Commerce-as-civilising gave rise to the developed-undeveloped dichotomy.
Evidence
In conceptualising a civilised society as a market society with a highly developed division of labour, Mises drew on the thought of Adam Smith, whom he credited with the discovery of the eternal law of social evolution that every civilisation must follow if it is not to fall back into barbarism. … The idea that commerce was civilising gave impetus to the dichotomy later expressed under the oppositions ‘civilised-uncivilised’, ‘advanced-backward’, and ‘developed-undeveloped’. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 111
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to development economics critique (Escobar) and the civilisational hierarchy underpinning human-rights discourse. — connects to: The traditional-modern dichotomy obscures the pathologies of modernization. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 156; Modernization theory blamed underdevelopment on internal cultural flaws within societies; Modernisation theory sees development as linear industrial progression from primitive to developed — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 11 (+2 more)
- QUESTION: Worth investigating how the ‘polishing’ metaphor migrated from Scottish moral philosophy into the institutional language of the IMF and World Bank.
Broader Connections
- Western wealth was built by actively creating underdevelopment elsewhere
#corroborates(0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 293 - Modernisation theory sees development as linear industrial progression from primitive to developed
#corroborates(0.80) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 11 - Modernization theory blamed underdevelopment on internal cultural flaws within societies
#qualifies(0.78) - The traditional-modern dichotomy obscures the pathologies of modernization.
#expands(0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 156