\

THE BASIC NEEDS APPROACH *

by Johan Galtung

Whv a Basic Nee{s Approach?

From the very beginning let it be stated unambiguously:

a basic needs appr:oach (BNA) is not the approach to social
science in general or development studies in particular, but
rlnc' annroar-h-
: jj' * l- J - . r r lv j. . . * J
Thefe are Others- Thev mav fOCUS On StrUCtureS
( n : r i . i r . rur l er lr z of n r n r ]r r r .fio n /r-nnqrtmnti nn
svurvlr/ n:J_J-orr1 a nf Ar
\t-q! *-]]z Eype

^c -^ ^r^ ^*i ^-CIVIUSJ,/

r lr inoc\ nr - ^ ^ t^
\JI Y \r\JLr s O,.llu > , Pr U U C >- U J \8.9. - , Cf hO W the StfU C tU feS

n ]-rrn a a Avar fe!r !te/i m a\ = nr l

srrv
A- h.Oi l Stf U C tU f e and nr r - .-v vFu Jq,c
J F t:e
qf C On-
t l r!

strained and steered by cr-:]ture anC :a:u:e; j ust t-o nention

some examples.' In more classical approaches there is also
hcavy emphasis on actors, their strategjc games in coopcration
rnrl nnn Fl i nf ,_ their moti vatiOns and Calrtbilities. NOr is it
assurned that one can pick any onc of t-hcse approaches at will;
they are probably all (and more could bc added) rather indis-
n en sa hl e f or p ri nlr r , i n1 - r r r n of Lhe h
r r uu
r Lm
r q r ta n condition.
vvr r sr L l vtl . Tl l r vh e onl
v- .L ) v
t / ur r J qv r 9

thing that is assumed in thc follovring is that a BNA, although

not sufficient, is at least necessary; that a basic needs ap-
roach or its equivalcnt- in other
terminologies, is an ir-rdis -
.)
pensabfe in,lredient of developnent studics. -

To justify this posj-tion we shall make use of two argu-

ments, onc ncgative and onc positivc.

The neclative argument would be based on the futility of

othcr approachcs as the single or dominanL ap1>roach, because
they fail to mal:e dcl,reLopncnt- hnntan. It- is thcn assumed tliat
rrror'^ l anm n- + t
4vvarrerr L s t udic
J Luu sr s J is
!J not
l l vL . s lir r rrHn r ) lL / v
J tLhj r un sf trclv of soni al n r r ._r -
r-

cesses; that somcwhere in 'developmcnt studies' there is an

 t
t-/

assulnption of goal-directedness, of an arrow other than physi -

cal time itself. There is a sense of better and worse, if not
of good and bad, not to mention perfectly good and perfectly
bad. It is not the study of blind processes, but of'develop-
?
ment.'No doubt this is an expression of the idea of progress."
It may be that after some time it wil-l be given up; for instance,
L^^-"^^
lguau>g
l rfnr
feLg! qeneratlons will come to the conclusion that there
is no such thing as progress, not regress either, that processes
just are. What matters is human self-realization, liberation,
not p vl_ e rna I nr oc r r s
H- vvvvvvs s es a I one.

But as long as the object of study is development, it

matters what the primary unit of development is. And this is
where the negative argument enters: one may define better or
worse structures (e.9., more or Iess participatory, autonomous),
institutlons (e.9., more or Iess powerful or deficient nation-
states), production (e.9., with more or less output, and better
or worse output/input ratios), distribution (e.g., more or
'loqq (a
o a a 'l i 1 .:r r-* * l- an, m or e or rlacc
es s s- ^^i
o c='lr a'1r r y " fr
Lisr )+L t f nr r l J - r r r o
\ v . : . ,d

more or less endogenous), and nature (e.9., more or less ecologi-

cal ly balanced). But, when taken as developmental goals these
tend to become bene per se. They become reified, and countl-ess
are the sacriflces that are demanded in their.,a*".4 A develop-
mental process, then, is seen as based on one perspectj-ve but
carrying other changes in thei r wake, like the liberal promise
that producti on will ultimately bring goods and services, and
social stability to all, or the marxist promise that structural
transformations, particularly from capitalism to socialism,
q
wilt ultimately do the same.- In the name of a-human theory con-
siderable anti-human crime can be commi-tted.

