Abstract
The purpose of this work is to develop a concept useful for analyzing the impact of a planner’s perception on Third World development planning successes. Borrowing extensively from Kenneth Boulding’s work, the Image concept is developed and used as a basis for the analysis.
In Chapter I, the failure of Third World development planning is discussed, along with some of the causes attributed to it. One such cause is found in the perceptions and orientations of the planning expert. That this causal factor has not been frequently and systematically investigated probably results from the lack of a sufficient framework for conceptualizing the subject matter. It is for this purpose that the Image concept is used.
In the first section of Chapter II, the Image concept is presented to the reader as a control apparatus within the general system that can be analyzed in terms of its content, structure and strength. The research design used for analyzing these aspects of the planner’s image are offered in section two of Chapter II.
The specific application of this design is made in Chapters III, IV, and V. The planner’s Image content is explored in Chapter III through the use of a thematic content analysis of portions of national development plans, a secondary analysis of a study involving interviews with 30 professional planners, and a brief review of the literature on development planning, which is relevant here. The examination of the planner’s Image structure in Chapter IV is accomplished through a literature review of the economic theories that predominate in Third World development planning.
Finally, in Chapter V, the Image’s strength is analyzed through measures of association and speculative discussions vis-à-vis the causes of high strength measures for relevant factors.
The results of this analysis indicated:
(1) a strong Image content bias among planners stressing the economic sector as a means for planning, relying on the Gesellschaft model of society as a desired goal for development planners, and an orientation which emphasized the need to change current societal and cultural configurations rather than maintain them;
(2) an Image construct based on a closed logic which does not facilitate consideration of new and perhaps relevant environmental factors; and
(3) an Image strength that gives more weight to irrelevant than to relevant variables in the planner’s surroundings.
All these tendencies increase the likelihood of an Image that is inflexible and therefore less likely to adapt to the needs of the subject society. Planning failure might result from such Image inflexibility.
The possibility of changing the planner’s Image is discussed in Chapter VI. There are alternative Image configurations. The problem is to select the best agent of change to adjust the current Image. The ‘profession” as a change agent is examined using various propositions of culture change to describe what must be done to orient the profession in this direction.
Department
Political Science
Publication Date
1-1-1974
Publisher
University of Colorado, Boulder
Recommended Citation
Dubnick, Melvin Jay. “The Planner’s Image: The Impact of Expertise on Development Planning and Policymaking.” Doctoral Dissertation, University of Colorado – Boulder, 1974.