Review

Author(s): Paget Henry

Review by: Paget Henry
Source: Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 15, No. 5 (Sep., 1986), pp. 772-773
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2071082
Accessed: 14-12-2015 16:36 UTC

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772 BOOK REVIEWS

whichholds thatdrugsare permissibleonly for HETTNE.London:Zed Books Ltd., 1985. 215 pp.
"normalizing,"and "psychotropichedonism," $26.65 cloth.$10.25 paper.
accordingto which "optimizing" sensual and
experiencewithdrugsis good. This PAGET HENRY
intellectual
debate has been renderednearly obsolete by Universityof Virginia
emergingdiscoveriesof the body's own organic
opiates (endorphins),which suggestwhat many This book is an important contributionto the
addictshavelongknownaboutself-medication and fieldof development theory.Its primary aim is to
deficiencies.Thus, the authors(wisely) eschew provide a comprehensivesurvey of the rise,
these polar argumentsin favor of reasoned spread, and decline of dependencytheoryas
discussionsabouthow and whererationalpolicies appliedtoLatinAmerica,theCaribbean,Asia, and
mightdrawsociallyusefullines. Africa.The book's significance resultsfromthe
Anotherthemeis thedeficiencies of thedisease comprehensiveness of the surveyand its consis-
model.The "languageof disease" (17) smuggles tencyin presenting thetheoryas a distinctly Third
intoourongoingdebatea medicalhegemony over World contribution. Its major weaknessderives
issuesthatare onlypartlymedical,and smuggles fromthe authors'reservations about vigorously
out mostquestionsaboutinformal social controls, situatingthis fascinatingprocess of paradigm
and the value some fiftymillion changewithina theoretical
self-regulation, perspective.
citizensfindin gettinghigh.Because theuse and Blomstromand Hettnebegin with Marx and
controlof potentiallydangeroussubstancesentail Lenin, and they move to a discussion of
fundamentalmoral, philosophical,and social development theoryas it emergedbetween1950
dilemmas,"science offersus littleassistance" and the early 1970s, includingthe economic
(178) in sortingthemout. The fact thatminute models of Harrod, Domar, ArthurLewis, and
amountsof drugsthatrarelyharmmostusersstill Rostow;thestructuralist theoriesof DudleySeers
putthemin the same criminalcategoryas rapists and Hans Singer;and themodernization paradigm
and armedrobberssuggeststhat"more powerful as it developed in sociology, economics, and
passionsare at workherethanthosethatproduce political science. It is against this theoretical
the averageconsumersafetylaw" (17). Indeed, background thattheyattempt to situatetheriseof
thatmarijuanais stillperceivedas a seriousthreat dependency theory.
to the social fabricand the moral orderplaces Theysuggestthatthetheory"emergedfromthe
Reagan's Americacloser to the Ayatollah'sIran convergenceof two intellectual trends:one often
thanwe fancy. called 'neo-marxism'and the otherrootedin the
in thiscollectionare uneven: earlierLatinAmericandiscussionon development
The contributions
someare bashful,othersbold; ploddingpage-long that ultimatelyformedthe ECLA [the United
paragraphssit aside sprightlysentencestructure. Nations'EconomicCommissionforLatin Amer-
The thorough reviewsof legal and philosophical ica] tradition"(27).
issuesare,fornonspecialists,too looselylinkedto Havingestablishedtheoriginsof the school in
drugquestions.More mighthave beendone to set LatinAmerica,Blomstrom and Hettnethengo on
thestageandto synthesize sharedconclusions.Yet to "accountforthedevelopment debaterelatedto
whatremainare valuablemapsto theexceedingly the issue of dependencein other thirdworld
tangledterrainon whichstrugglesover druguse contexts(theCaribbean,Asia and Africa)" (96).
and controlare fought.Withthem,one can better In theCaribbean,thediscussionfocuseson therise
navigatethe thicketsof inconsistency, hypocrisy, of the New World Group in Jamaica as an
and genuineconfusionthatcharacterize existing alternativeto thetheoriesof Arthur Lewis, andthe
controlsystemsand see how much of this is group's involvement in the DemocraticSocialist
pharmacologicaland how much political, how regimeof Michael Manley. As in a numberof
much the debate turnson empiricalfact-findingothercases, the failureof the Manleyregimeto
about the possibilityof controlleduse and how haltthedeclineof theJamaicaneconomyexposed
muchon ethicalax-grinding by puritanical prohi- theworksof thesetheorists to increasingcriticism.
bitionists. The discussionof Asian dependencytheoryis
the weakestof the case studies.However,it is
important thatthisweaknessnotbe confusedwith
Social Change, Colonialism, Modernization, the fact thatthe developmentof a dependency
and World Systems perspectiveis probablyweakestin Asia. Rather,
DevelopmentTheoryin Transition:The Depen- theauthorsfailto give an adequateexplanation of
dency Debate and Beyond: Third World Re- thisAsianphenomenon, andtheyalso overlookthe
sponses, by MAGNUS BLOMSTROM and BJORN workof SusanthaGoonatilakeon India whichis

