IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v15y2003i7p845-861.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Re-approaching social development: a field of action between social life and policy processes

Author

Listed:
  • Alberto Arce

    (Department of Sociology of Rural Development, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)

Abstract

This article reflects on contemporary social development, and suggests that we need to initiate a process of thinking about a post neo-liberal development agenda. As a step in this direction, it is suggested we need to re-approach the social as a conceptual category in order to consider social analysis not simply as an epiphenomenon of economic development, but as a social sphere in its own right. To start thinking about this process, the social is approached through the metaphor of the middle ground, which acts as a device to help conceptualize a field of action between social life and policy processes. Exploration of this field of action is used to consider changes in the policy community by focusing on the implications of 'liberal freedom' and 'negative freedom' for people's actions. This provides a basis to take a critical view of concepts such as social capital and approaches such as sustainable livelihoods, reflect neo-liberal social development discourses. This leads us to argue for the need to consider the potential of contemporary biological science and of social movements for reinvigorating our understanding of social development. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Arce, 2003. "Re-approaching social development: a field of action between social life and policy processes," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(7), pages 845-861.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:15:y:2003:i:7:p:845-861
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.1039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jid.1039
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.1039?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kanbur Ravi, 2001. "Economic Policy, Distribution and Poverty: The Nature of Disagreements," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 122-145, April.
    2. Evans, Peter, 1996. "Government action, social capital and development: Reviewing the evidence on synergy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1119-1132, June.
    3. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    4. Booth, David, 1985. "Marxism and development sociology: Interpreting the impasse," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(7), pages 761-787, July.
    5. Thiele, Graham, 1999. "Informal potato seed systems in the Andes: Why are they important and what should we do with them?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 83-99, January.
    6. Ostrom, Elinor, 1996. "Crossing the great divide: Coproduction, synergy, and development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1073-1087, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. A. Arrighetti & G. Seravalli & G. Wolleb, 2001. "Social Capital, Institutions and Collective Action Between Firms," Economics Department Working Papers 2001-EP08, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    2. Bouquet, Emmanuelle, 2009. "State-Led Land Reform and Local Institutional Change: Land Titles, Land Markets and Tenure Security in Mexican Communities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1390-1399, August.
    3. Daniel Edevbaro, 1997. "Promoting Education within the Context of a Neo-Patrimonial State: The Case of Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1997-123, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Brinkerhoff, Derick W., 2000. "Democratic Governance and Sectoral Policy Reform: Tracing Linkages and Exploring Synergies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 601-615, April.
    5. Ricks, Jacob I., 2016. "Building Participatory Organizations for Common Pool Resource Management: Water User Group Promotion in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 34-47.
    6. Goodwin, Geoff, 2019. "The problem and promise of coproduction: Politics, history, and autonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 501-513.
    7. Falleti, Tulia G. & Cunial, Santiago L. & Sotelo, Selene Bonczok & Crudo, Favio, 2024. "State and NGO coproduction of health care in the Gran Chaco," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    8. Auerbach, Adam Michael, 2017. "Neighborhood Associations and the Urban Poor: India’s Slum Development Committees," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 119-135.
    9. Jütting, Johannes, 1999. "Strengthening Social Security Systems in Rural Areas of Developing Countries," Discussion Papers 279851, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    10. Veron, Rene, 2001. "The "New" Kerala Model: Lessons for Sustainable Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 601-617, April.
    11. Fox, Jonathan, 2020. "Contested terrain: International development projects and countervailing power for the excluded," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    12. Rodrigo Canales, 2011. "Rule bending, sociological citizenship, and organizational contestation in microfinance," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(1), pages 90-117, March.
    13. K.N. Nair, 2008. "Livelihood Risks and Coping Strategies: A Case Study in the Agrarian Village Of Cherumad, Kerala," Working Papers id:1376, eSocialSciences.
    14. Govind Gopakumar, 2009. "Developing Durable Infrastructures: Politics, Social Skill, and Sanitation Partnerships in Urban India1," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 26(5), pages 571-587, September.
    15. K.N. Nair & Antonyto Paul & Vineetha Menon, 2007. "Livelihood risks and coping strategies: A Case study in the agrarian village of Cherumad, Kerala," Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum Working Papers 394, Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum, India.
    16. Shaffer, Paul, 2013. "Ten Years of “Q-Squared”: Implications for Understanding and Explaining Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 269-285.
    17. Veeraraghavan, Rajesh, 2017. "Strategies for Synergy in a High Modernist Project: Two Community Responses to India’s NREGA Rural Work Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 203-213.
    18. Lucia da Corta (QEH), "undated". "The Political Economy of Agrarian Change: Dinosaur or Phoenix?," QEH Working Papers qehwps174, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    19. Christos J. Paraskevopoulos, 2007. "Social Capital and Public Policy in Greece," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 09, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    20. John Harriss & Paolo De Renzio, 1997. "POLICY ARENA: 'Missing link' or analytically missing?: The concept of social capital. Edited by John Harriss. An introductory bibliographic essay," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(7), pages 919-937.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:15:y:2003:i:7:p:845-861. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.