Overdevelopment: Difference between revisions

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{{Use dmy datesabout|date=Septemberthe 2022}}{{this|general concept of economic overdevelopment|the effects of land use overdevelopment|land use|the effects of excessive urban land use|urban sprawl}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}In [[international economics]], '''overdevelopment''' refers to a way of seeing [[global inequality]] and [[pollution]] that focuses on the negative consequences of [[overconsumption|excessive consumption]]. It exists as the mutually constitutive counterpart to the more commonly known concept of '[[underdevelopment]]'.

In mainstream [[development theory]], the existence of 'underdeveloped' states, regions or cultures is seen as a problem that needs to be solved. States, regions, cultures and people are considered 'underdeveloped' in that they do not adhere to ideals of [[rationality]], [[Social progress|progress]], and [[modernity]] that are associated with the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. In contrast, the framework of overdevelopment shifts the focus to the 'developed' countries of the [[North–South divide in the World|global North]], asking "questions about why excessive consumption amongst the affluent is not also seen foremost as an issue of development".<ref name="power">[http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~courses/PoliticalScience/357B1/documents/MarcusPowerAntiRacismDeconstructionOverdevelopment.pdf Power, Marcus, "Anti-racism, deconstruction and 'overdevelopment' ", ''Progress in Development Studies'', 2006; 6; p. 27]</ref>

By questioning how and why uneven development is produced in the world, one can evaluate the global North’sNorth's role and responsibility as “overdevelopers” in producing global inequality. According to various surveys, consumption is seemingly not making people notably happy, but rather increasing the West's [[ecological footprint]].<ref>Barkin, Samuel J. "Trade, Sustainable Development and the Environment", ''Global Environmental Politics'' 3:4, November 2003</ref> Overdevelopment has a huge impact on the environment, the social realm, [[human rights]], and the [[World economy|global economy]]. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

==Origins==

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==Counterproductivity==

[[Ivan Illich]] describes a similar process by which industry develops a technology past the point of usefulness, so much so that industry's efforts effectively sabotage its stated aims. Thus, according to Illich, intensive schooling stupefies, high speed transport immobilizes, and hospitals kill, among others. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/0303critic/030313illich/Frame.Illich.Ch6.htm|title=Ivan Illich. Medical Nemesis. Chapter 6: Specific Counterproductivity|website=www.soilandhealth.org|access-date=2020-01-26}}</ref> Illich believed that past this critical threshold, the product of industry served to deprive people of their native ability to subsist, to learn, move and heal autonomously, leaving them more ignorant, isolated and sick than if industry had not reached beyond the threshold of overdevelopment. Decay in the human condition appears because under industrial overdevelopment, "people are trained for consumption rather than for action, and at the same time their range of action is narrowed." Counterproductivity has been called "probably Illich’sIllich's most original contribution".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://infed.org/mobi/ivan-illich-deschooling-conviviality-and-lifelong-learning/|title=Ivan Illich: deschooling, conviviality and lifelong learning {{!}} infed.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-01-25}}</ref>

==Environmental implications==