The Economic Sociology of Development

Bringing the study of international inequality back into the core of sociological theory, this book offers a user-friendly introduction to development and underdevelopment. In doing so, it places various approaches to the definition, measurement, and understanding of “development” against the backdrop of broader sociological debates. Schrank draws concrete examples from different regions and epochs to explore sociological thinking about development and underdevelopment informed by the latest currents in economic sociology. Across a series of chapters, he identifies relationships between mainstream and Marxist approaches to the study of international inequality; uses classical and contemporary social theory to develop a parsimonious typology of national development outcomes; addresses cross-border learning and diffusion in light of the latest developments in organization theory; considers the roles of religious, racial, and gender identities in the development process in different places and times; and portrays contemporary global challenges ‒ such as populism, pandemics, and climate change ‒ as distinctly sociological problems in need of multifaceted solutions. Enriched with expository figures, tables, and diagrams, this accessible book simultaneously distills and develops the sociological approach to the study of development and underdevelopment for both undergraduate and graduate students across the social sciences.

Acknowledgments Preface: The Scope of this Book Notes 1 Introduction The classical sociology of development Beyond single-bullet theories of development and underdevelopment Interdisciplinary development studies in the mid-twentieth century The birth of the Washington Consensus and the rise of “DIY sociology” Notes 2 What Do We Mean by “Development?” The traditional approach to development: the production of commodities Beyond the traditional approach: development as freedom Reactivity in Rwanda: the social construction of development indicators Are GDP per capita and the HDI redundant? From cross-national inequality to interpersonal inequality in global context What is middle about the “global” middle class? The nature of international inequality A classification of development concepts Conclusion Notes 3 Is International Inequality Gradational or Relational? Modernization theory The neo-Marxist alternative Toward a resolution? Conclusion Notes 4 Explaining National Mobility in the Cold War Era From agrarian to industrial society Industrialization via central planning Industrialization through infant industry protection The East Asian debate in the late twentieth century From the World Bank to Weber and beyond The developmental state in Northeast Asia Populist societies in the developing world The high human developers: exceptions that prove the rule? A typology of late developing societies Conclusion Notes 5 The Diffusion and Demise of Free-Market Reform in the Post-Cold War Era The Washington Consensus revisited Economic rationality and beyond Drivers of isomorphism The limits to neoliberalism The origin of institutions Toward a contrarian alternative Conclusion Notes 6 What If Sociologists Were in Charge? From grand theory to the middle range Beyond the middle range Moving toward the future Notes References Index