Previous studies of development and underdevelopment of the Caribbean have viewed the region's backward state as a consequence of "antiquated institutional structures" or an "insufficiency of resources and skills necessary for economic development." / In contract to these analyses, this study attempts to obtain a better understanding of the production-reproduction of "underdevelopment"--the "development of underdevelopment"--through a detailed investigation of the historical conditions, and the totality of productions relations within one small Caribbean society the microstate of Grenada. The theoretical foundation of the study consists of the works of Marx, as elaborated upon by Andre Gunder Frank and Samir Amin. Frank and Amin are emphasized because their work represents the most comprehensive treatment of peripheral development and underdevelopment. A major assumption underlying their work is that development and underdevelopment is part of the same dynamic process as world capitalist accumulation, where the metropolis developed by exploiting the periphery which in turn became underdeveloped. A shortcoming of Frank and Amin's analysis is their economic deterministic approach to underdevelopment. By their emphasis on the economic they have failed to come to terms with the political, social-cultural, and ideological forces that contribute to underdevelopment. / Consistent with Frank and Amin this study shows that Grenada became underdeveloped as Britain extracted and expatriated the island's resources for the benefit of the metropolis. In contrast to Frank and Amin, however, the results also show that societal forces are complexly and dynamically intertwined, in short overdetermined, and that primacy cannot be attributed to economic factors as major determinants of underdevelopment. The complementarity of these forces are therefore crucial and must be adequately assessed if we are to have a better understanding of underdevelopment--not under-emphasized as Frank and Amin have done. / The findings of this work suggest that a more complete account of development/underdevelopment process emerges by taking the totality of social relations into consideration. Using this approach allows us to uncover some of the dynamic connecting links and basic characteristics of peripheral societal formations, and transformations within them--findings that will provide a more comprehensive understanding of problems of underdevelopment and possibilities for change. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-10, Section: A, page: 3169. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75672 |
| Contributors | PERSAUD, NARAINE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 317 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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