Notes · SociologyUK · A-Levels

Global Development (optional topic)

This Paper 2 option examines global inequality and the competing theories that explain why some societies are rich and others poor: modernisation, dependency and world-systems theory, and neoliberal and people-centred approaches. It analyses globalisation, the role of transnational corporations and international agencies, aid, trade and debt, and development in relation to industrialisation, gender, health and the environment.

5 sections~19 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 3 · Advanced 2

T·131313 / 15

Exam profile

AO1 · Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of theories of development, globalisation, agencies and the aspects of developmentAO2 · Apply this material to the Item and to specific regions, agencies and aspects of developmentAO3 · Analyse and evaluate competing theories of development, reaching a judgement

Operators:outline and explainapplying material from the Item, analyseevaluateassessdiscuss

basic level

AS-Level expects the definitions of development and the main theories (modernisation, dependency).

higher level

The full A-Level requires sustained evaluation across theories and the analysis of globalisation, agencies and the aspects of development.

Depth

Text

Contents · 5 sections

Global Development (optional topic)

Defining and measuring development#

StandardAQA 7192/2 Global DevelopmentDfE GCE Sociology subject content

Theories of development

Fig. 1The competing theories of development, each with a different definition of the problem and its solution.

How development is defined shapes how it is measured, which societies are judged 'developed', and which strategies seem appropriate - so definition is a central and contested question. The narrowest definitions are economic, equating development with economic growth measured by indicators such as gross national income per head. Broader definitions treat development as a wider improvement in human well-being - health, education, rights, freedom and quality of life - captured by composite measures such as the Human Development Index, which combines income with life expectancy and education. The choice between economic and human-development definitions embodies different values and different theories of what development is for.

The vocabulary of development is itself contested and carries assumptions. Terms such as 'developed' and 'developing', 'First' and 'Third World', 'North' and 'South', and 'Global North' and 'Global South' each imply a particular way of ranking and relating societies, and some (such as a simple developed/undeveloped binary) have been criticised for implying that all societies are following a single path towards a Western model. Sociologists therefore use these terms critically, aware that the language of development is bound up with the theories - modernisation theory tending to assume a single ladder, dependency theory rejecting it.

Measurement is difficult and value-laden. Economic measures can hide inequality within a society (a high average income may mask extreme poverty), ignore unpaid and subsistence work (much of it done by women), and say nothing about environmental sustainability or human rights. Human-development and other broader measures attempt to capture these dimensions but face their own problems of data quality and comparability. The key sociological point is that no measure is neutral: each foregrounds some aspects of development and hides others, so the way development is measured is itself an argument about what matters.

The debate over definition connects directly to the theories examined next. Modernisation theory tends to define development in economic and Western terms and to assume a single path; dependency and world-systems theories redefine the problem as one of global inequality and exploitation rather than a simple deficit to be made up; people-centred approaches insist on human well-being, participation and sustainability. Evaluating definitions of development therefore means understanding not only the technical properties of different measures but their theoretical and political implications - and presenting any figures as broad, illustrative patterns rather than precise statistics.

Worked example

Evaluating economic definitions of development

Assess the usefulness of defining development in purely economic terms.

State the strength
Economic measures (income per head) are widely available and allow comparison and the tracking of growth.
State the weaknesses
They hide inequality within societies, ignore unpaid and subsistence work (often women's), and say nothing about health, rights or the environment.
Introduce broader measures
Human-development measures combine income with life expectancy and education, capturing well-being that growth alone misses.
Judgement
Conclude that economic measures are useful but insufficient; a full account of development requires human, environmental and rights dimensions.

Result: Economic definitions are useful for comparison but insufficient because they hide inequality and ignore well-being, so development is better defined in broader human and sustainable terms.

Typical mistakes

Equating development simply with economic growth, ignoring human, environmental and rights dimensions.
Using development terminology uncritically as if it were neutral rather than bound up with the theories.

