Development Communication

1. Dominant Paradigm and the
Criticisms
Lincy Joseph

2. Dominant Paradigm of Development
• During the 1960s, the dominant paradigm influenced and
guided many national development programmes. According
to Rogers (1976), the dominant paradigm of development
grew out:
• the industrial revolution in Europe and the United States;
• the colonial experience in Latin America, Africa and Asia;
• the success of the Marshall plan in Europe’s post-World
War II development;
• the quantitative empiricism of North American social
sciences; and
• the capitalistic philosophy of economics and politics.
Lincy Joseph

3. • The dominant paradigm, ideally, concerned itself with what
is done to the people to raise their standard of living. Thus
it emphasized growth of the economy to alleviate poverty.
The essential features of the dominant paradigm were
summarized by Hernandes-Ramos and Schramm (1989) as
follows:
• Industry is the prime mover of the economy. Therefore, a
major part of investment must go into industry and what is
necessary to fuel it includes raw materials, transportation
and training.
• Modern society requires more specialists than generalists
within each field (e.g. Industry, health).
Lincy Joseph

4. • Public education is needed to raise the abilities of the entire
workforce and encourage their participation in government.
Healthcare and family planning are needed to increase the well-
being of the population and curtail demand for jobs, housing and so
on.
• The profit from centrally owned and managed industry, trade and
sale of manufactured goods would be expected ‘to trickle down’
from the centre of the system to the periphery, from industries and
central markets to agricultural sector and from cities to villages.
• In situations in which rapid development is desired, necessary
information can be diffused and persuasion can occur through the
mass media with the aid of an extension service. Adoption of
promising innovations should be encouraged along with increases in
productivity.
•
Lincy Joseph

5. – The dominant paradigm saw mass communication as a
powerful and direct force to diffuse information and
innovations about development issues to the masses.
– Communication Scholars thought that growth of the mass
media was essential because communication which was
linear and one-way transmission would reach the wider
audience.
– The indicators of national development, such as per capita
income, literacy urbanization and industrialization have
also correlated with indicators of a well-developed media
infrastructure.
– Thus, UNESCO study suggested a minimum standard for
mass media availability in the Third World ten copies of
daily newspapers, five radio receivers, two television
receivers, and two cinema seats for every 100 of its
inhabitants.
Lincy Joseph

6. Critique of Dominant Paradigm
– The dominant paradigm saw mass communication as a powerful
and direct force to diffuse information and innovations about
development issues to the masses.
– Communication Scholars thought that growth of the mass media
was essential because communication which was linear and one-
way transmission would reach the wider audience.
– The indicators of national development, such as per capita
income, literacy urbanization and industrialization have also
correlated with indicators of a well-developed media
infrastructure.
– Thus, UNESCO study suggested a minimum standard for mass
media availability in the Third World ten copies of daily
newspapers, five radio receivers, two television receivers, and
two cinema seats for every 100 of its inhabitants.
Lincy Joseph

7. • Added to these problems, inefficiency and corruption acted
as contributing factors. Industrialization in the Third World
countries caused other problems such as reduction of labor,
increased un-employment and large-scale migration from
villages to cities.
• These social changes occurred and the Third World
countries were unprepared to face the consequences.
• The failure of the model paved the way for evolving a new
development paradigm
Lincy Joseph