ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the impacts of economic development and other agents of cultural, community, and environmental change. A major emphasis is that although many benefits derive from such efforts, they might also lead to social and psychological dysfunction. A key to understanding this phenomenon is the concept of anomie: a state of confusion, alienation, and disenfranchisement that occurs when change comes so quickly that people have trouble adapting and coping. Under some situations, people and communities become dysfunctional as a result of anomie, while on other occasions they adapt in positive and constructive ways. By exploring anomie and how various kinds of populations (such as mainstream indigenous, native, and traditional peoples as well as Third World and Fourth World people) deal with anomie, the stage is set to further explore the relationship between economic and social development and psychological dysfunction.
