ANTH 212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Latifundium, Walt Whitman Rostow, General Idea
1 May 2018
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ATNH 212
Friday, January 19, 2018
Underdevelopment, dependency theory, new traditions and the world system
• Image representation of dependency theory = an undernourished kid giving her resources to
the rich country represented by fat guy in suit (see slides for underdevelopment)
• These are rooted in structural unequal relations that perpetuates inequalities in
these countries
• Underdevelopment does not mean same thing for the different theorists
• State of underdevelopment is not a natural occurrence.
o It is rooted in colonial history
historical analysis of underdevelopment
o traditional societies as we know them are not the result of capitalism, world
market expansion, colonialism, NOT a primordial state
o the analysis was that the world was more interconnected than first thought.
Traditional societies had already changed significantly due to the colonialism in
other states.
o As colonialism advanced, people responded to that and were contributing certain
goods
▪ E.g. Naskapi’s fur trade changing their social and territorial organization.
The place of women in productive activity was changed, etc. this
wasn’t full colonialization; rather, it was the result of interactions (like
those with the Hudson Bay company) important changes made in their
ways of life = INDIRECT EFFECT OF CAPITALISM.
o According to Rostow, it would be Normal that the Naskapi made these changes.
However, critics pointed out that such integration could only be partial and would
bring little benefits for the traditional groups, because the way they were
integrated into the global capitalist system was exploitative.
o Main idea: capitalistic development on a global scale transforms political
structures all over the world
Political geography of underdevelopment
o Gunder Frank observed the world division of labor:
▪ Developed metropoles (Paris, London)
▪ Colonial city (ex. Inhabited by mestizos in Latin America)
• The function of these cities is to extract resources from the
colonies and ship them towards the metropolis
• Metropolis are always benefited a bit more
▪ Latifundia (“large estates,” haciendas, plantations)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Regional unit of exploitation. Some of the profits coming from this
will be used to expand the system
▪ “Indian” hinterlands (indigenous)
• areas still in a way “wild,” but still integrated in certain ways
still important to capitalist production because of the resources
extracted from there.
o Different set of actors at each level of the division. Note that the divisions are
racialized.
o This is a rigid frame, only used to voice a criticism of the colonial system
o Of course, the indigenous people are not in a powerful position if their land rights
are not protected and if they do not have the capital to invest in the system itself
▪ They are at the losing end of the capitalist relations
o Development of capitalism and world markets started with colonialism, and
specifically the resource extraction inherent in it. The historical analysis points to
the history of inequality in these relations
o Note: Marxist analysis, so labor is the fundamental unit of analysis. There’s
propension among the theorists we are seeing to consider first the human factor
• Dependency theory
o This theory emerges from the above analysis
o General idea: foreign investment and terms of trade only benefits capital owners
from the developed north/structural imbalance
o State should be the main actor in shifting the production to home
▪ Produce goods very much needed in the colonies and stop importation
o Based on the recognition of unequal terms of exchange
▪ Industrialized countries were “fixing” the system: producing and selling
expensive products, but getting the materials for those products very
cheaply from the periphery countries
▪ Notion of core and periphery countries
o Policy solutions
▪ Import-substitution industrialization (boost production of manufactured
goods at home)
▪ Tariffs, tax on capital investments, etc.
• Protectionism to slow down trade
▪ Polycentric world (Amin 1985)
• Meaning it is not only to the state to coordinate production, but
also about getting those countries that are newly independent
together to have regional markets and prevent the expansion of
capitalism from the core / severe some of those links in the system
• Can develop more effectively if ties are severed with industrial
nations
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