Active revision

Outline and explain two problems with defining development purely in economic terms. (10 marks)

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for sociology (Department for Education)

Modernisation theory#

StandardAQA 7192/2 Global DevelopmentDfE GCE Sociology subject content

Rostow's five stages of growth

Fig. 2Rostow's modernisation model: societies progress through five stages towards high mass consumption.

Modernisation theory, developed in the mid-twentieth century, explains underdevelopment as the result of internal barriers within poor societies and prescribes a path to development modelled on the already-industrialised West. Its central assumption is that all societies pass through similar stages of development, and that poor societies are simply at an earlier stage, held back by traditional values, institutions and economic structures that they must overcome. Development, on this view, means becoming more like the modern West - economically, culturally and politically - and the West's role is to help by transferring capital, technology and values.

Rostow's model of five stages of economic growth is the classic statement. Societies move from (1) traditional society, through (2) the preconditions for take-off (the emergence of enterprise and infrastructure), (3) take-off (rapid industrial growth), (4) the drive to maturity, to (5) the age of high mass consumption. The task of development policy is to help traditional societies through the early stages, especially by injecting the capital and modern values needed for take-off. Parsons and other modernisation theorists emphasised cultural barriers, arguing that traditional values (fatalism, particularism, ascription) must be replaced by modern ones (achievement, universalism) for development to occur.

Modernisation theory generated an influential development strategy but has been heavily criticised. Its strengths are that it takes seriously the internal obstacles to development and the role of values and institutions, and it informed real programmes of aid and investment. But critics - especially dependency theorists - argue that it is ethnocentric, treating the Western path as the only or best model and dismissing non-Western cultures as backward; that it ignores the external, historical causes of underdevelopment, above all colonialism and exploitation; and that it wrongly assumes poor societies can and should simply repeat the West's trajectory, when the global conditions that allowed Western industrialisation no longer exist.

Evaluating modernisation theory means weighing its attention to internal factors against the powerful critique that it ignores the international structures of power and exploitation. The theory locates the problem within poor societies and the solution in emulating the West, which its critics see as blaming the victim on a global scale and as serving Western interests. Its assumptions about cultural barriers have been challenged as ethnocentric, and its optimistic stages model has not been borne out for many societies. The strongest answers use modernisation theory as the starting point for the debate with dependency and world-systems theory, examined next, which reverse its explanation by locating the causes of underdevelopment in the relations between societies rather than within them.

Worked example

Model essay plan: modernisation theory

Plan a 20-mark answer evaluating modernisation theory.

Set up the debate
Modernisation theory locates underdevelopment in internal barriers; dependency theory locates it in external exploitation. Signal a judgement. Hook to the Item.
Develop modernisation
Rostow's stages; cultural barriers (Parsons); the prescription of Western capital, technology and values to enable take-off.
Credit its strengths
It takes internal obstacles and the role of values and institutions seriously and informed real aid programmes.
Critique it
Ethnocentric (assumes the Western path is best); ignores colonialism and external exploitation; the global conditions for repeating the West's trajectory no longer exist.
Judgement
Conclude that internal factors matter but modernisation theory's neglect of the international structures of power makes it inadequate - dependency and world-systems accounts are needed.

Result: A top-band plan develops Rostow and the cultural-barriers argument, credits its attention to internal factors, then uses the ethnocentrism and neglect-of-colonialism critiques to judge it inadequate, opening the way to dependency theory.

Typical mistakes

Presenting Rostow's stages as fact rather than a contested model that ignores external factors.
Missing the ethnocentrism critique - modernisation theory assumes the Western path is the only route.

Active revision

Applying material from the Item and your knowledge, evaluate modernisation theory as an explanation of development and underdevelopment. (20 marks)

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7192) specification (AQA)

Dependency and world-systems theory#

AdvancedAQA 7192/2 Global DevelopmentDfE GCE Sociology subject content

Frank's metropolis-satellite chain

Fig. 3Frank's metropolis-satellite chain: wealth is drained from satellites to metropolises at every level, producing the development of underdevelopment.

