Overdevelopment
In
In mainstream
Origins
Counterproductivity
Ivan Illich describes a similar process by which industry develops a technology past the point of usefulness, so much so that industry's efforts effectively sabotage its stated aims. Thus, according to Illich, intensive schooling stupefies, high speed transport immobilizes, and hospitals kill, among others.[4] Illich believed that past this critical threshold, the product of industry served to deprive people of their native ability to subsist, to learn, move and heal autonomously, leaving them more ignorant, isolated and sick than if industry had not reached beyond the threshold of overdevelopment. Decay in the human condition appears because under industrial overdevelopment, "people are trained for consumption rather than for action, and at the same time their range of action is narrowed." Counterproductivity has been called "probably Illich's most original contribution".[5]
Environmental implications
Excessive consumption causes negative environmental impacts in both 'overdeveloped' and 'underdeveloped' regions. "Findings indicate that there are significant differences across countries of the world in the consumption quality of life of its citizens. Using the Human Development Index, which is composed of longevity, knowledge, and standard of living, data reveal that lives worsen from west to east, with the worst conditions in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, environmental damage estimates, as determined by the EDI composite developed specifically for this investigation, demonstrate that wealthier nations create environmental degradation that is consistent with their higher consumption patterns rather than their absolute numbers."[6]
Post colonial
The legacy of colonialism can be said to play a role in why overdevelopment has been largely unconsidered due to the "almost exclusive focus on 'underdevelopment' and the underdeveloped world that has characterized development studies and associated disciplines for so long needs".[1]
Mainstream development work aims at fighting poverty, sickness and crisis in 'underdeveloped' regions. This sentiment of "metropolitan responsibility for distant human suffering" is reminiscent of imperialist and colonial movements from Europe and North America as they "became entwined within global networks of exchange and exploitation in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."[1] This colonial mindset frames the fixation with the Global North coming to the aid of 'distant others'. This view could be countered with an equal attentiveness to the problems of 'overdevelopment' and the overdeveloped world.[1]
Marxist
Marxist work argues that an impact of global
Responses
Responses to overdevelopment include the
Indigenous movements such as the
References
- ^ a b c d Power, Marcus, "Anti-racism, deconstruction and 'overdevelopment' ", Progress in Development Studies, 2006; 6; p. 27
- ^ Barkin, Samuel J. "Trade, Sustainable Development and the Environment", Global Environmental Politics 3:4, November 2003
- ^ Kohr, Leopold (1977). The Overdeveloped Nations: The Diseconomies Of Scale. Swansea: Christopher Davies Publishers.
- ^ "Ivan Illich. Medical Nemesis. Chapter 6: Specific Counterproductivity". www.soilandhealth.org. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- ^ "Ivan Illich: deschooling, conviviality and lifelong learning | infed.org". Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ^ Hill, Ronald Paul, Peterson, Robert M., Dhanda, Kanwalroop Kathy, "Global Consumption and Distributive Justice: A Rawlsian Perspective", Human Rights Quarterly 23 (2001) 171–187, 2001.
- ^ ISBN 1-84467-550-5
External links
- International Development: Is There Any Role Model? by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
- Make Affluence History