POLS1701 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Drowned Out
Lecture 1 - 27/02
Competing perspectives of development - GDP vs. environmental, social
8 ppl own the wealth of 3.6 bil, primarily men
Wealth owned by the top 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014
Paradoxes:
1/4 mil Indian farmers committed suicide in last 16 yrs
2009 - 17,000 Indian farmers committed suicide (Inst. Human Rights + Social Justice,
NY) - figures do not include women - legally may not have land title - How we
construct statistics, who is counted? etc.
High end of population (e.g. billionaires) may bring GDP up, e.g. Bangladesh counted
as low/middle income, but most suffering famine
The way conventional development/statistics/measures are framed abstracts
from real world of development
e.g. GDP does not tell anything about how their economic growth is
realised/experience, e.g. sweatshops, development experienced through
poverty
Poverty can be an outcome of development processes/directly implicated with
development
*Go beyond describing*
Development is a relational, contradictory process - people’s experiences are
connected - it has historical legacies - history, and the account we give of it,
matters
Conventional views/Development theories would disconnect slums and highrises, e.g.
steps of wealth in society
Material inequality is only one aspect of inequality - development must be
intersectional
We are not individual beings - we are situated in relation to one another
Process of development is highly contested - reflects multiple dimensions of
resistance, e.g. marches, sport
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Competing perspectives of development - gdp vs. environmental, social. 8 ppl own the wealth of 3. 6 bil, primarily men. Wealth owned by the top 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014. 1/4 mil indian farmers committed suicide in last 16 yrs. 2009 - 17,000 indian farmers committed suicide (inst. Ny) - figures do not include women - legally may not have land title - how we construct statistics, who is counted? etc. High end of population (e. g. billionaires) may bring gdp up, e. g. High end of population (e. g. billionaires) may bring gdp up, e. g. bangladesh counted as low/middle income, but most suffering famine. The way conventional development/statistics/measures are framed abstracts from real world of development e. g. gdp does not tell anything about how their economic growth is realised/experience, e. g. sweatshops, development experienced through poverty. Poverty can be an outcome of development processes/directly implicated with development.
