SOSC 102U
Lecture Note 9
Alternative Development
Frameworks
1
Main Issues
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The definition and meaning of development
Major theories on East Asian development
Feminist critiques of development theories
From Gender and Development Studies to
the “Global South Feminist Perspectives”
The definition and meaning of
development (1)
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The conventional definition of “development” is in terms of
economic expansion, industrial productivity, and income in a
nation
Indicators of development:
–
A. World Bank: use Gross National Product (GNP) per capita to
classify economies as “low-income,” “middle-income,” or “highincome”
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B. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) defines a developing country as a newly industrialized
economy (NIE) by using industrial employment, world export of
manufactures, and real per capita of gross domestic product
(GDP)
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–
3
GNP: the total value of final goods and services [sold to customers but not other
manufacturers] produced in a year by domestically owned factors of production
GDP: the total value of final goods and services produced within a country’s
borders in a year
C. The United Nations: a set of economic and population
characteristics to assess the relative level of development--High
developed countries or low developed countries
The definition and meaning of
development (2)
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In the above indicators, overall economic growth and
productivity are emphasized. But whether the
economic prosperity really improve the living standard
of all people is neglected
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New indicator to measure development
The Human Development Index (HDI): compare average
achievements in meeting the basic human needs (choices, selfdetermination, and the human ability to influence and control the
environment, natural or social, as well as the process of change,
in accordance with a given society’s historical conditions,
priorities, and capabilities)
One important account of the HDI is how economic growth can
help both men and women live better. Traditional development
analysis neglects women’s issues
Sustainable development is more important than economic
growth
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4
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HDI and Real GDP Per Capita in Six Asian States
(1997)
State
Japan
HDI
rank
HDI
value
GDP
index
Real GDP
per capital
rank minus
HDI rank
GDP
rank
4
0.924
0.92
9
5
Singapore
22
0.888
0.94
4
-18
Hong Kong
24
0.880
0.92
8
-16
South Korea
30
0.852
0.82
33
3
Taiwan
23
0.874
-
21
-2
China
98
0.701
0.57
104
6
5
Based on Chow Ngai-ling and Deanna M. Lyter, 2002: 27.
Major Theories on East Asian
Development
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Four major theories of development related
to East Asia
1. Neoclassical Economy/Modernization
Theories
2. The Cultural Perspective
3. The Statist Perspective
4. Dependency/World System Theories
1. Neoclassical
Economy/Modernization Theories
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A. All societies eventually develop through a linear and progressive
series of complex social processes as they move from
industrialization to urbanization, and, finally, to modernization
B. Traditional institutions, values, and practices inhibit economic
development
C. The less developed countries should follow the industrialized
West to transform their economic, political, social, and cultural
institutions, values, and practices, expecting the potential of the free
market economy to raise living standards in poor countries and to
modernize their states
D. Through foreign direct investment (FDI), production, marketing,
and trade on a global scale, the economy will experience a takeoff
stage, and people will share in this growth and reap the benefits of
development
2. The Cultural Perspective
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A. Values, ideology, attitudes, and practices influence
development policy, institutional arrangements, and the state’s
role in implementing policy—tradition and modernity coexist
and intermingle
B. All the economically high-performing countries in East Asia
share the same Confucian values
C. How does Confucianism become a positive factor for East
Asian development? (based on Alvin So and Stephan Chiu’s
research)
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C-1: Confucian values have promoted education and selfimprovement through deferred gratification, intensive study, and
the internalization of ethical principles
C-2: Confucianism endorsed the collective orientation and
familialism that gave rise to entrepreneurial spirit and skills, the
backbone of East Asian economic success
3. The Statist Perspective
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Emerging as a critique of modernization perspective
Economic power cannot function effectively outside of the
framework of politics provided by the state
Because the strong state is politically autonomous from
partisan domestic interests, it can provide economic leadership
and administrative guidance for market decisions in the private
sector. Strong state can also facilitate global opportunities for
economic expansion
Advocates of statist perspective also justify authoritative
regimes and ignore the adverse effects of their governance (i.
e., inefficiency, corruption, and militarization) and
industrialization (i. e., repression of organized labor, human
rights violations, and environmental degradation)
4. Dependency/ World System Theories
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Dependency Theory: unequal exchange between the powerful
“core” nations (developed countries) and the developing
countries such as those in Latin America and Africa
World System Theory: the world system was developed from
16th. Century Western Europe. It gradually expanded to the
global scale through incorporating the “rest of the world” into its
economic and political system
Classification of economies in world system theory: core,
semiperiphery and periphery
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–
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Countries at core: determine its terms of trade with countries at
periphery
Countries at periphery: provide raw materials to and purchase
imported goods and technology know-how from the core countries
Countries at semiperiphery: serve as buffers between the core and
the periphery
East Asian “four tigers” are classified as “semiperiphery”
Feminist critiques of development
theories
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1. the persistence of gender inequality is
unrecognized and untouched by developmental
theories and analysts, especially considering the
East Asian region
Gender-related Development Index (GDI): the closer
a country’s GDI is to its HDI, the lesser gender
disparity in a country
Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM): measure
gender inequality in the areas of economic and
political participation and decision making, focusing
on women’s opportunities (such as “seats in
parliament held by women,” “female administrators
and managers,” etc.)
Gender-Related Development Index (GDI)
and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
State
Japan
HDI rank
GDI Rank
GEI Rank
GDP rank
4
8
38
9
Singapore
22
22
32
4
Hong Kong
24
24
N/A
8
South Korea
30
30
78
33
Taiwan
23
23
17
21
98
79
40
104
12 China
Feminist critiques of development
theories
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2. the extent to which East
Asian development is now
being and can be sustained
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During the 1997 financial crisis,
the evidence shows that women,
especially the youngest and
oldest, were more severely
affected than men, with a greater
percentage of women
experiencing layoffs,
unemployment, falling wages, and
poverty
In South Korea, the crisisinduced job losses caused the
employment fell 3.8% for men,
but 7.1 % for women
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Impacts of 1997 Financial Crisis on
men and women employment in S.