Sociology,September1986, Volume 15, Number5

Contemporary

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 BOOK REVIEWS 773

important fortheoftenignoredculturalaspectsof Routledge& Kegan Paul, 1984. 241 pp. $23.50

this debate. But Blomstromand Hettne do cloth.
introducethe important debate over the Indian
modeof production, theworksof authorssuchas PHILIPPEVANPARIJS
Banaji and Alavi, and the Maoist approachto Universite Catholiquede Louvain
development.
Finally,in thecase of Africa,we are introduced Contemporary advocatesof socialismhave to
to thetoweringfigureof SamirAmin,and to the face two seriouschallenges.First,it has become
debatesaroundthealternative modelsof develop- increasingly difficult
to denythepoorperformance
ment adopted in Tanzania and Kenya. The of most,if not all, existingsocialistsocietiesas
Tanzaniandebateis centeredaroundtheworksof regardsfreedom,efficiency,and even equality,
JohnSaul and Issa Shivji, the Kenyandebateon and to attributeit to sheer historicalaccident.
theworksof Colin Leys, RaphaelKaplinsky,and Second, the theoretical defenseof capitalismby
Steven Langdon. These are not as carefully botheconomistsand philosophers has experienced
analyzedas theLatinAmericandebatesand, like a tremendous revivalthroughout thelastdecade. If
the Asian debates,need to be more adequately socialism is to offera plausible futurefor our
groundedsociohistorically. societies,argument is needed,thattakesboththese
This briefexpositionof thecentralargument of challengesas seriouslyas theydeserve.This is the
thetextis enoughto revealbothits strengths and sort of argumentAndrewLevine offersin his
its weaknesses.It indicatestheglobal dimensions book.
of theanalysisand thefocuson workdone within "Is it betterin generalthattherebe private
whatis perceivedto be a ThirdWorldtheoretical (capitalism)or public (socialism) ownershipof
framework. The authorsare to be commendedfor society'sprincipalmeansof production?"In the
theirconsistent recognitionofthedistinctivenessof firstand longerpart,Levine tacklesthisquestion
this frameworkand its embeddednessin the using as standardsthe "principal valuational
experiencesof ThirdWorldsocieties. commitments of the dominantpoliticalculture,"
However,assumingthattheexpositionis a fair i.e., freedom, distributional
valuessuchas equality
one, the absence of crucial theoreticaland or Rawlsianjustice, aggregativevalues such as
comparative arguments concerning therise,spread, welfareor efficiency, and politicalvalues such as
and declineof this theoretical framework makes democracyand rights.What does he conclude?
the weaknessesof the book equally clear. For That,contrary to whatmostmainstream philoso-
example,althoughthereare references to Kuhn's phersand some Marxistsassert,dominantvalues
work on paradigmsthey are not systematically exhibit "at least a tendentialbias favoring
workedinto the primaryconcernsof the book, socialism," with the sole (and decreasingly
whichtendto focusmoreon historical accountsof important) exceptionof efficiency.
thedebatesbetweenvariousschoolsand authors. Mindyou,thisclaimis notas strongas it might
Consequently,the broaderproblemof paradigm seem. As Levine emphasizes, it is perfectly
changeis leftlargelyunaddressed.Similarly,the compatiblewith the concession that a state-
comparativeaspectsof the workare leftlargely bureaucraticvarietyof socialism, for example,
unthematized. For example,muchlike thesection faresworsein everyrespectmentioned (or worse
on Kuhn, there is a brief section on "the in some and just as badly in others)thansome
independence of the Caribbeandebate" (118). It varietyof capitalism.As I understandit, the
comes at theend of thechapterand readsalmost author'sclaim is thatthereis some conceivable
like a footnote.But at the conclusionof this varietyof socialism-democraticsocialism-that
section,the issue of its relationshipto the Latin
does betterthanany varietyof capitalismaccord-
Americandebateis stillunclear.
ing to each of the standardsthat have wide
I feel constrainedto end this review on a
currencywithinthedominant whenthese
tradition,
positive note. The historicalanalysis of the
dependency schoolis comprehensive and carefully are properlyconstrued(for example, capacity-
put together.This in itself is an important freedomand not just formalliberty;equalityof
contribution.The final chapter of the book opportunity and notjust equalitybeforethelaw).
includesa perceptiveanalysisof the competing The only exceptionis dynamicefficiency. How-
trendsthat have arisen to compensatefor the ever, Levine argues, in the state of relative
declineof dependency theory. abundanceinto which we have been moving,
efficiencyhas become "a value of everdiminish-
Arguingfor Socialism: Theoretical Consider- ingappeal." Consequently, theoverallcomparison
ations,by ANDREW LEVINE. London & Boston: in terms of dominantvalues unambiguously

Sociology,September1986, Volume 15, Number5

Contemporary

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