In a changing world, the necessity for anthropologists to have their say in the reshaping of Third World Communities has become more and more important. Contrived between the desire to not intervene and necessity to do so, many anthropologists have, in recent times decided to give their contribute to the field of Development .
Aware of the problems regarding the planning and implementation of such projects, and their effects on local populations, they have developed their own area of specialisation (Development Anthropology), being at the same time often critical of pure Economic Approaches in the field.
The word Development has different meanings and applications in different fields. Since the word Development has been used in Western Culture in conjunction with so-called Social Evolutionism. Social Evolutionism, theorised Human History as an unilinear evolution from Savage to Civilised, where Civilisation was represented by the Western Civilisation (Ferguson, Development in Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Barnard & Spencer.
Another meaning of Development came into place in the last 50 years, this time referring ¡°to a more specifically economic process , generally understood to involve the expansion of production and consumption and/or rising standards of living especially in the poor countries of the ¡®Third World¡¯¡±. The History of Development is linked to European Colonialism and the end of it. As many colonies became independent in the 20th century, especially after the II World War, when the United Nations Organisation began to give an impetus to the ending of colonial rule and to assist the poorer countries of the worldIn this post war period the world was eventually divided in three groups: The First World, being the western de ...