Secularization, Integration and Rationalization: Some Perspectives from Latin American Thought
For the past couple of decades the Latin Americans, like their brethren in Africa and Asia, have been hell-bent in search of' development' or ' modernization'. While the Latin Americans were on the firing line, scholars and policy-makers in both the rich nations and the poor nations were involved in setting out an intellectual framework for analyzing the developmental process. New concepts to explain the meaning of development were devised; innovative measurements to gauge the level of development were proposed; a new vocabulary to capture the nuances of development was put forth. The sense of much of the literature seems to imply that the contemporary formulation of the science (or art) of development is a singular, unique departure in the affairs of man. The longer perspective, not to mention a little humility, provides a different perceptual vista. The Latin Americans have always been sensitive to their relative underdevelopment. Although not in exactly the same terminology or context of today's literature, they have spilled much ink in defining their developmental problems, pinpointing the causes, and proposing solutions. Like all peoples, they have yearned for ' modernization' or 'progress' or 'civilization' or whatever other terms have defined the advancement of man from poverty, ignorance, and weakness to wealth, sophistication and strength. In contemporary parlance, they have sought such developmental goals as cultural secularization, national integration and more rational use of scarce resources.