This essay does not dispute the authenticity of individualism and collectivism as dimensions of culture. However, existing literature has missed a fundamental dimension, communalism, and has mistakenly attributed the characteristics of communalism to collectivism. Here, I affirm the fundamental nature of communalism as a cultural dimension and discuss how its characteristics markedly differ from those of collectivism and individualism. I then examine how communication works in communalistic communities. I throw some light on the concept of cultural dualism and introduce personalism as an emerging social order in both individualistic societies and urban centers of communalistic societies.
Helping a people to understand and accept the rationale for changing existing conditions that are considered no longer conducive to their well-being requires the full and active involvement of the people in the planning and execution of the advocated change. Otherwise, the change agent will not understand the people's worldviews, and the people will not have the opportunity to learn. Research and practical field experiences have shown that the neglect of this basic fact has led to the failure of many a well-intentioned development or social change project. The neglect of such a vital aspect of the development process should, in the 21st century, be seen and treated as a thing of the past. This article is an attempt to provide some simple but basic facts about the importance of target group participation and its many advantages in the development process.
“Development” refers to the process of social change that has as its objective the promotion of physical and material progress (→ Development Communication). The “silent engine” that drives this development endeavor is communication. In the developed world, development communication is geared toward addressing the dysfunctions of physical and material progress. In the developing world, it is concerned with the provision of physical and material infrastructure. But it is also concerned with social change in the form of inspiring hard work, eliciting self‐help, and providing education, health facilities, and other critical conditions. Africa is one of the regions in the developing world where development seems to be occurring slowly. As a result, there has been great concern about how to stimulate development and social change.
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