Sociology of Development as the Procedure of Organizing Human Potentia - Essay Example

Sociology of Development Table of Contents 0.Introduction 3 2.0.Meaning of Development 3 3.0.Indices for Measuring Development and Their Usefulness4 3.1.Human Development Index (HDI) 4 3.2.Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 6 3.3.Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) 6 3.4.Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 7 3.5.Gross National Product (GNP) 8 3.6.Human Poverty Index (HPI) 8 3.7.Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Birth Rate and Death Rate 9 3.8.Literacy Rate 9 4.0.Comparison between Development and Progress 10 5.0.Conclusion 11 References 12 1.0. Introduction Social development, in simple terms, can be described as the procedure of organizing human potentials and actions at advanced levels for achieving optimal outputs. Apparently, the concept of development is quite versatile and multidimensional to be bound within the periphery of few definitive terms. In the discussion henceforth, the focus is delivered on elaborating a comprehensible meaning to the term ‘development’, explaining the various indices required for measuring it such as Human Development index, Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Product along with others. Focus will also be provided on the effectiveness of such measurement indices and specifically on those areas where these indices fit appropriately and where they do not. Moreover, this discussion will also be explaining the differences between development and progress to obtain a broader understanding to the subject matter. 2.0. Meaning of Development Sociologists have long been arguing that development does not apply to a specific area. The term, ‘development’ possesses a versatile meaning. Development can be referred as bringing about improvements in multiple fields. In simple terms, development can be simply described as a process of moulding the current scenario with the intention of achieving a better outcome. Development has led to inspiring achievements not only in terms of property, technology, sociology, psychology, small groups, large communities and individual human beings, but also in terms of arts, music, literature and almost in every possible areas of study (Hopper, 2012). For instance, community development ideas can be considered as a perception of economists intending towards the growth and prosperity of the entire community. In sociology context, ‘development’ can be termed as a term describing the improvements in industrialisation, the standard of living and economic growth. Development related to living standards include improvements such as free education, health care and increase in life expectancy of people. In general, it is based on these factors, countries are categorised as underdeveloped or developing. Certainly, to measure such a versatile concept, multiple measuring tools are used, which till date have provided significant measurement data about development. These measuring tools are commonly known as indices (Bown, 2007). 3.0. Indices for Measuring Development and Their Usefulness This section will be focused on explaining the various types of indices commonly used by governmental and non-governmental bodies for measuring development within the national socio-economic. The most common indices used for calculating development of an economy can be noted in terms of Human Development Index (HDI), Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Product (GNP), Human Poverty Index (HPI), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Literacy rate. 3.1. Human Development Index (HDI) Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index comprising of information about life expectancy, income and education indices. It helps in clearly reflecting the overall achievement of a country based on its composite components. It is expressed in ranks (Nefs, 2009). The overall usefulness is for each component is described below. Health Index Health index mainly focuses on the degree by which the Life Expectancy (LE) of an analysed area is more than its Minimum Life Expectancy (Min LE). The minimum life expectancy is a quantity of the utmost difference among possible life expectancies. The United Nation is responsible for setting up the minimum and the maximum life expectancies (Nefs, 2009). The usefulness of health index is that it helps in identifying the factors, which imposes significant effects on the life expectancy of a population over an area so that necessary steps can be taken as a corrective measure for improving the quality of human life. This particular index also reflects upon the effectiveness of the health policies enacted within the economy, providing a partial understanding of the developmental progress of the populaces. Education Index Education index comprises of two sub components. The first one is the Literacy Rate (LR), which defines the percentage of literate population belonging to the age of 16 years or above. The second one is the Enrolment Rate (ER), which defines the percentage of school going children population in the nation (Nefs, 2009). As a contributor to HDI, the education index depicts the sustainability of the future generation and their developmental pace. Living Standard Index Living standard index is a complicated technique and requires three essential data about the area being considered for analysis, viz. the income of the area being analysed, the comparative exchange rate and the comparison of the price level index of that area with that of the US (Nefs, 2009). This particular index helps in identifying the quality of life being led by the habitants of the area under observation. The data subsequently helps the government in determining and bringing improvements in the income figures thus improving the living standard of people in the nation. 3.2. Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Corruption perceptions index helps in providing significant information about the level of corruption perception in different countries. It is basically expresses ranks of 1-10. It is not such an effective tool as it is completely based on perceptions rather than real facts. However, the collected perception data helps in providing a better understanding of the real level of corruption persisting between countries. In addition to that, the CPI is often criticised on the grounds that the data required for measuring this index accurately, is tough to be obtained, which may further lead to questions raisings about its validity (Lambsdorff, 2006). 