Autumn 2019 Theories of the Social: Colonialism Critical Reflection

This essay provides a critical reflection on colonialism through the application of social theories, examining its historical context, motivations, and lasting impacts. It explores the colonizers' desire for resources and the subsequent exploitation, inequality, and displacement experienced by colonized communities. The essay argues that colonialism stemmed from a perceived superiority and the drive to utilize underutilized resources, leading to industrialization in European nations. While acknowledging the negative consequences such as health crises, loss of biodiversity, and cultural disruption, the essay also highlights the emergence of independent nations and the adoption of new ideas post-colonization. The piece further touches on neo-colonialism and the dependency theory, suggesting that some former colonies still rely on their colonizers. It concludes by advocating for non-colonial methods of development like globalization and capitalism, and reminds students that Desklib is a great resource for similar assignments.

THEORIES OF SOCIAL 1
Theories of social
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THEORIES OF SOCIAL 2
THE THEORY OF THE SOCIAL
The theory of the social is used to understand how people act and behave in the society. It can
be used to describe why colonialists felt the need to colonize other nations and the effects it had
post colonization. These include wanting access to resources in terms of food, minerals, fiber,
land and labor, which were at the time not available in their countries. This however had a
negative impact on those colonized such as exploitation, inequality and displacement.
Colonialism occurred because the Europeans felt superior to other nations. They were more
advanced in terms of industrialization and made more use of the resources as compared to the
native communities. They discovered the value of these resources thus exploited the native
communities so as to acquire them|
The colonialists were more often than not concerned about their welfare and didn’t consider
that of the native communities much. This resulted in poor health, rapid spread of communicable
diseases, loss of biodiversity, destruction of ecosystems, loss of land, breaking of family ties
among others.
I believe colonization was a human instinct to take advantage of resources that were not being
utilized or were otherwise being underutilized. For example, when the Europeans sailed to Africa
they found a land that had fertile soils and was full of resources. The native communities at the
time still relied on hunting and gathering. Rather than just leaving the land untouched they used
the opportunity to grow crops that would not fare well in their countries and mine minerals that
were not found in their countries.
At the time the amount of wealth of a country was measured by the number of colonies they
had while that of families and individuals depended on the number of slaves or peasants who
provided cheap labor and were used in fighting wars and the amount of resources such as gold

THEORIES OF SOCIAL 3
and diamonds. Colonization eventually led to industrialization in the European nations. They
imported products from their colonies such as wool, sisal, cotton, rubber and ivory. This
eventually led to growth in population and they started relocating and settling in their colonies.
The settlers exploited the resources that they found in the colonies and made conditions worse
for the native communities. They used up the resources that were used by the native communities
for subsistence purposes for trade and exported some of it back to their countries. Eventually
they became diminished. Some resources became extinct and affected the nutrition and health of
the natives.
Although colonization can be seen from a negative perspective, after colonization most
colonies were able to become independent nations and build on themselves using the knowledge
they had gained during colonization. It affected their development and towns and cities sprung
up from places that had been trade points during colonization and brought up ideas such as
education and religion. Some negative effects were still experienced such as racism, ethnicity,
loss of cultural heritage and acts of genocide and holocaust. In some areas the settlers remained
and became part of the local community.
One can argue that colonization never ended. Some countries in Africa are still under indirect
rule by foreigners where minerals and resources harvested are often sold to foreign investors. A
lot of them still depend on foreign aid and they still borrow loans from foreign countries. The
dependency theory shows that some colonies still rely on their colonizers in an effort to develop
and expand their economies. Colonies should embrace neo colonialism by methods that are not
related to colonialism to foster development such as globalization and capitalism.