Dependency theory reverses modernisation theory's explanation, locating the causes of underdevelopment not within poor societies but in their exploitative relationship with rich ones. Frank argued that underdevelopment is not an original condition that poor societies have yet to overcome, but a state actively produced by their incorporation into a world capitalist system that drains their resources - the 'development of underdevelopment'. He described a chain of 'metropolis-satellite' relationships in which wealth flows from satellite (poor) regions to metropolis (rich) centres at every level, from the village to the global economy, so that the development of the rich is built on the underdevelopment of the poor.

Dependency theory grounds this analysis historically in colonialism and its aftermath. Colonialism forcibly integrated what became the poor societies into the world economy as suppliers of cheap raw materials and labour and as markets for manufactured goods, distorting their economies to serve the colonisers. After formal independence, dependency theorists argue, the exploitation continued through 'neo-colonialism' - unequal trade, debt, the operations of transnational corporations, and the influence of international institutions - so that the flow of wealth from poor to rich persists. The prescription that follows is not emulation of the West but a break from dependency, whether through isolation, socialist revolution or regional cooperation.

World-systems theory, developed by Wallerstein, refines dependency theory into a more flexible model. Rather than a simple rich/poor binary, Wallerstein analyses a single capitalist world-economy divided into three zones: a 'core' of wealthy, dominant regions, a 'periphery' of exploited, resource-supplying regions, and a 'semi-periphery' that is both exploited by the core and exploits the periphery. Crucially, the model allows movement between zones over time, so it can explain the rise of newly industrialising countries that dependency theory's more static account struggles with, while retaining the emphasis on a single, unequal global system.

Evaluating dependency and world-systems theory means weighing their powerful account of exploitation against their limitations. Their great strength is to place global inequality, colonialism and the structures of the world economy at the centre of the explanation, correcting modernisation theory's ethnocentric neglect of external factors. But critics argue that dependency theory is too deterministic and pessimistic (it struggles to explain the success of some formerly poor societies), that isolation from the world economy has generally failed as a strategy, and that it can underplay internal factors such as corruption and poor governance. World-systems theory's flexibility answers some of these objections. The strongest answers set modernisation against dependency and world-systems, weigh internal against external explanations, and reach a judgement that global structures of power are central to explaining development while not the whole story.

Modernisation versus dependency theory

Fig. 4Modernisation locates underdevelopment inside poor societies; dependency locates it in their exploitation by rich ones.

Worked example

Model essay plan: dependency theory

Plan a 20-mark answer evaluating dependency theory.

Set up the debate
Dependency theory locates underdevelopment in external exploitation; modernisation theory in internal barriers. Signal a judgement. Hook to the Item.
Develop dependency
Frank's development of underdevelopment, metropolis-satellite chain, colonialism and neo-colonialism; the prescription to break from dependency.
Credit its strengths
It centres global inequality, colonialism and the world economy, correcting modernisation theory's ethnocentric neglect of external factors.
Critique it
Too deterministic and pessimistic; cannot easily explain the rise of newly industrialising countries; isolation has failed; underplays internal factors. World-systems theory answers some of this.
Judgement
Conclude that global structures of exploitation are central to explaining development, but not the whole story - a world-systems account that allows movement and admits internal factors is most convincing.

Result: A top-band plan develops Frank's dependency model, credits its focus on global exploitation, uses the determinism and NIC critiques against it, and judges a flexible world-systems account (external structures plus internal factors) the strongest position.

Typical mistakes

Confusing dependency theory (a rich/poor binary) with world-systems theory (three zones with movement between them).
Presenting dependency theory as obviously right without the critiques (determinism, failure of isolation, neglect of internal factors).