Pitted against this stands the single and clear idea that
riorral nn mon l- i e r ior r ol nnm onf Of hUman beings, beCaUSe ,
hUman be-
o
ings are the measure of all things' . This does not mean that
one cannot talk about development of other things than human
rli
troi nrrc v]-rrr.l-
sL .,,rrry
nn'l
-L r
nl-'rnnn
it these ' thi ngs' can be show n to
-rro ,rg = s
b e m e a n s r e rated to the devero p me n t of h u ma n b e in g s . rf t h is is
not th e case, reification will set in , wh a t s h o u ld be seen as
 T
./

means after some time attains goal character. Instead of diffi-

n rr I {- n n mn l aw a\r ay ch:nni nn \r Ar \/ nf f an d i - qLaJ
uf,) e- =f !J EU li c i nA C Ontfa-
J - - Ler r

dictory hunan beings, infinitely diverse, manifold, and volatilc

"development" escapes into production and distribution patterns,
institution builCing and structural transf ormati-on, cultural
'aspects' and natural balances. Ait of them are complex, but
not that intractable, among other reasons because being humans
ourselves, vre know something about how complicated we are, and
can simplify the task for ourselves by studTing something eIse.
We also knovr that human beings can protest against the i-maqes
developed of them, against labeling in terms of better and
worse. Production and distribution patterns, institutions and
c1-r':rnrrrrna
J L! UU LUI gJ , ^ulture
UU ! LU! g and rlq
qllu nature are abstractions without minds;
1
fur r he
vl w do nof m ir r l hnv . z t hc w are def ined.'

Thus, the negative argument is based on thc futility of

other approaches, not because they are not feasibl-e, but because
f hev are not Val-id--neither theOretj v eJ call.'
vr(!{f
,
n^r nra-f i c;1 I I r' . T"r-
rro ori n r:nm ' at ir . al' l rr i. her r nf t e n lead tO anti-hl.ran rrrCt.iCeS be-

cause there is no built-in guarantee that such develcpm,ent really

.i- ^r . \ / - i ho.i nr:q. Wa m
-;h ^
q- Lr t t S
-!
aL IitiP!vvrrry n( r t9hc
l r s ' ( - - ondit
v v r . u r u l v liO
. n Of
v! hUman
r l q l {r a Il !EIl j w >t Y!E l tr o !a \ / l!gr e f!!grEe e

to have the intuition that democrac]/ is better than dictator-

ship, socialism better than capitalism, and that democratic
socialism (not the same as social democracy) may oe the best of
them all; but hovr do we know? They aII refer to social formation,
nol- to hur.ran beings. To assune that human beings develgp inside
them is like assuming that inside a beauti ful house ther:e must
b7 ncccssity be beautilul 1,cople. Wc kno',r alrcady very wcl-l- to-
-r'." !L-^! ;' ^ ^ i_ d e a COUnI-rv thorr- ma.' tte rlvEry
cr.z nc.l ol - nnonl r--
uqy LItdL fll5fug o fiCh
!f9l! vvqrrurJ LrrLru rrrql v= yvul. Iruvt/rg,

inside a democratic country very often authoritarian relation-

ships, inside a socialist country vcry capitalist wa'zs of doing
things, etc. In short, these other approaches are fut-ile not
onlrz Lv 9uc
r r {ruoL
c ; ,r r q o {L-r Ihg a r zj m a ko
lLLqi\u dnrrol r.tnmr.nj _
r L
ql -rrrl
J
i
L u u !EJ n. fu vvoo r-:q\/
u ( tJJ hr'
pJ .l nrl a-i
u u \r Yr l |J
nrr +LIlg
hn

rear issues. Thcy may arso l-cad Lo most dangerous devclopmcnL

practices that ultimatcly serve only the interest of those
managing the 'things' singled out as the objects undcrgoing
dcvelopmcnt: thc production managcrs, distribution burcaucrars,
 \

r evo lu ti on a r y leaders, institu t io n -b u ild e rs , n a t u re c o n s e rv e rs ,

a n d cultur e preservers.

Th e basic needs approache s c o n s t it u t e o n e a n s we r t o t h is

.1 .i1^** posi ti ve
+,,^^
LJ-ys v^! ur r s rL u rl d ., a n d,l l-hic
a ;;= i-ids t^rlrara
w here J-l-ra
the nnoi{-irra .r^rrm1
argument

s ta r ts.

The expression, 'a fully developed human being' may have

nrr n rpr-iq p m eaninc r : and iha- --" 1 ^^ +"uJ^ ! A
e- q o ood for
rrv P! su ! Js rltEqIlIlIY /
qrlu ulrqL IttO'y !c J L Y vvs I- Lv L if such

a being exj-sted, he or she would in aII likelihood either be

rather arrogant or be lifted by admirers onto a pedestal from
which the arrogance of power, as well- as the power of arrogance,
might be exercised. There is no reason to believe that such
human belngs would be different from countries producing devel-
opment theories according to which they themselves are 'develop-
ed'. In fact, it may be argued that development cri-teria should
be so manifold that they wil-} never al-I be satisfied so that
nobody or nothing can stand out with a clai-m to perfection.
However, we rrray stil1 know something about what it is not to
be developed as a human being, and one approach here would be
to say 'when basic human needs are not satisfied'.

