Social dualism

Last updated

In sociology and economics, Social dualism is a theory developed by economist Julius Herman Boeke which characterizes a society in the economic sense by the social spirit, the organisational forms and the technique dominating it. [1] According to Boeke, "These three aspects are interdependent and in this connection typify a society, in this way that a prevailing social spirit and the prevailing forms of organisation and of technique give the society its style, its appearance, so that in their interrelation they may be called the social system, the social style or the social atmosphere of that society [2] ".

Contents

The dual society

According to Boeke, it is not necessary that a society be dominated exclusively by one social system. If one social system does prevail, the society in question is a homogeneous society. When, on the contrary two (or more) social systems appear simultaneously, we have a dual society.

Boeke qualifies the term dual society by using it only for societies "showing a distinct cleavage of two synchronic and full grown social styles which in the normal, historical evolution of homogeneous societies are separated from each other by transitional forms, as for instance, pre-capitalism and high capitalism by early capitalism." [1] [2]

This qualification is necessary because every society going through the process of evolution or endogenic social progression shows besides the prevailing social systems, the remains of the preceding and the beginnings of its future social style. If, on the other hand, one social system is imported from abroad and this system fails to oust or assimilate the prevailing social system, a dual society obviously exists.

On this account Boeke defines a dual society as a society where "one of the two prevailing social systems, as a matter of fact always the most advanced, will have been imported from abroad and have gained its existence in the new environment without being able to oust or assimilate the divergent social system that has grown up there, with the result that neither of them becomes general and characteristic for that society as a whole."

Characteristics of a dualistic economy

Overriding importance of social needs

The first characteristic of dualistic economies pointed out by Boeke is the relatively greater importance of social needs as compared to western economies. [3] Boeke states, "Possessions in the share of cattle, land, clothes, and houses, the fulfilment of social duties in all the circumstances of like, must be all regarded as largely the satisfaction of social needs. It is not their economic usefulness, not the individual services they render their possessor which determine the value of the goods. It is a matter of secondary importance whether the land produces reasonable profit in proportion to the money paid for it whether the cattle can be made reasonably useful to their owner in his own business, whether the clothing covers, protects, warms the wearer or affects him pleasantly in any way. For it is not the use of these objects to the subject himself that gives them their worth in his eyes; it is what the community thinks of them that sets the standard."

Criticism

The social dualism theory has been criticized by Benjamin Higgins on the following grounds:

  1. The Wants Are Not Limited: If we analyse “Indonesia’s life” we do not find that the desires of the people are limited because here the values of MPC and MPM are higher. This is the reason that the government has to impose import restrictions. Moreover, whenever the harvest is good, farmers become prosperous and the demand for luxurious goods rises.
  2. Casual Labor Are Not Unorganized: Boeke presented the version that casual workers are unorganized and passive. This may be true as far as the agricultural sector is concerned, but they are not unorganized in coffee, tea, rubber and plantation etc.
  3. Eastern Labor Is Not Immobile: Boeke thought that eastern labor is immobile. It is not so because of attraction of modern facilities of life in the urban areas. Moreover, the high income incentives force the labor to move from rural areas to urban areas.
  4. Dualistic Theory Is Not Particular To Under Developed Countries Only: The eastern society, according to Boeke, only exists in under-developed countries. It is not true. It does exist in Canada, Italy and even in the United States.
  5. Applicability To Western Society: According to Professor Higgins most of the characteristics of eastern society given by Boeke are present even in western societies. For example, during hyperinflation, speculation is preferred to investment. This means people in the western countries also have a strong desire to keep their capital safe and in liquid form. The western society also believes in conspicuous consumption as discussed by veblin and snob effects[ citation needed ]. The backward bending supply curve of efforts has been experienced by Australia during post war period and by US in the fifties.
  6. Not A Theory But A Description: It is objected that the Boeke’s dualistic theory is merely a description rather than a theory. His findings are based upon neoclassical theory which has limited applicability in the western world.
  7. Does Not Provide Solution To The Problem Of Unemployment : Boeke’s dualism centers more on sociocultural aspects rather on economic. He only says that government is not in a position to remove unemployment. Moreover, he does not mention the situation of under-employment. Therefore, his theory is full of shortcomings.

Higgins argues that the main issue in dualistic economies is to provide employment opportunities and Boeke's theory fails to do it and has developed the theory of Technological dualism as a response.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Dual economy theory". EconomyProfessor.com.
  2. 1 2 Economics of Development and Planning. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House. 2010. p. 253. ISBN   978-81-8488-829-4.
  3. Todaro; Smith. Economic Development .

Related Research Articles

Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, a price system, private property and the recognition of property rights, voluntary exchange and wage labor. In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investments are determined by every owner of wealth, property or production ability in capital and financial markets whereas prices and the distribution of goods and services are mainly determined by competition in goods and services markets.

