Development and social development in the global context

This article deals with the notions of ‘development’ and ‘social development’ and whether they fit the current world’s core economic and social system, whereby a single term might have different meanings when applied to different contexts. In fact, the basic concepts surrounding these themes are not free of contestation and controversy. The wide range of ideas, thoughts and theories on the development concept are not a mere semantic product, going far beyond the feature of stability of the text or objectivity of language, which may be described by mere human imperfection and the inability to use a coherently and undisputed statement or system of thought. Starting from the dominant paradigms in the field of development, i.e., the modernisation theory and the dependency theory, a detailed discussion is offered to understand and put the emphasis on social and development under a changing global economic and social context.