Devel-opment, then would be seen as a process progressively

satisfving basic human needs, where the word 'progressivelyl
would stand for both 'more and more need-dimensions' and 'at
higher and higher l-evels | . When saying 'more and more' and
'higher and higher', it is not assumed that there are no upper
limits to the number of basi-c needs dimensions or the level- of
satisfaction; both wlll be seen as finite, as having (highly
flexible and variable) maxima. But there are also minima to
the number of need dimensj-ons and the level of satisfaction,
and current approaches tend to look in that direction.B

r-
all
rr-^
Lllg 'raqes to f ol low w some of u! the
L r Is nernl Vr L r.xi no and .li f f i r-'r'l f .
allY qllu Uf r I IU Ua L,
PqyuJ }Js!
- Vl r l E

but also highly interesting and fruitful problems connected

with BNA vrill be discussed. At this point let it only be said
i-hif nfi.rar in n r ^ = n h a c
qllytvqulruJ nr 6 -66r-ni rri na nF httman derrel nnmC nt
vvrlvLrv+IrY vL llulttqll usvsIUts, S hOU l d
o
be explored.' Thus, there are concepts of psychological develop-
ment where such terms as 'maturity' wou]d play an important
 {-

1n
roIe. '" Such approaches become, hor,,vever, psychologistic in the
same way as production-orj-ented approaches are economjstic: they
tend to focus on non-material, mental aspects of the human be-
-i no .r *^ .i hrr{- not
I llV o n)'/l.
v ] 1r w. Tf , lh
1 Ee Il.lSIYlf ^ L r aL> ^Y O- !il r L u rrd mav
rrLaJ l!Ere nFr-ocqA r\z
l l g L EJJq !v , !u L II\ SUf f i-

cient. What is needed are very rich, many-dimensional and many-

f aceted, vie.rrs of human bei-ngs, ranging f rom the most material
to the most non-material aspects. As far as we know, the basic
n oe 'rls An nr nac lr eS ar e t he o n 'l v onos fhrf h *i - r fhaf 6ln1-iro r:n-rn

gonr:onf | |
of aq ne cf s r r nder t he Sam e rrr i rrmirleila.

What is a Basic Human Neeci?

The following observations should ma i n 1 r.' 1-ro seen as seman-

tic, dealing with the use of language. Lin'^rarrar

llvr/Ev s! ,
fLTIgIE
hor^ 'i c
f >
nnf
IlVLllf
l-r'i na
l1\r

innocent in semantic discussions, they alwal's touch the substance

maftor - so wh4p the
, rv task is to COme tO .rgrrps
v; ^- .,;
r tr -
w.Lrn +l -
Lrle expressron
I basic human need | . more t,han t-he regu lation of language is
involved.

A need should be distinguished from a want, a wish, a de-

sire, a demand. The latter arc subjcctively felt and articu-
'l :fo rl
t fhar r
v .--J m;
,..;)' e x p re s s n e eds, bu-t theT al so mrl ' not, and there
m A \ / l- r a n a o rl . th a t a re nOt thU S exp1. eS S ed. ThU S , there iS nO
roarrmr.t-.inn fL af n e o n lo ar,
q!L C OnS C i OuS Of al l Of thei r needS .
aJ > ullllJ LJ - \ J lI LIIqL Psv|JrL ''

rr. makes nerfect sense to talk about the need for freedom of a
person born into slavcry, knowledgcablc of nothing eIse, as
'i | *-"
l- L lt t d, ) / -^1'^
lttdflc ^ense
S C I l > toLU talk
Lq!t' about
q !U u L the
ullL need
l l sEu for!VL creativif
VI gq Lf V f Ly w of U! a
q

person born into the routine jobs of 'modcrn' socicty, knowing

nothing else. Corrcspondingly, iL is weII known that vJe mJy
want, wish, desirc, demand somcthit)g that is not rerlly nceded
in the sense of bcing necessary. Ncccssary for what? tror the
person to be a hunan person, and this is, of coursc, where
the difficulties start.
tnccd
Thus, c t ne as noc f of ' is tied to the concept of ne-
13
which means that we havc an imagc of what is neces-
sary to be hrrmrn
^r
:r f I o:cJ- of witat it is to be non-human.
 ,1"

Mn
rrvlu v vran
e! , rror r . 7a Sha11 Claim t hat thefe iS S ovr Lm
r e ue
rrf
r rh
rYi n c r ru rr trnv!i r r e r S a l tO

this image. This does not mean that a list of needs can be
established, complete with minima and maxima, for everybody at
al1 points in social time and social space as the universal
list of basic human needs. The claim is much more modest: that
it does make sense to talk about certain classes of needs,
such as " security needs, " "welfare needs , " " identity needs , "
and "freedom needs," to take the classification that will be
used here, and postulate that in one way or the other human
beings everywhere and at all times have tried and will try to
come to grips with something of that kind, in very different
14'
ways. It may even be fruitful to look for needs in the l_east
conmon denominator of what human beings are striving for: if
one were capable of making l ists of what everybody at any time
had wanted, as inferred from words and deeds, from conscious
and unconscious wishes--and they \,'/ould be many Iists indeed--
then there woul-d be a certain overlap. That overlap would be
a guide to (basic) ,,""d=.15

