Three Stages of Development
Society's developmental journey is marked by three stages which can be called physical, vital and mental. These are not clear-cut stages but overlapping ones. All the three elements will be present in any society at time. One of them will be predominant while the other two play subordinate roles. The term 'vital' denotes the emotional and nervous energies that empower society's drive towards accomplishment and express most directly in the interactions between human beings. Before the full development of mind, it is these vital energies that predominate in human personality and gradually yield the ground as the mental element becomes stronger. The speed and circumstances of social transition from one stage to another varies.
Read more about this topic: Social Development Theory
Famous quotes containing the words stages and/or development:
“Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Dissonance between family and school, therefore, is not only inevitable in a changing society; it also helps to make children more malleable and responsive to a changing world. By the same token, one could say that absolute homogeneity between family and school would reflect a static, authoritarian society and discourage creative, adaptive development in children.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)