who have been historically excluded , sud1 as poor women , l a n d less workers,
ethnic minorities , immigrants, indigen ous comm u n it i es a n d peop l l' with d i sab i l
ities. By utilising programmes an d policies t h at rem ove barriers , foster i n c l u s i o n
and ensure that social rights are upheld , social deve l o p m e n t p ract i ce co n t r i b u tes
to the goal of enhancing socia l well-be i ng for a l l .
The practice strategies
The features of social deve lopment pra ct i ce a l so c h a ra c t e r i se t h e m a j or prac
tice strategies referred to earl ier. As wa s m e n t i o n ed , t h ey t ra n sce n d d i sc reet
practice interventions by incorporat i ng p ro j ects and p rogra m m es a s wel l as
policies and plans into coherent practice a pproa ch es . W h i l e pa rt i cu l a r p ro j l'Cts
an d programmes have immediate ob j ect ives , the p ract i ce s t ra t eg i es foc u s on
wider goals, such as mobil ising human ca p ita l o r creat i n g s m a l l b u s i n e sses
among poor people o r accumu lating assets . ln turn, the d i ffere n t pract i ce st ra t egies contribute to th e ultimate goal of enhanc i ng peo p l e 's w e l l - be i n g . A l l
harmonise the economic, socia l and other d i m e n s i o n s o f t h e deve l o p m e n t
process and all rely on social i nvestments . Th ey a re a l so s h a ped b y t h e m a j or
normative theories o r ' schools of though t ' that were d i scu ssed i n t h e l a st c h a pter.
They are often high l ighted in the literatu re and form t h e core of soc i a l d e ve l o p
ment practice .
This book discusses seven practice strategies w h i c h , as n oted ea r l i e r, a re
reviewed in more detail in Part I l l . The fi r st i s the h uman ca pita l s t rategy, w h i ch
promotes investments in skills and knowledge th rough educa t i o n , i n c l u d i n g
schools, universities , literacy train i ng, a nd c h i ldcare centres a s wel l a s h e a l t h
a n d nutritional programmes. The social cap ital a n d com m u n i t y deve l o p m e n t
practice strategy is based on the princ i p le that promot ing peopl e 's pa rt i c i pa t i on
in social and economic pro j ects at the commu n ity level com p r i ses a n i n vest
ment strategy that fosters social development . Em p l oym e n t a n d d ecen t wo r k
combines different soci al investment intervent i o n s t o p r o m o t e rem u n erat i ve,
satisfying and productive employment . Microenterpri se draws on m i crofi n a n ce
to invest in small enterprises among poor people which ra nge from cooperati ve
business ventures by women to individually owned enterprises . The asset Cl p p roach
mobilises investments in financial assets through Individual Deve lopment
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S O C IAL D EVELOPME NT: THEORY A N D PRACTI C E
Acco u n ts ( I DA s ) a n d ot h e r sav i n gs program mes, and i t a l so promotes the acqui
s i t i o n a n d m a n a ge m e n t of com m u n i t y an d nat i onal ly held assets . Social protec
t i o n t ra n sce n d s t h e c o n s u m pt i o n foc u s of conven t i onal social security schemes
to i nco rpo ra te a va r i ety of m ea su res t h at protect the l ivel ihoods of famil ies but
s i m u l ta n eou s l y i n vest i n t h e i r wel l -be i ng. Fi n a l l y, social planning comprises a
rnacrosoc i a l d eve l op m e n t st ra tegy that mob i l i ses a wide range of social develop
m e n t act i v i t i es at t h e n a t i o n a l l eve l . A l t h ough w i d e l y denigrated during the 1 980s
a n d 1 990s hy m a rket l i bera l s, i t s i m por t a nce has aga i n been recognised as many
cou n t r i es a re n ow usi n g soc i a l p la n n i n g to ach ieve the Mi l lennium Development
( ; o a l s .