IVhen we say " something universal" this applies to the

needs, not to the satisfiers; they may vary even more than the
needs. Moreover, there is no assumption that needs can univer-
sally be satisfied. There are, as is rather well known, needs
that cannot be met because of some empirical scarcity--even
ne ed s h e'l r i hv t he s am e ner s on. 'l
And there a rF
sru n eedq
rruuur -
t rrj\Li ke A
s n r-rq-
llvr

sible "need to dominater" "need to be dominatedr" "need to be

rnore educated/healthy than my neighbor, "positional needs"
that cannot be met by everybody for logical reasons. But the
needs language should be open also to such relational and rela-
tj-ve needs, not only to absolute needs that define the level of
satisfaction in an individual without reference to other indi-
viduals--and be open to needs that are morally unapplauded
1A
(like the "need to dominate").'-
T
!E ^! L L]5 then proceed to the second term from the end in the
express ion 'basic human needs': human. Our concern is with human
needs, and !1-^!
LIlO L
.:
IJ ^ meant needs that are located, if not
necessari-1 erceived in individual human beinqs. The need-
 ;

subiect is an individual, but that does not mean that the

satisfier, thc 'things' neccssary in ordcr to meet or satisfy
thr. n r.r,.jr : - at ae in t he indiV j-clUai Of gan 1 ^ 'a m a l - l - r r z +h e
pl indi-
11
vidual alone, v"rithout a social context. '' The problem is that
the term'need'is also used for non-subjccts; there is talk
about 'national nceds' (f or pres*,ige of a country) , 'social
needs' (e.9., for a good urban sc'//:lcre disposal system), and
'group needs ' (e. g. , f or a pltce f-o r,et, L, io bc together) .
The argument here would certainly not be that there are no
necessary conditions for these social entities or actors to
f rrnr-f ion - hrrt ,p"
that the term 'need' WilI on l.z be rrse'd with
ref erence to need-subjects, and the onll' subjects \.Je know of
j-n human affairs are indivldual hunan beings. It is only in
them that the "cl-ick of correspondence" between need and sat-
isfier can be experienced. That these individual human beings
develop thelr need consciousness in a social context and that
most of them have most of their needs satisfied in a social
context does not change the cj-rcumstance that groups, cities,
and countries do not ]rave minds in vrhicn needs can be reflected
and even articulated. On the contrary, the usual experience is
--and this brings in the ncJatir-c argunrnt from the preccding
section--thac such 'collective needs' usually express wishes
and wants, the desires and demands of the ruling elrtes in
1B
these collectivities , more or l-ess poorly di sgui=".1,

Then, the terrn'basic'. It ser V eq to ona'l i fr.' f rrrf hnr f hn

notion of a need as a necc ssarv condition, ds somcthing that has

t-o be satisfiecl at lcast to sone extcnt in order for the need-
subjccb to funct-ion as a human bejng. Again, one should avoid
too clearly dcf incd positj.rzc image s of what that- mcans, not
only to discourac.,1c the arrogance of being 'developed', but al-so
because such j-magcs might def inc developmcnt too much as a
point, rather than ncgativcly as a region, ds the opposj_te of
tnon-rl I fh n r e l' r .' i nc (-r'rncr,nrrnnf
, - v olo r tm n r f nrrrmi
LJL!rL{r
l -f L Lrrry rl
L{!i rrnrqj
vu! Frz evrrJL.\lLrurrL lLy
rr
,

when a basic human necd is not satisfiecl somc kind of fundamen-

10
tal disint"g.?_t_._oq_y!,]_!arkc placc. '' This is not an obscuriunr
pcr obscurius-J.f i.;1"- f ;x.,or ot lcasr somcth;; .4""a
".
 4'
/

fltndamental- forms of disintegration. At the individual level-

they show up in the form of ntortality and morbidity, the fatter
divided into the two interrelated categories of somatic and
mental diseases. Hovlever , even if needs are seen as i ndir"ridual ,
the disintegration resrrlting from deficient need satisfaction
may not necessarily show up in the individual, or be classified
As srtr:h - Th ew m ar z
"' * _t
al s o s how lrn el sewherp. for i nstance aS social

disintegration. After all, there is no argu:nent that the social

context is not a major source of need sati-sfaction (if this term
means the same as 'man-made environment' , then the other source
r,
wu r nut rr u
l r,l h
u ryz d sT
u n i fin n
o fi IIIIL IcJIIT l.a
I) n a .l-
IIa u u: r-c7;
rra\ . lIretIU
.^^^^ e,
it WOU Id nOt be S i fanE e

if disintegration would first be registered at this level.

Two relatively clear types of sociai disintegration can now

be identified, using the metaphores of frcezing and boiling: on
the onc hand, the society that suffers from lack of parlicipation,
from apathy, \ttithdrawal; on the other hand, the society that
suffcrs from over-activity, mutiny, revolt. Disintegration must
be used positively as a social forcc, for instance, by revolu-
f ionarv forcns--A nossihr'l'i fv not exnla'i necl h" Nl r:laqs'iCtrI func-
tionalists*-and illness may be a source of personal renewal.
Just as for individual biological death sccj-al disintecjration
may not necessarily be bad, it may put an end to something that
no longer is viable. But both are signs of disintcgration.
l{hether societies disintegrate because individua} }ruman needs
are not sufficient.ly satisficd or the societies are incapable
of satisfying them because thcy are disintegrating is less in-
tercsting. Thc two viouJd probal:ly bc part oI thc same proccss,
and from our point of view socierl disinteqration is an indicator
(as opposed to a causc or an effect) o1- insufficicnt satisfac*
tion of basic human necds in concretc. historical sit.u,r1,ions.

