Modernization and Modes of Production in the North Atlantic: A Critique of Policy Formation for the Development of Marginal Maritime Communities

• Published in: American Journal of Economics and Sociology
• Main Author: J. I. Prattis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.1980.tb01282.x

Abstract. Marginality and development of North Atlantic maritime communities are viewed in theoretical perspective. The ecological, technological and community circumstances are similar, while the political and economic frameworks within which the communities are incorporated vary. The components of modernization are discussed and the process of structural differentiation is stressed as it produces a heterogeneous set of economic sectors thereby establishing the conditions for the evolution of marginality. The properties of traditional as opposed to modern systems are examined in a critique of the standard orthodoxies of development planning. A position is developed which states that a restructuring of the ties of economic interdependance is a necessary prerequisite for effective development. Tradition and its persistence in the North Atlantic are viewed as an adaptive response to a situation of persisting disadvantage.