Korea
Fall of
employment
of different
age groups
Men
Women
15-19
8.7%
20.2%
55 and above 6.3%
14.1%
Feminist critiques of development
theories
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3. Theories and empirical studies of East Asia’s development
primarily reflect men’s standpoints. No explicit reference to gender
as a fundamental category of analysis. The centrality of women’s
labor to development is mostly neglected
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4. In the internal operation of the national economy, the statist
perspective fails to acknowledge that the state is a gendered
institution based on unequal power relationships.
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studies tend to assume that women’s primary contribution is in the
sphere of reproduction but not production. Household labor, homebased production, and the informal labor market in which women make
significant contributions are neglected
The state give men authority and control over women. In the name of
development, the state and its ruling class can impose laws and
policies, taking responsibility for affirming the positive human rights of
women (e. g. property rights, labor’s rights to organize) and preventing
their violation (e. g. gender-based violence and the trafficking of women)
Feminist critiques of development
theories
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5. On cultural perspectives, feminist scholars question whether
the Confucian cultural tradition has been used to justify the
male status quo, women’s subordination, and the gendered
division of labor
For example, filial piety as a patriarchal script has been used to
glorify the principle of women’s obedience—obey one’s father
before marriage, obey one’s husband after marriage, and obey
one’s son while growing old. It affects the degree to which
women have access to and control over resources to engage in
economic activities (e. g. getting credit for enterprises and
saving money for investment) and the extent to which they can
bargain with patriarchy
Feminist critiques of development
theories
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6. A Western-centric view of the dichotomy between public and
private sectors. Along the dualist view, women are portrayed as
homemakers inhabiting the private domain of the household
and engaging in reproductive work, while men are assumed to
be the breadwinners, occupying the public domain of the
economy and politics and doing productive work
In East Asia, work and family are intertwined in the lives of
women and men, from those laboring in the subsistence and
cash-cropping economies in rural areas to urban dwellers
working for pay in various industrial sectors
As East Asian women actively increase their participation in the
labor force, work and family in their lives impinge on each other
Feminist critiques of development
theories
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7. Asian women workers as social agents in
development: Conventional theories of development
generally fail to see either women or workers as social,
independent actors and as being capable of resisting
blatant discriminatory treatments, negotiating with unfair
employers, and bargaining with patriarchy
A false impression is that Asian women workers are
passive, obedient, mindless victims of mistreatments
Asian women workers are notable for their low
unionization. But union strikes had occurred.
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Only labor movements in South Korea are noted. To be sure, in
Hong Kong, the early 1950s and the late 1980s had witnessed a
series of union strikes (Chow Ngai-Ling’s personal observation).
In Taiwan, union strikes also took place in the late 1980s
From Gender and Development
Studies to the “Global South Feminist
Perspectives”
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Mainstream feminist debates and discourses on development
consists of three perspectives:
1. Women in Development: modernization had not trickled
down to benefit women
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2. Women and Development: the above perspective neglect the
fact that women have always been part of development.
Women’s problems are part and parcel of the fundamental
inequality of the current capitalist system.
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Modern societies as egalitarian and democratic and traditional
societies as male-dominated and authoritarian ones that
discriminate against women
In the course of modernization, the production of goods for direct
use was replaced by production for exchange. This shift tends to
benefit men (especially male capitalists) more than women.
Gender inequality is part of class inequality
From Gender and Development
Studies to the “Global South Feminist
Perspectives”
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3. Gender and Development: gender as a set of
social relationships between women and men in both
the production of the labor market and the
reproduction of the household
This perspective deconstructs the public/private
dichotomy, uncovering women’s oppression in the
family (the dichotomy is regarded as a Westerncentric view here)
Seeing women as agents of social change rather
than as recipients of development programs
Global South Feminist Perspectives
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Along the “Gender and Development” perspective, a
research networks called Development Alternatives
with Women for a New Era was formed in 1984
Their position: during the years between 1976 and
1985 (the U. N. decade for women), the great
majority of Third World women had worsened
The classification of world nations used in the cold war era:
the First World (Western countries such as Western Europe,
U. S. and Japan), the Second World (the communist blocks
including Soviet Union and China), and the Third World (the
rest)
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Global South Feminist Perspectives
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“Global South” consists of a variety of feminisms and discourses
on development of which East Asia is a constitutive part
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Western and white liberal feminist scholars often describe Third
World women in conjunction with backwardness, underdevelopment,
oppressive traditions, high illiteracy, rural and urban poverty, religious
fanaticism, and overpopulation
The concern: In the words of Gita Sen and Caren Grown: “Our
vision of feminism has its very core a process of economic and
social development geared to human needs through wider control
over and access to economic and political power.”
To develop and advocate alternative development frameworks,
methods, and processes to follow this vision of economic and
social development—both practical and strategic gender needs
and interests are emphasized
Which of the following might be
strategies proposed by scholars of the
Global South Perspectives?
1. Protecting environment is
related to women’s well
beings
3. To enhance women’s
opportunities and
participation by increasing
their share in resources,
land, employment, and
income relative to men
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2. The structural transformation
of an oppressive society by
eliminating gender
subordination and all forms
of oppression is important
4. An increase in women’s control
over economic decisions, a
guarantee that women’s voices
are entered into the definition of
development and the making of
policy choices, a cut in military
expenditures, demilitarization,
control over transnational
corporations, and land reforms in
rural areas