intermediate technology

production techniques which avoid the NEW TECHNOLOGY and capital-intensive nature of Western production systems, but are an improvement on indigenous methods. The use of intermediate technology is increasingly proposed as APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY for some THIRD WORLD countries (see also UNDERDEVELOPMENT) which lack the infrastructure to adopt advanced technology satisfactorily and may not benefit economically or socially from export-oriented capitalist production (see also DEPENDENCY THEORY, DEPENDENT INDUSTRIALIZATION, NEOCOLONIALISM, UNEQUAL EXCHANGE. GREEN REVOLUTION).

Following E. F. Schumacher's (1973) prescription that ‘small is beautiful’, local schemes for irrigation, conservation, organic farming, etc., using indigenous skills and locally available resources, have been encouraged, enabling the population to exert more control over their lives. Such schemes are also proposed as ‘ecologically friendly’, avoiding the ENVIRONMENTAL DEPLETION that may result from inappropriate enterprise, and as providing a preferred basis for long-term development. (Such development is increasingly proposed as ecologically appropriate for more ‘advanced’ societies.) See also ETHNOSCIENCES, MULTI-CULTURALISM, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

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References in periodicals archive

(2001) 'Intermediate technology -an appropriate developmental path' (online) (cited 6 March 2013).

Appropriate Technology and Economic Development of Emerging Economies--A Myth or a Reality

Micro-hydro Design Manual, A guide to small-scale water power schemes by Adam Harvey Intermediate Technology Publications, 1993)

Green energy options: there are many things individuals can do to reduce air pollution. Electric boats and hydro power are two lesser known options that are gaining in popularity

Next, Table 3 focuses on the intermediate technology, h([x.sub.5],[x.sub.6]) = [x.sup.[gamma].sub.5][x.sup.[gamma].sub.6], with [gamma] = .45 and [gamma] = .55.

Factor choice distortion under cost-based reimbursement

This excellent book is produced by ITDG Publishing, the publishing arm of the British-based Intermediate Technology Development Group.

Baking for Profit: Starting a Small Bakery. (Reviews)

Women's Voices, a project of the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), purhcased used video equipment to record women's views on the issue of poverty.

African Women Awarded $7,500 Prize for Video Project. (Nelliegrams)

All they needed was a bit of intermediate technology.

Filmmaker of vision: Take one's interview with Colin Low pt2

Impact of Small Enterprise Development, Intermediate Technology Publications, London.

Value for Money? Impact of Small Enterprise Development

Despite the scientific nature of the project, there is an element of intermediate technology about it.

Slow death in Arabia: date palms face extinction

Some have advocated the adoption of 'intermediate technology' as a general solution for developing countries.

Rural industrialization can only boost agrarian economy

(London: Intermediate Technology Publications, 1996).

Conservation of indigenous knowledge serves conservation of biodiversity

UK aid agency Intermediate Technology, for example, is currently involved in retraining Zambian copper mining engineers with years of experience who, after the rationalisation of their industry, come out of the mines and find their skills have little possibility of expression outside those mines.

Medium-scale mechanisation

This adds an educational dimension to the project, for it represents rather well the contemporary need to establish a balance between sophisticated but energy-intensive high technology and sustainable but labour-intensive intermediate technology.(2) The mythology of the flying saucer represents a modern view of the heavens and of man's dangerous ambition to conquer them, his hubris perhaps.

Space craft