Hello ! I'm Nur Arifah Amira binti Jefree with matric number 70879. Currently undergraduate in politic and government studies. This is my individual self reflection blog for subject SSF2044 Sociology of Development.
In this course my group members and I have been given the task to evaluate the merits and demerits of development theories through development issues or development programs that my group has chosen. This project will give my group, especially myself the chance to apply development theories discussed in the class to examine contemporary development issues. Therefore, in a previous project, my group has done an analysis on "Unemployment among graduate students in South Africa". This issue is a contemporary development issue that is often discussed by any party and every level of society in this country. As we know from the statistics and media that convey that most of the unemployed come from those who have just graduated from university. This is due to several factors such as some university graduates are very picky in choosing a job, some of them also feel that the salary they will receive is not equivalent to the level of education they have, some companies need prospective employees who have skills in certain fields but prospective graduates do not having the skills as desired by the company, the advancement of technology and so on are the reasons why the unemployed are mostly among the graduates.
The project that I did with my group members is very important because it explains about the theory of modernization and the theory of Keynesianism, and these theories are then applied into our daily lives, and they are interrelated with the issues that I and my group have chosen. In this project I also explain in more depth about the relevance of the theory with the issue of unemployment among graduated students in South Africa. Next, in this study I describe the theory of modernization by the view of Walt Whitman Rostow where he says that to achieve this status of modernization it is necessary to go through several stages and these stages are known as Rostow’s Economic Stages of Growth. The importance of this project explains that the development of society, the development of the country, modernization begins in stages where to achieve this level of modernization a country has to go through various challenges to reach the level of modernity and become a development country. The dynamic components of modernity have modified and shaped traditional social interactions in Africa, just as they did in the West. Africans may now participate with the global community more than ever before, even as the global community intrudes more deeply than ever before into their private lives. But as the world progresses, its society has received higher education and knowledge as well as technology is evolving, then there are various better and modern economic systems that are able to provide a better quality of life to its people.
As technology evolves and the country develops, there are definitely advantages and disadvantages that Africa will experience in terms of its people, economy and politics. As we can see now, most university graduates are more likely to have jobs that are in line with the field they studied while at university before. If seen through the theory of modernization according to Rostow's theory, the division of labor according to skills has already been introduced to facilitate the production of a company. However, some graduates feel that they are not qualified to be in the section offered by the company because it is not in line with the subjects they studied while at university. The attitude of choosing this job will cause the graduates to be unemployed and indirectly their quality of life will decline. The importance of this project also allows me and the group members to see how effective this theory is to explain the issue of unemployment among graduate students in South Africa through modernization theory and Keynesianism theory.
While running this project, I think that we need to make an analysis on this issue because this issue is always a gossip and hotly debated every year. This issue should have a solution because I believe that if a person has the qualifications as desired by the company, surely the issue of unemployment among university graduates can be curbed. We need to find the causes and weaknesses that need to be fixed by certain parties. In addition, with the increase in technology and division of labor, of course, it should be able to reduce the unemployment rate that exists in South Africa. The more developed and advanced a country should be, the more developed the level of thinking of its society. Furthermore, while running this project I have done some reading from reliable sources and reading previous studies I found that why there should be no thought nor stigma that if a person has a high level of education, they should have a high salary commensurate with their level of education. If we look at today, the world is more growing and more modern, graduates should think rationally that they should take whatever job opportunities are in front of them.
This is because, when they are too choosy in the job opportunities, it will make them more stress because they don’t have a quality life.
In addition, the attitude of choosing a job cannot be practiced or become a habit for them, especially since the country is currently experiencing endless covid-19 problems and nowadays it is also difficult to get job opportunities. As we know, since the emergence of the covid-19 virus, many country has taken the initiative to reduce the number of employees in the organization because they cannot afford to pay salaries when production in their organization is declining. These university graduates should take the initiative to improve their quality of life in any way and work. Next, the issue of graduates who do not have any specific skills in the field offered by the company and these people have the attitude of asking for high salaries will also invite to the problem of unemployment. We can see nowadays, any company needs candidates who have at least two years of experience before they are accepted to serve in the organization. The attitude of graduates who demand these salaries causes the company to feel that these candidates are very picky.
Also, there are a few things I felt dissatisfied with while running this project. In my opinion, I feel that this project should be done in more depth such as obtaining data from respondents, especially those who are categorized as university graduates who struggle to find a job and who have been unemployed. Furthermore, from here we can find data and information from themselves about the real factors of their unemployment. Is what the media conveys that these people are unemployed due to their attitude of being too picky about jobs and the demand for wage rates that will be given by employers?
What I gained while running this project is that I was able to gain a new knowledge where when doing this project, I just realized that in the context of development there is also a theory that can be used to explain what the contemporary issue of development is. So far, I feel that developing countries are only focused on the level of technology, but I was wrong and in fact the development of a country is not only focused on technology. In fact, it is very comprehensive where it touches on the aspects of politics, governance, its people also need to have a developing level of thinking and not archaic.
While running this project I was also able to use the theories I mentioned in the project to the best of my ability where I could apply high-level thinking skills, critical thinking and scientific thinking in presenting answers and evidence related to the theories used. Also, what I gained from this project is that when we look at an issue, we need to have an analytical attitude and need to apply the theories that have been learned while in class. Such analysis can also be used to find advantages and disadvantages if we use certain theories in a development issue.
I think that this project will have a positive impact on me in the future. This is because, when I see an issue, it allows me to think more deeply and try to relate the situation to the theory I have learned. This will make me to think more rationally and not focus on one aspect only. This project has also changed my thinking and views on an issue as it taught me to look at an issue from a different point of view. To achieve the status of a developing society, I think that every individual should have the initiative to improve the quality of themselves so that they can produce good output.
Last but not least, I have learned a whole new skill where I have to put myself as a person who is not being ethnocentrism. Besides, I was able to learn techniques for finding information using reliable sources. This is because, I have my lecturer who always gives us tips for finding information properly using a particular platform.
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