Knowledge and beliefs about national development and developmental hierarchies: The viewpoints of ordinary people in thirteen countries

Arland Thornton, Georgina Binstock, Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi, Dirgha Ghimire, Arjan Gjonca, Attila Melegh, Colter Mitchell, Mansoor Moaddel, Yu Xie, Li shou Yang, Linda Young-DeMarco, Kathryn M. Yount

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Scholars and policy makers have for centuries constructed and used developmental hierarchies to characterize different countries. The hypotheses motivating this paper are that such social constructions have been circulated internationally, are constructed similarly in various countries, and follow the social constructions of elite international organizations, such as the United Nations. This paper uses data from 15 surveys in 13 diverse countries to study how developmental hierarchies are understood in everyday life. Our research shows that most people have constructions of developmental hierarchies that are similar across countries and are similar to the developmental hierarchies constructed by the United Nations. These findings suggest that developmental hierarchies are widely understood around the world and are widely available to ordinary people as they make decisions about many aspects of life.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1053-1068
Number of pages16
JournalSocial Science Research
Volume41
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Education
  • Sociology and Political Science

Keywords

  • Comparative studies
  • Cultural diffusion
  • Development
  • Developmental hierarchies
  • Developmental worldviews
  • Inequality
  • International stratification

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