Sociology of Development and Rural-Urban Society in Bangladesh
Development sociology
Understand development as a contested, multidimensional process. Know the stages-of-growth model (Rostow), dependency theory (Frank), world-systems theory (Wallerstein), and the capabilities approach (Sen) with its emphasis on freedom and human flourishing. Note the shift from GDP-centred to HDI and multidimensional poverty measures.
Rural Bangladesh
Examine the agrarian structure: landholding inequality, sharecropping, tenancy, and the role of NGOs and microcredit in rural livelihoods. Know the Green Revolution and its social consequences, remittance dependence, and the feminisation of agriculture as men migrate. Understand bhadralok-type status distinctions and the role of samaj and local arbitration in rural governance.
Urban Bangladesh
Examine urbanisation without adequate industrialisation, over-urbanisation, slums and informal settlements, the informal sector, and urban governance challenges. Know the concepts of push and pull factors in migration and circular/rural-urban migration. Note the role of remittances in transforming rural households.
Traps
Do not equate urbanisation with development. Do not treat microcredit as unambiguously empowering; evidence on its effects is mixed. Do not confuse rural-urban migration with international migration.
Worked example
A garment worker migrating from a village to Dhaka illustrates push (rural landlessness) and pull (factory wages); her remittances may raise her family's status while her own living conditions remain precarious - a case of development with uneven outcomes.