Third World nations in general have much difficulty activating their largely stagnant economies
and meeting the challenges of feeding, educating and housing their growing populations.
Problems facing the less developed nations are many and multi-faceted; some nations face very
difficult obstacles that require new visions and sustained efforts to overcome. Nevertheless, all
such nations face problems that emanate primarily from attachment to outdated values,
attitudes, ways of thinking, as well as lack of appreciation for time and work. Many also face
challenges emanating from high population growth rates, often high illiteracy rates, ethnic and
religious conflict, outdated traditional educational systems, and political corruption. The major
challenging problems, however, can be grouped under the following headings:

1. Colonial legacy;
2. Sociocultural heritage;
3. Economic structure;
4. Sociopolitical structure and organization;
5. The political context; and
6. Conceptions of time.

Colonial Legacy

Most Third World nations had lived under colonial rule for a long time and were subjected to
political suppression and economic exploitation, oftentimes for generations. This legacy of a
hated past was used and continues to be used by traditional intellectuals, religious leaders and
nationalist forces as an excuse to resist western ideas, reject progressive values and new ways
of thinking, and undermine authentic calls for political reform. Traditional leaders tend to claim
that the West has no real interest in helping poor nations develop their economies; instead, it is
interested in reasserting its political influence, economic hegemony and cultural domination.
Because of such claims, the masses have been more inclined to stick to older cultural values
and traditions, oppose social and cultural change, and suspect new ideas and economic thinking
and non-traditional political systems. Even democracy, despite its liberating promise, is yet to

be fully embraced by the masses, or be honestly promoted by the corrupt and bankrupt
political elites in most developing states.
Colonialism has also created another obstacle that continues to outlive colonialism
itself; it created an economic elite whose role was to mediate between the colonizer and the
colonized masses and enable the former to exploit the latter and control their fate without
having to interact with them. Being a product of colonization, and because they remain closely
tied to the former colonizer’s business interests, member of this elite have amassed too much
power and wealth. And due to their social roots and education and connections, they are able
to control the economic process and work with those controlling the political process to keep
the masses largely poor and submissive. Members of these elite include importers and
exporters of major commodities, agents of foreign corporations, traditional leaders, and real
estate owners who have little interest in industrialization because they normally lack the
necessary entrepreneurial skills that manufacturing requires. And because they have enough
wealth and power to enhance their prestige without having to change, they have little reason
to initiate or support economic or political reforms.
Under colonialism, modern healthcare systems were introduced in underdeveloped
countries causing life expectancy to rise and child mortality rates to decline, and rates of
population growth to increase rapidly. But while these developments were taking place, no new
technologies and training programs were introduced to raise the productivity of labor and land
to keep pace with the population growth rates. As a consequence, the traditional balance
between resources, population, and technology was undermined, leading to widespread
poverty, higher rates of social dependency, and sociocultural stagnation. And with the advent
of globalization and the Internet, consumerism invaded most societies causing traditional
cultures to loose many of their old traits. As a consequence, the balance between population,
resources, technology and culture was disrupted, causing the old problems to become much
more complicated and challenging.

Socio-cultural Heritage

Generally speaking, people tend to respond positively to economic incentives. However, most
people belonging to old cultures tend to slow down or stop working at certain levels of income
and wealth, preferring less work and more leisure time. Since the most important goal of such
people is to satisfy their basic needs, they often see no reason to continue working after such
needs are satisfied; contentment rather than unfulfilled expectations governs the attitudes of
most Third World peoples toward work. As a consequence, some development economists
were led to believe that certain cultures represent, by their very nature, formidable obstacles
to development and material gain, and therefore trying to incentivize people belonging to such
cultures to do otherwise is a waste of time.
People living in the agricultural age tend to work to live, not live to work, as most people
in the industrial age do. The first see work as a means to generating enough money to buy food,
meet basic needs and be happy, rather than a process to gain and accumulate wealth. But for
people living in the industrial age, work is the primary source of personal satisfaction and social
recognition. “Too many of us work to live and live to be happy. Nothing wrong with that; it just
does not promote high productivity. You want high productivity? Then you should live to work
and get happiness as a by-product,” wrote David Landes. 1 People of the developing world,
therefore, should be educated to view work as an end in itself and a source of happiness, or as
Jubran Khalil Jubran once remarked, “Work is love made visible.”
Culture is very important to economic and non-economic development; however, it is
neither the only determinant of development nor the only obstacle hindering change. “The
question is not weather culture has a role but how to understand this role in the context of the
broader determinants of prosperity.” 2 Culture matters more in some societies than in others,
because some cultures tend to resists certain ideas more than others, to change faster in some
countries than in others, and to assume a more active role under certain circumstances than
under others. To understand culture and its role in society, we have to think of it as a living
creature that changes as circumstances and life conditions and incentives change. Culture was
created by man in the distant past to meet his communications and socialization needs and to
help him deal with life challenges emanating primarily from the social environment; as life

conditions changed over time, cultures changed as well. To realize the extent of that change,
we have to remember that at one point in our history all of us were hunters-gatherers before
becoming farmers and industrialists, artists and thinkers, doctors and entrepreneurs.
For culture to play a positive role in societal development, the values and traditions it
espouses and the attitudes it nurtures in young people must be changed to become compatible
with the economic system and the goals it seeks to accomplish. A culture prevalent in an
agricultural society, where contentment is a virtue, is not compatible with an economic system
based on thrift; it therefore cannot facilitate the introduction of manufacturing or encourage
the pursuits of happiness through hard work and material gain. The social and economic
formations that industry requires to make progress are not part of traditional cultures.
Therefore, culture needs to be transformed to become hospitable to new economic ideas,
institutions and activities associated with manufacturing and the financial arrangements that
industrial economy requires to function properly. Attitudes toward time and work and menial
work in particular have to change, otherwise industries and services requiring menial work will
suffer and hider development.

For example, cleaning public places like streets and health facilities is an undesirable job
in most developing countries. Locals in Arab countries do not normally seek such jobs; and
therefore, it is difficult to entice people to do them. While streets and public facilities get
almost always cleaned, the people who do the cleaning are usually members of small, often
shunned minorities, or foreign workers. And since cleaning public places is considered
demeaning, standards of cleanliness are almost always below accepted health standards. Jobs
that require serving people in hotels and restaurants are also not desirable, and people who
perform them appear often unhappy and at times resentful. As a consequence, most people
performing such jobs seldom enjoy their work or try to make a career of it. And what people do
not enjoy doing; they are unlikely to learn how to do it more efficiently.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

Do follow me on Facebook, Twitter  Youtube and Instagram.

The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.

If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com

We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge