because life is too short for not to develop
Culture
Rural Development and Cultural Consideration
Dec 21st
Review Essay
Rural Development and Cultural Consideration in the Perspective of Szirmai, Appadurai, and World Bank
Didin Kristinawati
Introduction
Rural development is a broader concept than agricultural development. Rural development covers transformation not merely economic changes, but also changes in social context. The economic activities of rural development vary from agricultural to industrial sector. However, since agriculture is the defining characteristic of rural areas – where majority of the world’s poor lives in -, improvement in living condition in rural areas requires significant efforts to increase agricultural production.
Production and productivity may be raised through expansion of production factors i.e. labor, land, equipment, through intensification of land use, or contributing new input and technologies of production. Implementation of new technology or new program needs to consider local cultural setting into account. Otherwise, it will result resistance among poor rural society, the program failed, and sustainability development is not achieved.
The further question is how to comprehend the cultural setting which development projects have to function, and how to manage culture to come in useful for development. There are several researchers and intellectuals analyze the dynamics of development and the role of culture within society. This review essay compares development approach – specifically rural development- between Szirmai, Appadurai, and the World Bank. First, author will give summarize of their works and then compares how they take culture into account in rural development.