In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority, and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities. Proponents of the concept of free market contrast it with a regulated market in which a government intervenes in supply and demand through various methods such as tariffs used to restrict trade and to protect the local economy. In an idealized free-market economy, prices for goods and services are set freely by the forces of supply and demand and are allowed to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy.

A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a market economy is the existence of factor markets that play a dominant role in the allocation of capital and the factors of production.

This aims to be a complete article list of economics topics:

Private property Legal designation of the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities

Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or cooperative property, which is owned by a group of non-governmental entities. Certain political philosophies such as anarchism and socialism make a distinction between private and personal property while others blend the two together. Private property is a legal concept defined and enforced by a country's political system.

Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural change but also on improving the potential for the mass of the population, for example, through health, education and workplace conditions, whether through public or private channels.

Economic system System of ownership, production and exchange

An economic system, or economic order, is a system of production, resource allocation and distribution of goods and services within a society or a given geographic area. It includes the combination of the various institutions, agencies, entities, decision-making processes and patterns of consumption that comprise the economic structure of a given community.

World-systems theory

World-systems theory is a multidisciplinary, macro-scale approach to world history and social change which emphasizes the world-system as the primary unit of social analysis.

A dual economy is the existence of two separate economic sectors within one country, divided by different levels of development, technology, and different patterns of demand. The concept was originally created by Julius Herman Boeke to describe the coexistence of modern and traditional economic sectors in a colonial economy.

An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services by different agents. In general, it is defined 'as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of resources'. A given economy is the result of a set of processes that involves its culture, values, education, technological evolution, history, social organization, political structure and legal systems, as well as its geography, natural resource endowment, and ecology, as main factors. These factors give context, content, and set the conditions and parameters in which an economy functions. In other words, the economic domain is a social domain of interrelated human practices and transactions that does not stand alone.

In the history of economic thought, a school of economic thought is a group of economic thinkers who share or shared a common perspective on the way economies work. While economists do not always fit into particular schools, particularly in modern times, classifying economists into schools of thought is common. Economic thought may be roughly divided into three phases: premodern, early modern and modern. Systematic economic theory has been developed mainly since the beginning of what is termed the modern era.

An economic ideology distinguishes itself from economic theory in being normative rather than just explanatory in its approach. Economic ideologies express perspectives on the way an economy should run and to what end, whereas the aim of economic theories is to create accurate explanatory models to describe how an economy currently functions. However, the two are closely interrelated, as underlying economic ideology influences the methodology and theory employed in analysis. The diverse ideology and methodology of the 74 Nobel laureates in economics speaks to such interrelation.

Outline of economics Overview of and topical guide to economics

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to economics:

Spheres of exchange is a heuristic tool for analyzing trading restrictions within societies that are communally governed and where resources are communally available. Goods and services of specific types are relegated to distinct value categories, and moral sanctions are invoked to prevent exchange between spheres. It is a classic topic in economic anthropology.

Throughout modern history, a variety of perspectives on capitalism have evolved based on different schools of thought.

Technological dualism was proposed by Benjamin Higgins. He was the Ritchie Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne in the late 1940s. His theory explains the causes of unemployment in the underdeveloped economies. Developing countries of today are often characterized by dualistic economies. One is the modern sector while the other is the traditional (informal) sector. Their relation has been explained by Higgins in his theory explained below.

Marxian economics

Marxian economics, or the Marxian school of economics, is a heterodox school of political economic thought. Its foundations can be traced back to the critique of classical political economy in the research by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxian economics comprises several different theories and includes multiple schools of thought, which are sometimes opposed to each other, and in many cases Marxian analysis is used to complement or supplement other economic approaches. Because one does not necessarily have to be politically Marxist to be economically Marxian, the two adjectives coexist in usage rather than being synonymous. They share a semantic field while also allowing connotative and denotative differences.

Socialist economics comprises the economic theories, practices and norms of hypothetical and existing socialist economic systems. A socialist economic system is characterized by social ownership and operation of the means of production that may take the form of autonomous cooperatives or direct public ownership wherein production is carried out directly for use rather than for profit. Socialist systems that utilize markets for allocating capital goods and factors of production among economic units are designated market socialism. When planning is utilized, the economic system is designated as a socialist planned economy. Non-market forms of socialism usually include a system of accounting based on calculation-in-kind to value resources and goods.

The World Socialist Movement (WSM) is an international organisation of socialist parties created in 1904 with the founding of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB).

Julius Herman Boeke Dutch economist and lawyer

Julius Herman Boeke was a Dutch economist and lawyer. He was a professor of Dutch Constitutional Law at Leiden University, where he lectured and published works on the subject of the economy of the Dutch East Indies.

References