All that has bcen said in this section nov/ amounrs; ro one
thing: althougi-L we do not want to be rigid in the conception
of needs, one should not be totally free in the usc of this term
erther. If a person says 'I disjntegrate unless I arn permitted
f.r> sf arr;or rvrrv
-rnc m io ' } ' r f u ar-r-onf
uvuvuu
q.i ;rrrl i
r Lqr v trrvnrr :c
q5 m^^f i nn nf- hor
(JLllgL
, c1 wdy ^tr
\JL tttLjL:LIrry

needs (for a sense of meaning in 1ife, a sense of faith in one's

 ci

n \^/n luur
-o rnqv:n i
4e_z
J- r r \ / , but if it means 'starving to death', it might
)n
not be seen as 1 r.r^ rr n l.ronnm
!veJ*arry i na mnr.-
rLrvrs L.,
rrurrrdl
'* l .-" No doubt aIl

of this raises the important problem of who are to be judges

of v/hat consti tutes basic human needs if the person himself
or herself is noL consj dered sufficicnt.ly capable of judging
--and we shali- have something to sav about that l-ater.

Conclusicn: the wav we have defined it, needs = basic human

neecls; f or need.s are (1) hlrman, (2) basic. I'or other concepts

other terms should be used

tlf\tna) - l
tl"nr ^r :
lvwo!ur
rrl q : Ll - 'vL J\1
.]c r .z
I
of Basic Human Ncecls

So far we have touched upon a distinction between material

ancl non- inaterial human needs, preferring 'non-material' to the
term 'immateri-al' because connotation
of the
'unimporl-ant' also
carri ecl b.,, th.- 1:f tor- FvnrFS=ion.21 ,l'hCrc are at leas: tv/o
v/ays of trying to clarify this distinction, one relating to
f h a, nr.e d- qr r bi J gv J v v 9J , cr-tc - r ' nF tn l-he satisf iers.

Thus, there is a tradition, and it is not tr{estern in

gcneral nor Cartesian in particular, to distinguish bctween
the bodies and minds of pcrsons/ and correspondingly between
somatic and mental (spiritual) needs. One of the difficulties
with this, of course, is that mind and body are rel-atcd. Thus,
the satisfaction that derives from eatinqr food, even unappctiz-
ing food and in an environmcnt dcvoid of good company and
esthetic pleasurcs, is it rcally mcrely somatic? Of course,
there are digestivc llrocesscs that perhaps may be refcrred to
as mcrely somatic, but therc is al-so a fecling of hunqer abat e-
nrcnL, of increasing satjati on Lhat, iI not spiritr-ra1, aL ]-c;r s;L
is mcntal (vrhatevcr bcing the exact bordcrline betwccn the
two). What about sex, is it'mcrely somatic' (the worcl 'physical'
is often used in this conncction with 'love' presumably on the
other end of the sonatic,/mcntal-/spiritual Iaclcler)--or is it
rather that the somatic/mental dichotomy and the desire to clas-
 \,t/

si iv s6 mef hi nc r nna 1-lr g 6lflgr iS in i t s e 'l f reqn1-1nsible fOf

-c ^r
a vj-ew of sex as somatic, and love as mental/spiritual?

Conv er s e l y , is a fe e l i n g of togetherness or an estheti c

e x nF
c ! gt r i
pnr - r .
I glt Ug m e r^ r"
Itrst\::-LJ -^ -!-
1Llgll LGt,
1 rr
VI C OLIl d
9 U L tl u it
I s be
!g that
L IIAL it
J- L does
U L /t]5 sompl -hi
JU r l r g L r r !r r y no

to our body that, although unknown to us, could be as important

.-
o5 t.rl-'r+
w tto . L ^ ^LJUU
nA f! nnr r
\Jr Ju r nr
qr lu r annr
vuu r sex do to our souls? In short, it
Y Y

does not look as if the body/mind distinction serves aq: rrnnrl

22
guide here.

