Development and (Technological) Dependence in Latin America. An Approach to Darcy Ribeiro’s Ideas

Abstract

This article proposes to revisit Darcy Ribeiro’s theory of the civilizational process based on his works O processo civilizatório (1968) and As Américas e a civilização (1969), focusing on his conceptualization of technological dependence. Ribeiro proposes that technological revolutions trigger civilizational processes with differential effects: peoples who produce them through discoveries or innovations experience an “evolutionary acceleration,” while those who come into contact with new technology through diffusion or external domination undergo “historical incorporation” or “reflex modernization” that places them as dependent poles of the same system. This distinction explains the formation of American peoples (from the civilizational process triggered by the mercantile revolution) and their unequal development (due to the differential way of processing the transformations produced by the industrial revolution). From his perspective, “underdevelopment” is a different condition from “backwardness”, and dependence is a cultural rather than economic phenomenon. Finally, a counterpoint is established with Oscar Varsavsky, who questions the notion of technological progress as “cumulative and irreversible” by proposing alternative “technological styles.” The corollary of these interpretations of development and dependence in Latin America was the defense of educational democratization and the creation/reform of universities capable of promoting autonomous (and creative) mastery of scientific-technological knowledge.