3.3. Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) Environmental sustainability index (ESI) helps in describing the capability of a country to protect its environment in the long run. This index is a composite bank for loads of data accumulated from different areas. For instance, ESI contains information about natural resource utilizations, past and current levels of environmental pollutions and outputs of various environmental management plans and actions (Jha & Murthy, 2013). All these indicators help in identifying environmental issues depending on five considered categories, viz. environmental systems, reduction of environmental stress levels, reduction in human vulnerability to environmental stress levels, societal capabilities of reacting towards environmental issues and global stewardess. Environmental sustainability index has significantly proved as an effective tool for a nation’s environmental sustenance because projections from this indicator can notify a country about its improving or deteriorating environmental condition and what measure the country should take to prevent such effects (Yale University, 2005). 3.4. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as an indicator of sustainable development, is the most common tool used for measuring up the level of total economic output in relation to the total population of that country. This index also projects measurements of the population well-being. In this indicator, improvement in the production rate is considered as the base for determining the level of economic growth. In this index, the total population of the country (Held, 2004) divides the total economic output. Hence, the index projects the share of economic output for each individual in that country. As a result, growth in GDP rate indicates the increase in the share of economic output for all individuals within the nation. However, critics have argued that being a single indicator; it does not project a direct evaluation of sustainable development (United Nations Statistics Division, n.d.). Again, GDP measure completely ignores taking non-marketing activities like household childcare into consideration. GDP measure also does not focus much on the cases of unequal wealth distribution and inequality in income. Furthermore, GDP measures also ignore matters like long-term sustainability of the society, which is affected to a major extent due to environmental spoil. As GDP measure covers up certain economic activities that may projects negative impact on human well-being like funding of defence sectors and consumption of smoking items as well, its usefulness also becomes hindered (United Nations Statistics Division, n.d.). 3.5. Gross National Product (GNP) Many economists and even the World Bank as an important tool for measuring the economic development rates consider Gross National Product (GNP). GNP is mostly used for calculating the production worth of a country in the short run. The concept of GNP further gives rise to another essential indicator termed as Net National Product (NNP). The concept of NNP comes out when the capital depreciation is deducted from GNP in order to get a clearer gauge of sustainability (Urquhart, 1993). The usefulness of GNP can be identified with reference to its ability to project the economic performance of a country and thus is used as an indicator helping governments in making economic decisions and formulating policies (Paschke, n. d.). 3.6. Human Poverty Index (HPI) The Human Poverty Index (HPI) plays a significant role towards sustainable development. It aims at providing attention towards the most underprivileged people in a country and thus, highlights the existence of poverty in a country apart from just projecting the average national attainment (Naidoo, Pillay & Bowman, 2007). It is a composite index, which describes about the necessities in human lives. It describes poverty as a result of a multidimensional incapability. It also focuses on the low income rates of the population (Spoor, 2006). This composite index further emphasises towards calculating the deprivation contribution percentage from different dimensions, and thus help in identifying those dimensions, which may contribute to the overall deprivation at a much higher rate in case of its failure (Chakravarty & Majumder, 2005). 3.7. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Birth Rate and Death Rate Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) focuses on the death rates of residential new born in an area under consideration. Principally, the age of such children is below one year. This indicator is accepted as one of the most responsive indicators to reflect upon the health status of a country or a region. Similarly, birth rate indicator mainly helps in providing the ratio measure of the total number of living births to that of the total population over a specific area under consideration during a specific time frame (Naphsis, 2012). Death Rate indicator also focuses towards providing the ratio measure of the total number of deaths to that of the total population over a specific area under consideration during a specific period (Naphsis, 2012). However, even though these indices provide an understanding of the present and future demographic challenges for an economy, as it fails to reveal the causes of increasing mortality rates, its effectiveness have been criticized in the global context (Naphsis, 2012). 3.8. Literacy Rate The adult literacy rate is an indicator, which provides information about that proportion of the literate population, which is above the age of 15 years. It is basically expressed in percentage. Literacy rate acts as a significant index in the sustainable development procedures. It helps the people in facing developmental issues in their daily life. It makes the literate population capable enough for participating in various decisions making processes (Singh, 2003). It also helps in spreading ethical values within the country and rejuvenating its other spheres of development. However, this indicator is not considered as effective as it cannot distinguish literate population from the illiterate population in a very effective manner with due significance to the fact that literacy at work, home and schools requires different types of literacy (Un.Org, n.d.). 