A distinction based on satisfiers is not unproblematic

either. It is relatively cl-ear what is held to be material- sat-
isfiers: mil-itary or poiice hardware, food, clothes, shelter,
medical hardware, schooling hardware, comrnunication/transporta-
tion hardl.rare. AII these objects are scarce, ultimately due to
the finiteness of naturer S o that they obey the principle 'if
you have more, I have l-ess, and vice versa'. In that sense they
are economic objects, for economics can be seen as the social
science discipline dealing with how human beings produce, di-
stribute, and consume scarce objects (or with scarce componenls)

Then, there are clearly non-material- satisfiers, and the

major example would be social structures or arrangements. But
it is not quite as simple as that. To enjoy tcgeLherness, pro-
ximifv is nr=eded if oners needs are not met hv feler:omnrrninafinn' vg u!vII,

' lo n p ' t i- ^ ^ ^
fLU
n enior;
glrJUJ IVJIIIlI5J I YCUYLaITIl-q!
r nhi r-al di
eIostanr-e
LqIluu marz
r.rqJ nr^rf
IlvL hp
!e a}-rqnl rrl .o'l rz

n p r - F q q . a rrs\LJ/ -, ir r r i- iI iq h e . ln fr r l
rrvfplq!, :nr'l r-eri -ai nl rz qrrffi n'i onF El It
Inrnrri r']orl
\vr vvl u su
- L {L !!u f

one avoids telecommunication). Both can be referred to as 'human

settlement patterns' and put in the category of 'structural
f,rr:ha amo nrcr . BUt W hef eaS the fOfmef dOes nof r euYur!
! orri rg mUCh

geographical- territory, the latter docs, and geographical terri-

tory is scarce, given the finiteness of our globe. Hence, if I
benefj-t from a ccrtain geographicar isolat-ion as a Norvrcgian,
-^-^r-^r'' ^r^^- 'i n fh o d r ,n q o lw-nnntrl a]_ed N ei .hrrrl :ndc in Ll ana
JUr[glUUy EI>c:, Ltr urru uelrJLrJ pv|JufqLsu IlL nullg
,

Kong, mdy benefit less (but they may not define it as a pro-
blem; their taste may be different) . Correspondingly vertical- and
]rorizontal social structur"=23 are social arrangements ancl as
such non-material, buL human bcings themselves being material have
to have some kind of material embodiment. Thus, although a beta-
 i\

structure involves relatively few people, its horizontality

uolI ^^1"
ullIJ
!^^
!E --Aninofnl u!
rrtgqlrrlry! Lif L thcv
Lrls)/ inforacf
r1r LUr q9 L with each othcr rela-
l.'irzolrr freatroni.'l
rruyuurlLrJ rr fnr
r.v.r inql-Fn.o
rtr-LurruLt in fhn Fnrm nf h:rzinn man'Finao.
urvL!j 7 rv!rrr ur rlqvrrrY rirEgLtrrY-t

and for meetings to take place there has to be a physical 'some-

wlrcre', a house, a room, some pl-ace under a tree. And that some-
vrhere can also be used for some other purpose. There seems
always to be material- constraints somev/here, and hence some
opportunity costs.

Then, how woul-d one classify human bcings? It may be argued

that it is not my wife who is a "satisfierr" but her love, both
her capacity to love and to be loved, and that. has to do with
some expression in her eyes, the tone of her voice, the feeling
of vrhen we look at a full Easter moon together. It is hard to
refer to al1 of this as mal-erj-al, but it certainly does obey the
principlc that "if I have more of it, somebody else has less."
r+- m.\/ ha nhig6lgfl that if T have more canar:ifv {-o lOVe Of tO
be loved, that does not mean that sonebody else has to have
lcss of either, and this may be very true and very important;
ve f T mar . ' be l- eSS int ef eSt ed in IOVe in danar:l *l - r : n in IOVe in
_1 ""

particular. That there is a scarcity principlc involved here,

most human beings who live and have lived, and very much of
human literature can testify to. fn short, there is some scarci-
ty in the non-material sphere, tco.

Does that mean ti'rat one sl'rouId sinply ci',e up this distinc-
tion? No, it is LerribJy iinportant as a rcmjnder, and its vali-
dity does not stand or fa}l with our abilit7 to clarify it
here and now. Nor is it so im;;ortant that thc distincl-ion is so
clear: something like "a material necd requircs for its satis-
faction clearly m.rtcrial satisfiers; if thc satisfiers are not,
or only 1:artly material, the need should rather be secn as non-
material" will do. Thi-s, however, should not make us lose sight
of thc type of insr-gl'rts arri-ved at above as to hovr interrelated
t-hn co cr f n. ' ^: ic s ar c bec aus e it l e a <l s LL Un d..,-nnr
U U L i TL ! i nsirrhf
Itl Ja Yr r L J
q , !ri t n t-
LlIgh o

relation betvreen nceds and satisf ier:s.

So much for that distinction; then the social context re-

f e rre d J-
Lv n !Fr! sa-y1tnnF I rr i n f lra nr nnnr l i na
uluvuurrry >u c t i o n . Likg the needs
 ln
I i//

the satisfiers do not fall from heaven, and they do not exj-st
f romvr l r
r! so f L se!rrnr ri lLy
-r r J-
L Ln, o
c l-Lacr
r n i r r r 1L-yr z., fL rlrr sarz
y :ro s
q! nrnri lr
y:_uutrcd in and by a soci a]-

context and are dependent on that context. Since any social con-
text can be looked at in at least two waysr dS a set of actors,
and as a structure, it may make sense to distinguish between
acfor-denendent and structure-denondon-i- I U ar""d=.24
IIS- \TJ. Thus,
ITIU J, dD actor:-
dependent need would be one where the satisfaction depends on
the motivation and capacity of some actor to meet or impede the
satisfaction; a structure-dependent need would have the level
of satisfaction more built into the social structure itself, as
an automatic consequence, not dependent on the motivations and
capabilities of particurar actors. To this could be added a
{- h i rA n a t - a r r s r tv7tl .' n: { - r r r o - r io nu say p
g d e n t.
rlquulg FO1. S OC i a I ana l ,"rqi'- L r s r
h6w orzer
.r vr r e v e! ,

