TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge and beliefs about national development and developmental hierarchies
T2 - The viewpoints of ordinary people in thirteen countries
AU - Thornton, Arland
AU - Binstock, Georgina
AU - Abbasi-Shavazi, Mohammad Jalal
AU - Ghimire, Dirgha
AU - Gjonca, Arjan
AU - Melegh, Attila
AU - Mitchell, Colter
AU - Moaddel, Mansoor
AU - Xie, Yu
AU - Yang, Li shou
AU - Young-DeMarco, Linda
AU - Yount, Kathryn M.
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - Scholars and policy makers have for centuries constructed and used developmental hierarchies to characterize different countries. The hypotheses motivating this paper are that such social constructions have been circulated internationally, are constructed similarly in various countries, and follow the social constructions of elite international organizations, such as the United Nations. This paper uses data from 15 surveys in 13 diverse countries to study how developmental hierarchies are understood in everyday life. Our research shows that most people have constructions of developmental hierarchies that are similar across countries and are similar to the developmental hierarchies constructed by the United Nations. These findings suggest that developmental hierarchies are widely understood around the world and are widely available to ordinary people as they make decisions about many aspects of life.
AB - Scholars and policy makers have for centuries constructed and used developmental hierarchies to characterize different countries. The hypotheses motivating this paper are that such social constructions have been circulated internationally, are constructed similarly in various countries, and follow the social constructions of elite international organizations, such as the United Nations. This paper uses data from 15 surveys in 13 diverse countries to study how developmental hierarchies are understood in everyday life. Our research shows that most people have constructions of developmental hierarchies that are similar across countries and are similar to the developmental hierarchies constructed by the United Nations. These findings suggest that developmental hierarchies are widely understood around the world and are widely available to ordinary people as they make decisions about many aspects of life.
KW - Comparative studies
KW - Cultural diffusion
KW - Development
KW - Developmental hierarchies
KW - Developmental worldviews
KW - Inequality
KW - International stratification
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863102389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.03.005
DO - 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.03.005
M3 - Article
SN - 0049-089X
VL - 41
SP - 1053
EP - 1068
JO - Social Science Research
JF - Social Science Research
IS - 5
ER -