So c i a l d e ve l o p m e n t w r i t e r s w i l l d i sa g ree a b o u t w h e t h e r t h ese seven practice
s t ra t e g i e s i n fa c t e n c a p s u l a t e t h e co m p l e x i t i e s o f soc i a l deve lopment practice .
So m e w i l l po i n t o u t t h a t t h ey ove r l a p , w h i l e o t h e rs w i l l note that t h ey do not
e x h a u s t t h e n u m be r of l a rge - sca l e i n te rve n t i o n s that are used in the fie ld .
I n d e e d , t h e re i s a n ove rl a p b e t w e e n t h e se d i ffe re n t practice strategies and i t
i s a l so t h e c a s e t h a t o t h e r i n t e r ve n t i o n s co u l d have been i nc luded . Microfi
n a n l'l' a n d m i cr o e n t e r p r i se cou l d h a v e bee n se p a ra t ed so that access to credit
a n d t h e p r o m o t i o n o f sa v i n g s a m o n g t h ose w h o do not h ave formal access to
ba n k i n g a n d o t h e r f i n a n c i a l s e r v i c e s cou l d h a ve bee n dealt with in more
d e t a i l . I n a d d i t i o n , it c a n be a rg u e d t h a t t h e e m p h a s i s on p ract ice strategies
r a t h e r t h a n f i e l d s o f p ra c t i c e fa i l s t o c a p t u re t h e wa y soc ia l deve lopment prac
t i c e t a ke s p l a c e i n p a r t i c u l a r se t t i n g s , s u c h as h e a l t h care , education and hous
i n g , m w i t h pa rt i c u l a r p o p u l a t i o n s , s u c h as p o o r fa m i l i e s , women , ind igenous
p eo p l e a n d u r ba n i n fo r m a l s e t t l e m e n t dwe l l e r s . T h i s approach was used by
t h e U n i t ed N a t i o n s t o d e f i n e t h e ivf i l l e n n i u m Deve l o p m e n t Goals , which
foc u s l a rg e l y on h ea l t h , e d u ca t i o n a n d poverty. N e ve r t h e l e s s , i t wi l l be appar
e n t t h a t t h e p ra c t i ce s t ra t eg i e s i d e n t i f i e d h e re a re a ssoc i ated with these fi elds
ev e n t h o u g h some a re n o t g i ve n t h e a t t e n t i o n t h ey deserve . While these
l i m i t a t i o n s o f t h e a p p roac h u sed i n t h i s book shou ld be recognised, i t seeks
to lw i n c l u s i v e and ra pt u re the m o st w i lk l y u sed and accepted forms of social
d ev l' i o p m e n t p ra ct i c e .
A n o t h e r i s s u e i s t h a t m a n y soc i a l deve l o pmen t scholars and practitioners
h a ve a s t ro n g p refe re n ce fo r one o f t h ese pract i ce strategies and often ignore
o t h e r pra ct i ce a p p roac h es a n d somet i m es even d i smiss them . Often, social
dev l' i o pm e n t p ract i ce has bee n exc l u s ive l y associated with community develop
m e n t or a ct i v i s m or m i c roc n te r p r i se s or a s set sav ings accounts . In contrast, the
c l a s s i fi ca t i o n p nw i d ed h e re suggest t h a t t h ey a l l contribute to social develop
m e n t a n d s h o u l d be ,· i ewed a s co i l l'Ct ive ly foster ing social development goals .
Th i s a rgu nw n t i s d e,· c i opcd fu rther i n t h e fi n a l chapter of this book where the
1wed to l i n k t h ese d i ffe re n t p ract ice st ra teg i es wit h i n a coherent corporatist
fra m ework known as i n st i t u t i o n a l st r u ct u ra l i s m is emphasised .
I t wa s m e n t i o n e d e a r l i e r t h a t t h e se pract ice strategies have been informed by
th e d i ffe re n t n o r m a t ive perspect ives d i scussed i n the last c hapter. I n some
70