\./e shall- take that one for granted and be more j-nterested in
how actors and structures, in other vrords the social context,
impede or meet needs over and above vrhat nature yietcls. An
earthquake kills and maims, but particurarry in the lowcr
classes with the poorest houses; a floodwave hits and destroys,
but mostry those who five on the waterfront, unprotected by ad-
eqrra te dans --as Lryo examplcs of hovl s tructures work.

Th e fo llowing very tenrativ e t y p o ro g y , g iv in g four c ra s s e s

:- !- ^^^r !L^ 25
\Jr
^+ r-^^
r sl -eLr b, -Lb oased on th e tw o -rr
di sti ncti ons made above:

rA B L E 1
A T YP O L OGY O F ' BA S IC IIU I4A N N E E D S

Dependcnt on Dcpendcnt on
ac tors s tructures

I'lateria SECURITY WELFARE

I
(violence) (mi sery)
FREEDOM ID]iNT ITY
Non-mater-ial-
(repression) ( a I ienat ion )

It is readily seen that the distinction actor-dependent vs

structure-dependcnt is also highly problcmatic. Thus, take the
case of security: thcre is sonre military ancl police hard.ware
that is rclated to sccurity; onc reason for cfassifying it as
a material need. No doubt insecurity may also stem from the
 i")
r1

evil motivations of capable actors. But then security may

also be highly structure-dependent, be something provided for
t--- -
U) / q
cfrrrnrrrra which
wlllvir makes
rtrur\er the members more able to resist any
attack, violentll' and non-violently.'o And insecurity may also
stem from structures, e.g., from exploitative relations between
groups in general and societies in particular. And then both
factors may be operating together, ds they usually are: the
structures produce the 'eviI' actors, and those actors make
use of bacl =at.r"tures.

Nevertheless, the typology may ser\/e as a rule of thumb, dS

some kind of guide, &t l-east sensitizing us to some problems in
connection with satisfiers and need satisfaction. When people
q fa rrzo -i rur
r -uqr
1r :'l - 'l
f nr inqt:nnn
+r rJ Lur r ve, ri +u + rc rJ rz r- rn+
v L tr ac eabl e to =a;or l ;

actors with a motivation to kill through starvation (except

rrrr-i
qulr r ly nr r c i ooo\
rJ-avt r
hr . r l- n c1-r:UCtU1. eS diStf ibUting the f fUitS Of
1-l

nature ancl human procluction unevenly.'/ The same applies to

alienation: it j-s generally a non-intended rather than an
intended effect of the workings of the social context. But
rr.nresq i on i s dif f er:ent: at least the f orms ref lected in human
rights arc highly actor-dependent (although also s tructure-
conditioned). In fact, the human rights can bc seen as norms
d iron.t-oj h .z e h r'_ nrarl .i -ar q rrc d i _ntef
v r r s uLs u r v r^
LLi^U \- .) . I Llr na] bOdi eS )
!!,u r - tO S OmC
:I _

l ro rr a rl a r< lr .' nannlr nnc .iLLIU II5,I

l - j n- c \
- r -t- ' r = l' l J
5UqIr lr EVIr r =
i nl
al C t- \/F 1. nm enl :l
Yv v c l l ul LEl l LqI t
Ataor=uuLIi
q - r r | - L" i r r o pub-

to the effect that they shall not impede the freedom of their
)R
UI LI ZElI J .

As mentioned, the four types in Table 1 st-and for classes

of needs. For one effort to spell them out in a way that may
bc particularly rclcvatrt for rich, industrializcd countries scc
next pagc. Sone conuncnts are necessary, but this is not the
place to go into anlz clct-ail . First of all, in linc wi t-ir what-
has bcen said abovc: .elthouqh it is claimcd that the f our
classes of needs have a cert-ain universality about tht:m, this
Iist is by no means a universal list. Similar lists couLd be
imagined for other ty1>es of need-subjects, and evcn within the
cat-egory 'rich industrialtzed counLries' variations will be tre-
ntendous. However, as mcntioned: this j-s not thc list, it is one
 \\4