Active revision

Applying material from the Item and your knowledge, evaluate the dependency theory of development and underdevelopment. (20 marks)

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for sociology (Department for Education)

Globalisation, TNCs and international agencies; aid and trade#

AdvancedAQA 7192/2 Global DevelopmentDfE GCE Sociology subject content

TNCs and development: two readings

Fig. 5Neoliberals see TNCs bringing development; dependency theorists see them extending exploitation - both agree TNCs bring investment.

Globalisation - the increasing interconnection of societies economically, politically and culturally - is central to contemporary development debates. Economic globalisation (the integration of production, trade and finance across borders), political globalisation (the growing role of international institutions) and cultural globalisation (the spread of ideas, media and consumer culture) together transform the context of development. Sociologists disagree about its effects: optimists see globalisation spreading growth, technology and opportunity, while pessimists see it deepening inequality and extending the exploitation dependency theory describes.

Transnational corporations (TNCs) are key actors whose role is fiercely debated. Modernisation and neoliberal theorists see TNCs as engines of development, bringing investment, jobs, technology and access to global markets. Dependency and critical theorists see them as agents of exploitation: they may extract profits and resources, pay low wages, exploit weak labour and environmental regulation, and wield power greater than that of the states that host them, so that their investment can entrench dependency rather than relieve it. The evaluation of TNCs thus tracks the wider theoretical debate between modernisation/neoliberal and dependency/world-systems accounts.

International agencies and the flows of aid, trade and debt are analysed similarly. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation shape development through lending, conditions and trade rules; neoliberals see them promoting the free markets and openness that drive growth, while critics argue that their conditions (such as structural adjustment) have often harmed the poor and served the interests of rich nations and global capital. Aid is debated between those who see it as a necessary transfer of resources and those who see it as creating dependency or serving donor interests; trade rules are debated between those who see free trade as the route to growth and those who see the terms of trade as systematically disadvantaging poor producers; and debt is analysed as a mechanism that can lock poor societies into continued dependency.

Evaluating globalisation, agencies, aid and trade means relating each to the competing theories and to the evidence. The optimistic, neoliberal reading (globalisation and open markets spread development) confronts the critical reading (globalisation and its institutions extend exploitation and inequality). Neither is wholly right: globalisation has coincided with rapid growth in some regions and with deepening inequality and vulnerability in others. The strongest answers use the aid, trade and debt debates to test the rival theories, note that outcomes vary by region and policy, and reach a judgement about whether the contemporary global economy tends, on balance, to promote development or to reproduce global inequality - while presenting any figures as broad, illustrative patterns.

Worked example

Analysing the effects of TNCs

Applying material from the Item, analyse two ways in which transnational corporations may affect development.

Select effect one from the Item
Hook to a reference to investment or jobs and develop the positive reading: TNCs bring capital, employment, technology and market access (modernisation/neoliberal).
Develop and link
Explain the mechanism (foreign investment -> jobs and skills -> growth) and note its limits.
Select effect two from the Item
Hook to a reference to profits or wages and develop the critical reading: TNCs may extract profits and resources, pay low wages and entrench dependency (dependency theory).
Develop and link
Explain how profit repatriation and weak regulation can mean investment deepens rather than relieves dependency.

Result: A full-mark 10-marker develops exactly two effects of TNCs - the positive modernisation reading and the critical dependency reading - each hooked to the Item with a clear mechanism, not a list.

Typical mistakes

Presenting globalisation or TNCs as simply good or simply bad rather than as contested through the competing theories.
Describing agencies and aid without linking them to the theoretical debate and the evidence of varied outcomes.

Active revision

Applying material from the Item, analyse two ways in which transnational corporations may affect development. (10 marks)

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7192) specification (AQA)

Aspects of development: industrialisation, gender, health and the environment#

StandardAQA 7192/2 Global DevelopmentDfE GCE Sociology subject content

Interacting aspects of development

Fig. 6The aspects of development interact - for example women's education drives health and demographic change - and must be environmentally sustainable.

