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Putting People First: Sociological Variables in Rural Development.
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1987
Year
Development TheoryDevelopment EconomicsEconomic DevelopmentSustainable DevelopmentNatural Resources ManagementSocial ChangeEnvironmental PlanningSocial SciencesRural StudiesRural SociologySocio-economic DevelopmentSocial SustainabilityPublic PolicyDevelopment PlanCommunity DevelopmentSociologyBusinessInduced DevelopmentDevelopment PolicySocial AnthropologyPeople First
The first edition’s success in 1985 led to this second edition. The authors aim to evaluate earlier conclusions against 1980s experience, capture emerging 1990s development trends, and understand conditions for long‑term sustainability of development investments. The edition focuses on natural resource management, environmental impacts of development, and human capital development through grassroots organization investment and participation. The edition highlights adverse development consequences, showcases successful transitions from social science to policy and planning, and argues that sociological analysis enhances precision in development practice.
This edition owes its publication to the success of the first edition in 1985. The contributors have attempted to weigh their earlier conclusions against development experience accumulated during the second half of the 1980s. Their chapters seek to capture the newly emerging trends in the development thinking and practice that are likely to characterize the 1990s. This edition highlights the issues related to : a) natural resources management (particularly water, forests, and fisheries); b) the environmental implications of development programs; and c) the development of human capital through investments in forming grassroots organizations and promoting participation. The contributors also draw attention to certain adverse consequences of development, such as the risk of greater impoverishment of some marginal groups, the forced displacement and involuntary resettlement of populations, and deterioration and dissipation of common property income-generating assets. All of the authors are concerned with understanding the conditions for long-term sustainability of development investments. Finally, the edition analyzes specific cases in which the difficult transition from social science knowledge to the formulation of policy principles and industrial planning procedures was made successfully. This edition strengthens the argument that sociological analysis brings an increment of professional precision to the thinking and practice of induced development.