Rural Development: what are we talking about?

Abstract

The development expression has been increasingly used and consolidated in the study of socioeconomic realities. However, there is still to limit the scope of the term as well as qualification. This article discusses the significance of rural development expression, bringing together authors and seeking foregrounding of the concepts involved in the expression. The main objective of this work is, from a literature review of the concept of rural development and a context of the Capability Approach, indicate how this approach can contribute to the construction of a rural development concept better suited to the diversity inherent in the environment under review. For this, a brief review was made of what has been discussed about the development process and how this process is associated with rural expression. The term development is analyzed from the construction of their interpretations of concepts and theoretical development. It was possible to recognize the main adjectives, as well as the evolution of these discussions over the last 30 years. Finally, it identified a concept associated with the Capability Approach, presented by the Indian economist Amartya Sen. The idea of rural development associated with the Capability Approach, leads to a design that identifies rural development as an increase in choice of individuals residing in environments made up of socio-economic, geographical and cultural relations that show through the landscape, use and (or) preservation of aspects related to nature whose reproduction is not entirely dependent and (or) conditioned by human action.