Describe the impact of development on social welfare.
Discussion Response
In the last module we learned that global poverty has been drastically reduced in the past few decades. This is largely due to global development. In this module, we consider questions such as: What exactly is development? Is development a good thing for everyone? Or are there winners and losers in global development? The relationship between development and social welfare is complicated. In this module we will look at how development affects social welfare.
3.1: Explain the history and theory of development.
3.2: Describe the impact of development on social welfare.
3.3: Analyze the social indicators of development.
3.4: Impact of development on social welfare?
This module has for you: 1 audio lecture to enjoy, 2 book chapters to read, 4 websites to explore and 1 video to watch
First, enjoy this PowerPoint audio: Next, read a book chapter also written by my mentor, Jim. It is pretty long. I want you to concentrate your reading on pages 19-34 (read those 15 pages closely, you can skim the rest). Those pages are in the second half of the chapter, and it is where the reading discusses 5 different types of development. The rest of the chapter is a review of the material on poverty from last week.
Hall, A. & Midgley, J. (2004). Poverty, inequality, and development: The challenge for social policy
. In Social policy for development (p.44-86). London: Sage Publications.
Then, read this highly entertaining chapter by a renegade economist, Bill Easterly. It is short and it goes fast because it is not written in an academic style!
Easterly, W. (2006). Homegrown development
. In The white man’s burden: Why the West’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good (pp. 341-366). London: The Penguin Press.
Next, explore these two websites which contain a lot of data on global development.
The first one contains global data on almost anything you can think of: Our World in Data (Links to an external site.)
The second one is a link to an annual report put out by the UN that measures each country’s Human Development Index, and then ranks the world from highest to lowest. You don’t have to read the whole report – just browse around to get a feel for it. The homepage has very brief descriptions and graphics of each chapter: Human Development Report (Links to an external site.)
Then, look up your country on these websites so you can begin building your Profile of Social Welfare. Look up your selected country’s social indicators (for the presentation) here:
Country Human Development Indicators (Links to an external site.) http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries
World Bank data on countries (Links to an external site.)
https://data.worldbank.org/country
Finally, watch this highly entertaining TED Talk by Hans Rosling (19 minutes) who uses innovative graphics to explain what is happening in the world in terms of development and social welfare:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpKbO6O3O3M
Reflect on this module’s readings and lecture videos.
Respond to the following discussion prompts in a post of at least 650 words:
Which model of development from the readings (especially Midgley & Hall, 2004) do you think is best? Name one and explain why? Identify and briefly describe one of the 5 models and explain why you chose it.
Is it ever possible for a “Westerner” to solve a social problem in the Global South? Why or why not? What do you think about the concept of “White Man’s Burden”?
What is one thing that you learned (something surprising, or something that you will remember) from the TEDTalk by Hans Rosling (“New Insights on Poverty”)? What is your main takeaway from this video?
This discussion requires two posts, an initial post and two response post. Later in the day will need to respond to two other posting. 100 words each so a total of 200 in responses to two other students. Total of 650- 750 words in discussion post, reference not included in the word counting. I will upload the required pdfs
Module 3: Self-Reflective Journal – social indicators related to development
The purpose of this assignment is to take the next step in building your Profile of Social Welfare in another country. After you have chosen a country and written (you did this in the last module) and you have explored the websites above, you are ready to begin researching your country’s social welfare conditions! This work will become the basis for your Profile.
Through this assessment, you will describe the impact of development on social welfare (objective 3.2) and analyze the social indicators of development (objective 3.4).
Write a self-reflection that addresses the following prompts:
Report (your country’s social indicators related to poverty and inequality. Begin with the websites listed in above (Country Human Development Indicators (Links to an external site.) http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries and World Bank data on countries (Links to an external site.)) https://data.worldbank.org/country/greece?view=chart and then continue searching on your own. (You may want to make yourself a table to keep track of the social statistics that you find, which you can use in your Profile).
Instructions
Include (at least) the:
o GDP overall
o GDP per capita
o Poverty rate
o Unemployment rate
o GINI coefficient for the inequality rate
o Any other social indicator that you think is interesting and relevant…
450-500 words total for the journal
Grading rubric for self-review
Amount of information
-All assignment prompts are addressed with additional relevant information added.
Quality of Information
-All of the evidence and examples are specific, relevant and explanations are given that show how each piece of evidence supports the author’s position
Mechanics
-Author makes no errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content.
Subject: Masters Social Science
%
Answer preview………………..
apa 216 words