Table of Contents

• Introduction
• What Are Less Developed Countries?
• Historical Roots of Underdevelopment
• Theoretical Perspectives on Development and Underdevelopment
• Global Institutions and Structural Adjustment
• Cultural Dimensions of Development
• Internal Dynamics: Class, Gender, and Ethnicity
• Alternative Development Models
• Conclusion

Introduction

The concept of “less developed countries” (LDCs) plays a central role in sociological discussions of global inequality, development, and the international division of labor. From a sociological perspective, the classification of some nations as “less developed” reflects not only economic metrics but also historically produced power relations, cultural hierarchies, and geopolitical structures. Sociologists interrogate how these classifications are socially constructed and reproduce global hierarchies. This article explores the sociological dimensions of less developed countries, focusing on their historical emergence, structural characteristics, internal social dynamics, and the global systems that reproduce their status. It also critically examines theoretical models and explores alternative visions for development.

What Are Less Developed Countries?

Less developed countries are typically defined by low levels of industrialization, lower gross national income (GNI) per capita, limited access to quality healthcare and education, and often high levels of poverty and social exclusion. However, sociology cautions against viewing this classification as merely technical or economic. The term itself is politically charged, reflecting long-standing global hierarchies and ideological assumptions embedded in development discourse. Sociologists argue that the concept of LDCs must be understood within broader discourses of postcolonialism, global capitalism, and systemic inequality.

Common Characteristics of LDCs

Although each less developed country has a unique historical and cultural trajectory, they tend to share several common features:

• Economic Dependence: LDCs often rely heavily on the export of primary commodities such as minerals, oil, or agricultural products. This economic model exposes them to global market volatility and dependency on the consumption patterns of developed nations.
• Weak Institutional Infrastructure: Many LDCs have underdeveloped health systems, fragile educational institutions, and legal frameworks that are often inadequately resourced or compromised by corruption and political interference.
• High Levels of Poverty and Inequality: Structural inequality is often deeply embedded within LDCs, manifesting in vast disparities between urban and rural populations, rich and poor, and along lines of gender and ethnicity.
• Political Instability: Weak state capacity and political volatility are common due to legacies of colonial rule, contested nation-building processes, and ongoing economic insecurity.
• Rapid Urbanization Without Industrialization: Urban growth often outpaces economic development, leading to sprawling informal settlements, overloaded infrastructure, and fragile public services.
• Environmental Vulnerability: LDCs are disproportionately affected by climate change, deforestation, and ecological degradation despite contributing minimally to global emissions.

Historical Roots of Underdevelopment

Sociologists emphasize that underdevelopment is not a natural condition but a historical outcome rooted in global systems of exploitation and domination. The emergence of less developed countries is intimately tied to the history of colonialism, transatlantic slavery, imperialism, and structural violence.

Colonialism and the Global Division of Labor

Colonial powers structured the economies of colonized territories to serve the interests of the metropole. This often involved:

• Extracting raw materials for export to imperial centers.
• Suppressing or destroying local industries that could compete with European manufacturers.
• Reorganizing societies through land dispossession, forced labor systems, and cultural domination.

Colonial infrastructure, such as railways and ports, was often designed to facilitate the extraction of resources rather than promote local development. These colonial patterns laid the foundation for persistent underdevelopment by distorting indigenous economies, displacing communities, and generating long-lasting social fragmentation.

Postcolonial Legacies

Following independence, many former colonies found themselves with artificial borders, weak state institutions, and economies still tied to external markets. Postcolonial states often inherited extractive economic structures and administrative systems ill-suited for inclusive development. Neocolonialism, in the form of foreign investment, trade dependency, and international financial institutions, continued to shape their trajectories.

Theoretical Perspectives on Development and Underdevelopment

Several sociological theories provide frameworks for understanding the structural and historical dimensions of underdevelopment and for explaining how global systems maintain the unequal distribution of wealth and power.

Modernization Theory

Modernization theory posits that all societies progress through a linear sequence of stages, from traditional to modern. It suggests that underdevelopment results from internal deficiencies—such as traditional values, lack of education, and ineffective governance—that must be corrected through modernization.

While influential in the mid-20th century, modernization theory has been criticized for:

• Being ethnocentric and assuming Western development as the universal norm.
• Failing to consider the impact of historical exploitation and structural inequalities.
• Ignoring the ways in which so-called traditional societies contain sophisticated knowledge systems and adaptive capacities.

Dependency Theory

Dependency theory emerged as a critique of modernization and emphasizes that underdevelopment is not a lack of development but a result of exploitative relationships. According to this view, wealthier nations—through mechanisms such as unfair trade, capital extraction, and geopolitical domination—actively produce and maintain the underdevelopment of poorer nations.

Key insights from dependency theory include:

• Development and underdevelopment are co-produced phenomena.
• The global economic system is structured to benefit the core (developed countries) while exploiting the periphery (less developed countries).
• Economic dependency reduces the capacity of LDCs to pursue independent and sustainable development strategies.

World-Systems Theory

World-systems theory, developed by Immanuel Wallerstein, builds on dependency theory and offers a macro-sociological framework for understanding global capitalism. It conceptualizes the world as a single system composed of core, semi-periphery, and periphery zones.

• Core: Dominates in finance, innovation, and high-profit production.
• Periphery: Specializes in low-skill labor, raw material extraction, and is subject to external political and economic pressure.
• Semi-periphery: Occupies an intermediate position and may shift over time.

World-systems theory helps explain how less developed countries are systematically integrated into global capitalism in ways that reproduce their subordinate status.

Global Institutions and Structural Adjustment