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SOCIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS 121

in different studies to groups and then to processes in southern countries often mean a
nations (Lynn and Vanhanen, 2002). The growing escalation of conflicts, such as
recent study of Lynn and Vanhanen used data ethnic conflicts, civil wars or violence in
from the World Bank and the UNDP. The other forms of social relations, for example
authors could confirm the hypothesis that gender roles. If one compares the meanings
national per capita incomes and rates of of the three notions, one sees that cooperation
economic growth are positively correlated and conflict are notions that are very helpful
with national IQs. The following quote gives for Marxist approaches or world system
the authors’ main argument: approaches, while competition and coopera-
tion are notions favoured by scholars influ-
Nations whose populations have high IQs tend to
have efficient economies at all levels from top and enced by the Weberian tradition and
middle management through skilled and semi- modernization studies.
skilled workers. These nations are able to produce In our current global world characterized
competitively goods and services for which there is by the neo-liberal credo, the notion of com-
a strong international demand and for which there
is therefore a high value, and that cannot be pro- petition is becoming even more important as
duced by nations whose populations have low IQs scholars begin to do research on the success
(www.rlynn.co.uk/pages/article_intelligence/10.asp). or the failure of economic policies in various
world regions characterized by different cul-
The conclusions are based on a sample of
tural life-worlds (Schuerkens, 2004, 2008).
60 nations that the authors regard as repre-
The results of these studies of recent trans-
sentative of the totality of nations because all
formations of local socio-economic practices
categories of nations were included (South,
may have wider implications for develop-
North, East and West). If one accepts the
ment cooperation. Conflicts may thus be
premise of the study about the definition of
strongly based on aspects linked to particular
IQ and its worldwide acceptance based on
cultures, a fact that would validate
Western success criteria, the evidence given
Huntington’s thesis that the central political
by this study may have significant political
actors of the twenty-first century will be
and social implications.
civilizations rather than nation-states.
As shown in this article, analysis in our
field is often at the macro level, but the meso
CONCLUDING REMARKS and micro levels interest scholars as well. 6
Most of the time, individual actors are con-
This analysis of the use of the concepts of strained to participate in macro settings char-
cooperation, conflict and competition in acterized by these notions, even if there may
the study of social transformations and the be factors that exclude privileged and/or
sociology of development has shown that underprivileged actors (for example elites
cooperation is one of the fundamental who go abroad during societal conflicts or
notions of our field and remains an important the poor who participate in an informal econ-
element in the explanation of developmental omy, who are hardly influenced by social
processes in our contemporary world. The competition).
notion of competition is of interest if only
because the global economy introduces com-
petitive economic behaviour in all regions of
the world even if the upper social classes are NOTES
those most affected. The notion of conflict
was important during the period of the Cold 1 The widely acclaimed book of Philip McMichael
Development and Social Change. A Global
War. In recent years, it has begun to interest
Perspective (2004) was particularly helpful in prepar-
scholars studying social transformations, ing this part of the article on cooperation. The author
because the poor outcomes of transformation gives a historical and theoretically inspired overview