Science and Science Education in Developing Countries

Abstract

As a sociologist mixed up with economics and education, I have been struck by the fact that the explanations of economic growth have in the main been one-legged. The explanations so far given were either economic, or social, or technical etc. A really general approach is very rare, although of course in theory and in practice, a balanced study in which the interactions among the different aspects of growth has been worked out, may turn out to be useful. It can be observed for instance that rapid economic development very often goes together with a social change. The latter is not only the consequence of the former but it is also the other way round: a social change may cause or speed up economic development and a lack of social change may hold a country back in its economic progress — the United Kingdom may perhaps serve as an example.