Development and Social Change : A Global Perspective

"Development and Social Change is a richly described and well written survey of change in the post-1950 period...The first edition was a practical and accessible contribution to the literature on social change. The fourth edition continues in this vein."
-TEACHING SOCIOLOGY

Explores development through historical narrative and examines the globalization/development paradox through in-depth case studies

Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, Fourth Edition, describes the dramatic acceleration of the global and political economy across three historical periods: colonialism, the development era, and the current era of globalization. Author Philip McMichael helps students make sense of a complex world in transition and explains how globalization became part of public discourse. Filled with case studies, this text makes the intricacies of globalization concrete, meaningful, and clear for students and moves them away from simple social evolutionary views, encouraging them to ponder social change, development, and global inequalities. The book challenges students to see themselves as global citizens whose consumption decisions have real implications.

New to the Fourth Edition

• Links contemporary world issues such as slum proliferation, rebellion in Latin America, AIDS, the rise of China, and climate change to the long-term course of development as a global project
• Weaves a stronger ecological theme into the story and emphasizes gendered features of modernization, as well as the complexity of its progressive claims, urging students to think critically about the costs and benefits of development
• Reviews current trends and asks new questions about the future of international development

Instructors Resources on CD are available to qualified instructors. Contact info@sagepub.com or 1-800-818-7243 (6 am - 5 pm, PT) to request a copy.

Intended Audience
This text is an ideal core or supplementary text for a variety of undergraduate or beginning graduate courses such as Globalization, Social Development, and Social Change in departments of sociology, political science, and global studies.  

Philip McMichael grew up in Adelaide, South Australia, and is an International Professor of Development Sociology at Cornell University. His book Settlers and The Agrarian Question: Foundations of Capitalism in Colonial Australia (Cambridge University Press, ©1984) won the 1995 Social Science History Association's Allan Sharlin Memorial Award. He has also edited The Global Restructuring of Agro-Food Systems (Cornell University Press, ©1994), Food and Agrarian Orders in the World Economy (Praeger, ©1995), New Directions in the Sociology of Global Development (Emerald, ©2005), and Contesting Development: Critical Struggles for Social Change (Routledge, ©2010). He has served as Director of Cornell University's International Political Economy Program, as Chair of the American Sociological Association's Political Economy of the World-System Section, and President of the Research Committee on the Sociology of Agriculture and Food for the International Sociological Association. And he has recently worked with the FAO, IATP and UNRISD, the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, and the international peasant coalition, La Vía Campesina.