The notion of ‘development’ has been in style for a number of decades. It has become the most irresistible thought and the extremely attractive expression of the public and of social systems all over the world. As a consequence, everyone seems to be preoccupied with it. Individuals are expected to develop their intelligence, emotions, and behaviors to attain an all-round personal development1. Small groups are concerned with the development of communication patterns and the skills of their members as well as with developing contacts with other groups2. Organizations are preoccupied with the development of plans, projects, premises and human resources3. Large social collectivities such as communities and states, in turn, are obsessed with their versions of development as community development4, national development5, local and regional development6, with the ambition to contribute to international development7.
It is then perhaps not much of a surprise that ‘development’ is on everybody’s lips: the layman says emphatically that it will solve all of our problems; the bureaucrat contends that it can accomplish the impossible; the professional advises to direct our energies toward its realization; and the mass media is singing its praises.
From the way it is presented, ‘development’ appears to be both a means and an end. It is a means since many are attempting to exploit it for accumulating financial, material and human resources; an end, as many others also place it on their agenda as a vital goal to be pursued for its own sake.
As to its definition, development has not proven to be as simple as its usage has been. Different scholars have tended to emphasize different aspects of development, which has resulted in the concept having different meanings8. But luckily, scholars agree on one point, as far as societal development is concerned, that “development is fundamentally a process of change involving a whole society—its economic, socio-cultural, political and physical structures, as well as the value system and way of life of its people.”
Reference Notes
- Madeline Miles. What Is Personal Development and Why Is It Important? Retrieved 01/16/2024. ↩︎
- Devon Denomme and Sherri Hartzell. Group Development – Stages & Examples. Retrieved 01/16/2024. ↩︎
- Association for Talent Development (ATD). What is Organization Development – The 5 Phases of Organization Development Strategies. Retrieved 01/16/2024. ↩︎
- James A. Christenson. Community Development. Retrieved 01/16/2024. ↩︎
- Pritchett, Lant (2021) National Development Delivers: And How! And How? Center for International Development: Harvard University. ↩︎
- Pike, Andy; Rodriguez-Pose, Andres; and Tomaney, John (2006) Local and Regional Development. Routledge: London and New York. ↩︎
- Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko. Theory and Policy in International Development: Human Development and Capability Approach and the Millennium Development Goals. International Studies Review, vol. 13, no. 1, 2011, pp. 122–32. Available on JSTOR. ↩︎
- For a succinct overview of the various definitions of development, check out this work by Mark McGillivray from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. ↩︎