ABSTRACT
The purpose of social science was to gage the responses of the African societies to development. A question was posed whether the responses of African peasants and herders to development initiatives were predetermined by some aspects of their environment and culture. The discussions involved history of social science research, the socio-ecological systems of production, the impact of colonial development policies and comparative social responses to development initiatives. There are two viewpoints. The instrumentalist viewpoint suggested that development was good for human progress. Conversely, the functionalist viewpoint suggested that responses to development depended on the group’s socio-ecological conditions. The colonial authorities made the supposition that communities might be arranged on a continuum, ranging from those who were quick to accept changes, to those who resisted. Such a deterministic thesis was unrealistic in describing African societies behavior towards development. On the contrary, the African societies showed flexibility in their responses, readily accepting those projects that benefited them and rejecting those that undermined their indigenous economic production system. Acceptance was greater when development plans incorporated social cultural institutions and indigenous knowledge.
