Economic growth and the ideology of development

This chapter discusses how economic growth is central to most thinking about development. It argues that growth is visualised across much of development studies – ranging from Liberalism, to Statism, to varieties of Marxism – in ways that obscure the social (class) relations from whence it springs. These social relations are simultaneously generative of rapid economic growth, and impoverishment and inequality. Mainstream development theories, however, portray poverty as a consequence of a lack of growth, therefore justifying ever more growth, in a vicious cycle. These political economic and ideological dynamics are best explained by Marx’s theory of capitalist accumulation and exploitation. The chapter concludes by discussing alternatives to growth-based development.