The Industrial Revolution and Economic Sectors

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain during the 18th century, transforming how the world works through major technological advancements. This revolution sparked widespread industrialization and created the economic sectors we recognize today.

These economic sectors form a hierarchy of economic activities. The primary sector involves extracting raw materials from the earth (mining, fishing, agriculture) and typically makes the least money. The secondary sector processes these materials into finished products through manufacturing. The tertiary sector provides services like marketing, shipping, and restaurants.

Two specialized service sectors sit at the top of the hierarchy. The quaternary sector is knowledge-based, including education and software development. The quinary sector involves high-level decision-makers like government officials and CEOs who make the most money and whose decisions affect billions.

Quick Fact: As countries develop, their economies typically shift from primary sector dominance to greater activity in secondary and tertiary sectors. More Developed Countries (MDCs) have less primary sector activity, while Less Developed Countries (LDCs) rely heavily on primary economic activities.

Measuring Economic Development

Development refers to a "specified state of growth or advancement" and varies across global, regional, and local scales. Several economic indicators help us measure this development.

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) measures the total value of goods and services produced within a country's borders in a year. GNP (Gross National Product) adds foreign investments to this calculation. GNI (Gross National Income) is considered the most accurate measure of wealth because it accounts for trade impact $GDP + exports - imports$.

The structure of a country's economy also indicates development level. MDCs typically have more people working in tertiary sectors, which explains their higher average income. The formal economy includes regulated, taxed activities counted in GDP, while the informal economy includes unregulated or illegal activities. Larger formal economies generally indicate more development.

Income distribution matters too. The Gini Coefficient measures income inequality - higher values mean greater inequality. MDCs typically have lower Gini values than LDCs.

Remember This: Energy consumption patterns also reflect development. MDCs have the highest per capita energy use, with increasing demand for fossil fuels in developed countries, while renewable energy sources like nuclear and hydroelectric are also growing in these nations.

Social Development Indicators

Social indicators provide a more complete picture of a country's development beyond just economic measures. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) calculates the average number of children per woman, often lower in developed nations where women may delay having children for financial or career reasons.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) counts deaths of infants under one year per 1,000 live births, revealing healthcare quality. Similarly, access to healthcare and life expectancy (the average years a person is expected to live) provide insights into a population's wellbeing.

The literacy rate measures the percentage of people who can read and write - a crucial skill for employment, navigating daily life, and understanding contracts. Developed countries typically have higher literacy rates.

The Human Development Index (HDI) combines multiple indicators into a score between 0 and 1. It's considered more accurate than single indicators because it incorporates:

• Life expectancy at birth
• Mean years of schooling
• Expected years of schooling
• GNI per capita

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) $also scored 0-1$ measures inequality between genders by combining:

• Maternal Mortality Ratio
• Adolescent Fertility Rate
• Parliamentary Representation
• Educational Attainment
• Labor Force Participation

Important Insight: The HDI and GII give more comprehensive pictures of development than single measures because they combine multiple social, economic, and political indicators. Generally, MDCs have higher HDI scores and lower GII scores than LDCs.

Women and Economic Development

Throughout history, gender roles have evolved alongside economic development. In hunter-gatherer societies, gender rules were less strict. After the agricultural revolution, patriarchal societies emerged with families valuing sons over daughters, often investing more in boys' education and creating gender disparities.

Economic growth increases opportunities for everyone, but cultural values and gender bias may limit women's participation in the workforce and education. When women do enter the workforce, it typically leads to delayed marriage, fewer children, and greater female empowerment and political participation.

The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) tracks inequalities between opportunities available to men and women in three key areas:

• Political participation and decision-making
• Economic participation and decision-making
• Power over economic resources

Gender wage disparity remains a significant issue worldwide. In the United States, women earn about $0.82 for every dollar earned by men, with even greater disparities when broken down by ethnicity.

Did You Know? Microloans have become a powerful tool for development, especially for women in LDCs. These small loans with low interest rates help individuals who don't qualify for traditional bank loans start businesses, support their households, and provide educational opportunities for themselves and their children.

Theories of Development: Rostow's Model

Different theories explain why some places are more developed than others. Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth is a modernization model that breaks development into five stages.

In the Traditional stage, societies are rural with mostly primary sector jobs, limited technology, and little opportunity for advancement. During the Pre-conditions to Take-Off stage, urbanization begins, labor shifts toward manufacturing, and transportation systems develop.

The Take-Off stage features continuing urbanization, technological advancement, and businesses starting to generate profit. Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) often fit here. In the Drive to Maturity stage, countries have high population consumption, improved transportation and communication, and invest in social infrastructure like schools and hospitals.

The final stage, High Mass Consumption, features wealthy populations spending on non-essential goods, a highly skilled workforce in the tertiary sector, and excellent transportation and communication networks. Most MDCs fit here.

Critical Thinking: Rostow's model assumes all countries value capitalism and democracy, but different cultures may value community over wealth. It also doesn't account for uneven development within countries - for example, India as a whole might be in stage 3-4, but some regions remain in stage 2.

Critiques of Development Models

Rostow's model faces several important criticisms. It assumes linear progress through defined stages, but wars, corruption, or natural disasters can disrupt this path. The model also ignores globalization by focusing on single countries rather than their interconnections in the global economy.

The model wrongly assumes countries have equal potential to develop, ignoring differences in climate, natural resources, and location that can help or hinder development. It also overlooks sustainability issues, since its highest level emphasizes mass consumption without considering environmental impacts or resource depletion.

Perhaps most importantly, Rostow didn't account for the legacy of colonialism. Most countries that reached high mass consumption exploited LDCs' resources through colonization - an option not available to developing nations today.

Wallerstein's World Systems Theory offers an alternative explanation through the core-periphery model. This theory explains uneven economic development through global interdependence, emphasizing how the legacy of colonialism gave advantages to core countries. Wallerstein asks: "How can a country develop when its resources are controlled by a handful of prosperous industrialized countries?"

Big Picture: Wallerstein's theory describes a single interconnected global economy where core countries (like the US and Germany) dominate economically and politically, while periphery countries (like Afghanistan and Kenya) export raw materials to the core but remain less developed with unstable governments and weak worker protections.

Global Development Patterns

Wallerstein's World Systems Theory divides countries into three main categories. Core countries like the United States and Germany are economically and politically dominant with strong military power, excellent infrastructure, and control of global markets.

Semi-periphery countries include middle-income nations in the process of industrialization with aspects of both core and periphery. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and Mexico are examples. They're active in manufacturing and exporting goods and raw materials.

Periphery countries like Afghanistan, Peru, and Kenya often have unstable governments, less wealth, and lower education levels. They export natural resources to more developed nations and typically have unreliable infrastructure, labor-intensive jobs with low wages, and weak worker protection laws.

Dependency theory highlights how this system creates mutual dependence - periphery countries depend on the core for development, while core countries need the periphery's raw materials and primary sector activities.

The Brandt line $or North-South divide$ is another spatial analysis of development, noting that MDCs are generally in the northern hemisphere while LDCs are in the southern hemisphere. However, this model has fallen out of favor as many Newly Industrialized Countries in the southern hemisphere have developed rapidly.

Think About This: While these models help us understand global development patterns, no single theory perfectly explains why some regions develop faster than others. The reality involves complex interactions between history, geography, politics, and economics.