Development is analysed not only in the abstract but through its specific aspects, and the specification requires knowledge of development in relation to industrialisation and urbanisation, the environment, employment, education, health, demographic change and gender. Industrialisation and urbanisation have long been seen, especially by modernisation theory, as the engine and the marker of development, drawing populations into cities and manufacturing. But rapid, unplanned urbanisation can also produce slums, informal economies and environmental strain, so the relationship between industrialisation and development is more complex and contested than the modernisation model assumes.

Gender is a crucial and distinctive aspect. Sociologists document that women often bear a disproportionate burden of poverty and unpaid work in developing societies, and that development processes can affect men and women very differently. Boserup's influential work argued that development and mechanisation could actually marginalise women by displacing their traditional economic roles, and the 'women in development' and 'gender and development' approaches insist that development must attend to gender inequality, that women's education and empowerment are powerful drivers of wider development (through health, fertility and children's welfare), and that ignoring gender produces partial and sometimes damaging development.

Health, education and demographic change are further aspects that both measure and drive development. Improvements in health (through nutrition, clean water, sanitation and medicine) and in education are central components of human development and interact with economic change; demographic change - falling mortality and, later, falling fertility - reshapes populations and economies. These aspects illustrate that development is multi-dimensional and that progress in one area (such as women's education) can drive progress in others (such as child health and lower fertility), so that human and economic development are intertwined.

The environment has become a central and critical aspect, raising the question of whether Western-style development is sustainable or even desirable globally. Critics argue that the industrial growth model is environmentally destructive and, if extended to all societies, ecologically impossible, and that development must be redefined as sustainable development that does not exhaust the planet's resources. This connects to people-centred and 'bottom-up' approaches that emphasise local, participatory, sustainable development over top-down, growth-focused strategies. Evaluating the aspects of development means showing how they interact, relating them to the competing theories (modernisation's faith in industrial growth versus critical and sustainable alternatives), and reaching a judgement about what development should mean - while treating any figures as broad, illustrative patterns.

Worked example

Model essay plan: does development affect men and women differently?

Plan a 20-mark answer evaluating the view that development has different consequences for men and women.

Set up the debate
Some see development as gender-neutral progress; feminists and gender-and-development approaches see gendered consequences. Signal a judgement. Hook to the Item.
The gendered-consequences case
Women often bear disproportionate poverty and unpaid work; Boserup argued mechanisation can marginalise women by displacing their economic roles.
Women as drivers of development
Women's education and empowerment drive health, lower fertility and children's welfare - so ignoring gender produces partial, less effective development.
The counter-view
Modernisation theory assumes development benefits all; some argue growth eventually raises women's position - but this neglects the specific gendered effects.
Judgement
Conclude that development has distinct and often unequal consequences for men and women, so gender-blind development is inadequate - development must attend to gender.

Result: A top-band plan develops the gendered consequences of development (Boserup; women's burden and role as drivers), weighs the gender-neutral counter-view, and judges that development is gendered - so it must address gender inequality directly.

Typical mistakes

Treating the aspects of development in isolation rather than showing how they interact (e.g. women's education driving health and fertility change).
Ignoring gender and the environment, which are distinctive and heavily assessed aspects.

Active revision

Applying material from the Item and your knowledge, evaluate the view that development has different consequences for men and women. (20 marks)

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for sociology (Department for Education)

References & sources

Sources

Department for Education

GCE AS and A level subject content for sociology

AQA

AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7192) specification

Global Development (optional topic)

5 sections~19 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 3 · Advanced 2

Global Development (optional topic)

Key points

Evaluating economic definitions of development

Key points

Model essay plan: modernisation theory

Key points

Model essay plan: dependency theory

Key points

Analysing the effects of TNCs

Key points

Model essay plan: does development affect men and women differently?

Sources

Global Development (optional topic)

Key points

Evaluating economic definitions of development

Key points

Model essay plan: modernisation theory

Key points

Model essay plan: dependency theory

Key points

Analysing the effects of TNCs

Key points

Model essay plan: does development affect men and women differently?

Sources