Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Problem-focused research 599
In order to illustrate the need for a multidisciplinary approach in the study
of such development problems, let us take some examples of less ample scope.
In a study on the non-technological aspects of technical development, Henri
Janne is led from the outset to give the following definition of technology: ‘In
sociological terms technology is the complex of systematic and transmissible
processes which, in a given society, and depending on the material and institutional
conditions of their employment, act in such away that the natural environment
responds to the objective needs as well as, within the framework thereof
and their prolongation, to the cultural needs of mankir1d’.3~ In other words,
when technological development is taken as the subject of problem-focused
research, account must be taken of a large number of non-technical factors -
economic, demographic, political, cultural, administrative, social - to which
the introduction of technical change is linked, as a condition or a consequence.
A monodisciplinary approach is totally inadequate.
When a concrete and highly specific goal is aimed at, a series of complex
problems often emerges which call for clarification from a number of different
angles.
The problem of hunger facing so many developing countries is a striking
example. This being essentially a question of the relationship between popula-
tion and food resources, it can be solved by achieving an equilibrium between
the two terms, either by modifying one or other, or both simultaneously; in
both cases a series of disciplines must be associated. If action is to be taken with
regard to food resources, dietetic insights must be allied with knowledge of
agriculture and of political economy. With regard to food production, consump-
tion and marketing, account must be taken of the data of social orcultural
anthropology that are immediately relevant. Examining the problems of agri-
culture in tropical countries, Pierre Gourou shows that these cannot be solved
by resorting to traditional techniques of cultivation alone; taking as an exam-
ple the cultivation of land fallowed over long periods (the ‘ladang’ or milpa,
ground freshly cleared in tropical countries), of which there are several varieties
throughout the world, Gourou points to many drawbacks. The milpa is not in
itself perfectible, and cannot be developed in response to the growth of the
population. It cannot be successfully manured. The instability of the fields
discourages the building of roads, bridges, wells, reservoirs, etc. ; farming ma-
chines are of no avail. With regard to manual techniques, no transition is
made from the extensive to the intensive: ‘the peasant is unwilling to adopt
intensive techniques when he finds that the extra work he puts in is worse paid
than the minimum work required by extensive farrning’.33 The author goes on
to stress how far the technical solution of this problem is affected by a series of
human, social, economic and organizational factors : ‘The agricultural future of
mankind lies in the tropics, where there is a vast amount of land that is hardly,
badly or not at all farmed. In addition problems of pure agronomy, econom-
ics, education, road transport and administration must also be tackled as a
whole, account being taken of their inter-relationship.’34
Already, with regard to action on the first term of the food-population rela-
tion, we have an excellent example of the vital contribution one discipline can