4.0. Comparison between Development and Progress Progress and difference can be considered as related to each other to some extent. To put it simply, progress can be termed as a forward moving procedure towards attaining a goal or objective whereas development occurs when achievement of such goals and objectives are complete. Development is a broad concept whereas progress is a facet of development. It takes into consideration the social and human factors as well. In terms of human well-being, the term ‘development’ can project a difference between the previous scenario and the current developed scenario. However, the word ‘progress’ projects each and every small improvement steps considered for achieving such a development phase. Development can even be termed as the end-result of various progressive attempts. In comparison to development, progress can be described as a subjective concept (Cho, n. d.). The materialistic progress mainly focuses towards measuring improvement in terms of economy. It consists of matters such as rise in income levels, improved GDP rates as well as innovations in scientific and technological areas. Whereas, the humanitarian-moral progress mainly focuses towards measuring improvements in terms of human rights. It includes factors such as enhancement in women empowerment, end of dictatorship-based processes and other compassionate objectives. Progress does not mean remaining confined to economic growth but continuously moving ahead as well to achieve development. For instance, it aims towards attaining longer and better living quality for a considerable section of people, which further contributes to social development. Hence, it can be asserted that development is not synonymous to progress to any extent, but rather it can be stated that progress is a part of development and exhibits similarity in minor contexts (Cho, n. d.). 5.0. Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be concluded that development is a continuous process. It has been playing a major role in the entire evolution process of humankind. Without continuous development, sustenance of human life and society is quite likely to become very difficult. Based on the study findings obtained through this discussion, it can be apparently observed that no particular index is effective in providing accurate understanding of the development taking place within the nation. Rather, each index can be asserted as the indicator of progress of the economy in that particular sector. For instance, while a rising GDP may indicate towards a betterment in the living standard of the people residing in a particular region, the Literacy rate may determine the employability and the decision-making ability of the population on the whole; both reflecting upon the different paradigms of progress. It is worth mentioning in this context that considering only on one attribute while determining economic development shall be irrelevant and unreliable. For instance, while a rising GDP may indicate towards better economic prosperity of the people, a rising IMR may depict a contradictory result to the developmental scenario of the nation. Hence, it is important that significance is delivered to the inclusion of majority of these indices when determining the economic development prospects of a nation, differentiating it from the concept of progress altogether. References Bown, L., 2007. What Do We Mean By Development? 1. Starting Points, pp. 3-5. Chakravarty, S. R. & Majumder, A., 2005. Measuring Human Poverty: A Generalized Index and an Application Using Basic Dimensions of Life and Some Anthropometric Indicators. Abstract, 6 (3), pp. 1-2. Cho, Y., No Date. What is progress? How do you define progress? Our Ceaseless Pursuit of Better Lives. I. Introduction, pp. 3-4. Held, D., 2004. A Globalizing World?: Culture, Economics, Politics. Routledge. Hopper, P., 2012. Understanding Development. Polity. Jha, R. & Murthy, K. V. B., 2013. Environmental Sustainability: A Consumption Approach. Routledge Lambsdorff, J. G., 2006. The Methodology of Corruption Perceptions Index 2006. 1. Introduction, pp. 2-4. Nefs, D., 2009. HDI Project Report. I Background to HDI, pp. 2-5. Naphsis, 2012. Infant Mortality Rate. 1. Definition, pp. 1-2. [Online] Available at: http://www.naphsis.org/about/Documents/Infant_Mortality_Rate_Final_Jerry.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Naphsis, 2012. Age-Specific Birth Rate. 1. Definition, pp. 1-2. [Online] Available at: http://www.naphsis.org/about/Documents/ASBR_Final_Scott.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Naphsis, 2012. Crude Death Rate. 1. Definition, pp. 1-2. [Online] Available at: https://naphsis-web.sharepoint.com/about/Documents/Mortality_Crude_Final_Lois.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Naidoo, A. & et. al., 2007. Community Psychology. Juta and Company. Paschke, D., No Date. Gross National Product vs. Sustainable Measurement. 3 GNP, pp. 5-7. Singh, S., 2003. Library and Literacy Movement for National Development. Concept Publishing Company. Spoor, M., 2006. Globalisation, Poverty and Conflict: A Critical Development Reader. Springer. United Nations Statistics Division, No Date. Gross Domestic Product Per Capita. Brief Definition. [Online] Available at: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/methodology_sheets/econ_development/gdp_percapita.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Un.Org, No Date. Adult Literacy Rate. Brief Definition. [Online] Available at: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/methodology_sheets/education/adult_literacy.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Urquhart, M., 1993. Gross National Product, Canada, 1870-1926: The Derivation of the Estimates. McGill-Queens Press. Yale University, 2005. 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index. Executive Summary, pp. 1-4. [Online] Available at: http://www.yale.edu/esi/ESI2005_Main_Report.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Read More