Sociology (Mid Term)

[Name of the Institute]

Sociology (Mid Term)

Question # 01

Regarding contemporary perspectives of development and Maria Fernanda Trujillo-Mendoza's findings, discuss the relationship between modern values and the Human Development Index (HDI). Also discuss your understanding of the following as supported by the text: values + open trade => increased HDI => increased development

According to Handelman, (2011), HDI is widely regarded as the best single measure of living standard of a nation in comparison to any other economic or social indicator. Human development can be regarded as the potential for learning, growth and productivity. Literacy and education are essential elements for potential human development. The Human Development Index is used for the measurement of social development of a country. HDI is a composite measurement of some of the significant constituents essential for social development. School enrollment, literacy, life expectancy, infant mortality and income are measured by it. The HDI summarizes on a per-country basis information on the average person's life expectancy, educational attainment, and per capita income, assuming that longevity, education, and income increase ordinary people's capabilities to live an emancipated life. Social conditions in the Third World are adversely affected by poverty and poor public policy, thus narrowing human development opportunities. Low levels of literacy rates and education are among the greatest challenges of Third World. HDI can be treated as societal factor for investigation of the moderating impact of societal variation on the value orientation on life satisfaction. Highly developed, modern countries tend to have high HDI. Poor societies- most obviously in Sub-Saharan Africa, whose citizens undergo a suffering from scarce resources, tend to be overshadowed by conformity values that reflect restrictions on human autonomy. Authoritarian regimes usually govern these societies.

Schwartz (1992) defined values as “transituational goals, varying in importance, and serving as guiding principles in life” (p. 21). There is substantial evidence demonstrating a considerable relationship of well-being and socioeconomic development (Salmela-Aro & Schoon 2005); economic development and modernization are associated with higher levels of quality of life and life satisfaction in a given society. Rational “modern” values, like interpersonal trust, accelerate socioeconomic development. Veenhoven (2005) found, in his cross-sectional analysis of 90 nations, that people live longer and happier in today's most modern societies. Changes in value endorsements may be led by socio-economic development. Inglehart and Baker (2000) stated that attention of people's would be affected by societal development and that personal values are emphasized by modern people, such as self-expression. Therefore, it is found that countries having higher GNP per capita tend to be more secular.

Values + open trade imply that there would be considerable economic development within the country, which generally enhances social indicator, i.e. increased HDI and thus an increased development. The extent to which social development is produced by economic growth is significantly affected by government policies. Even the two countries having similar wealth and economic growth levels may have a very dissimilar health care and education statistics as government of one country is more effective than the other in avoidance of corruption, ...