TABLE 2

A LIST OF BASTC HUMAN NEEDS-_AS WORKING HYPOTHESIS

Sati-sfiers held to
be relevant in some
societies

S ECURITY NEE DS ( s ur v iv al needs ) - to avoid viol_ence

- agains t ind i v i d u a l violence (a s s au1t, torture) IOLIC E

- agains t c ol -l e c ti v e violence (w a rs, i nternal , external ) MILITap.y

WE LF A RENE E D S (s u ffi c i e n c y needs) - to avoi d mi sery

Fa- nlf
tluLrJ- ri {- i an tr/^ {- 6r r"i r c'l o
- rul Lrutl, , ur,,
--*P
FOOD, WATER, AIR
- f or m ov ene n t, e x c re ti o n
r--i^cf a l j n - +^
- rf var! nr nlonl. inn o 9 q ! t r >L utlluaLY,
a n r ;i r n r ,m a n f
cl r vr !u l u l r g l l u CLOTHES, SHELTER
I / r uLs uL4J lt

- f ar nr nf oa] - i 66 a
- - - ig a rn
- cs
+ t (]rs
; i
-^
e a- ^s^ e s MEDICAL TREATMENT
- nr h v ^ ! 6 ^ + 1 '^ - arai n q ,f cxr - cssi Ve S tf ai n LABOR-SAVING DEVICES
- for q a r f - a xn i- e ssi on - d i a l o e ir r e . educati on SCHOOLING

fD E NT I T " / NE IE D S(n e e d s fo r c l o s e n e ss) - 16 avoi d al i enati on

- far calf-ownroqqinn
vr ly r v v v r v r r r \1r J ,
araalirzif.z r ra'ziq r^r,rL. JOBS
- f or s c lf - ac tu a ti o n , fo r re a l i z i n g i l otenti al s JOBS + LEISUR,E
f ar rua L i^'r
- !er ws!r l I -ho
!si-llVi na t llqlJlf
-^-i llg>>,
-^-- JU) RECREATION/ FA.\ILY
- fnr ha ina acf
qvurVe i,.^ qlIU c..1
ru!JssLfia^F
!rry ---l
RECREATION, FAMILY
nnf hoi no naqs irra - cl
v r !!r r ut i pnf . oi- iecL
"-)

_ ano new ex per lenc

nr ch: l I466p
-. - : - --,1 -^r., ^vh^ri ^n es RECREATION
qpy. qnorrqa
- far :ffoef ian
u,vrr, lnrzo
rvv!, frianric
,
n{:f PRIMARY GROUPS
--.-Spflng
- f or r ooi: s , beLongingness, s u p p o rt/ esteem:
SECONDARY GROUPS
as s oc iat ion w i th s i m i l a r h u ma n s

- f or under s t a n d i n g social fo rc e s ;
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
f or s oc ial tra n s p a re n c e
f nr n :rJ-n a rq h i n ur i th ne f r r r e
NATURAL PARKS
-

- for a sen se of pur pos e, of m c ani n g wrth life;

RELIGTON, IDEOLOGY
clo se ne ss to t he t r ans c endent al, transpersonal

FREEDOM NEED S ( f r eedom t o; c hoj c e, option) - to avoi_d repression

- cho ice in r ec eiv ing and ez . pr c s s in g information

COMMUNICATIOIJ
an cl 0 prn l-on
- ch oice o f people and plac es to visit. and be visit.ecl T R A N S P O I i . T A T I O I 'J
- ch oice in c ons c ious nes s - f or m at ion I 'I E E T T N G S , M E D r A
- cho ice in m obiliz at ion O R G A N I Z A T I O N , P A R TIES
- cho ice in c onf r ont at ions ELECTIONS
- cho ice of oc c upat ion LABOR MARKET
- ch oice of plac e t o liv e MARRIAGIT MARKET
- ch oice of s pous e (supER_) MARKET
- ch oice of goods , / s er v ic es )
- cho ice of v / ay of lif e
 t4 ' ,

Iist and can be used as a working hypothesis, as a point of

departure to see what kind of consequences follow from that
n rr]_ i n rrl :r nnr cnoct i rrr:

As to the various comments that can be made; the follow-

ing is sufficient for thepresenLpurpose. The list no doubt has
a lriestern bias--and mav be of some use as a check lisr. ro
)q
dj-scuss problems of Western societies.-- There is certainly no
-^^"-*!
o'>>ulLtPLllJll
i ^- .+at
Ltro.u the
LIIC satisf
JaLrJrJ iers to the rlohf
vrrL rea 1 i rr magl
!sq!!y ltrsl the
needs--they nay do so in a way, up to a certain point. The hy-
pothesis is that they are held to meet the needs. It should
al-so be pointed out that t.hese needs are posited; there is no
systematic empirical research behind them. They are included
here as an example of a need-set to facilitate discussions.
Such discussions have a tendency to becor,re overly abstract un-
less there are examples to refer to. Thus, there is dcfinitely
no universal pretense behind this list--if it should be used as
a base l ine for exploring how societies function, it r^/ould be
from the point of vj-ew of this need-set, postulated from the
outside. Whether that is a meaningful procedure can har:dly be
d or-irr-od
uuvruLu a
* n r in r i On o rt'*l
,r :.2 nf f eql -i ncr i
ru i \r7.'\rl
vvvurv l d l!s-,e hrr
pI :'l
qr-u qn vq!!j
t/-
-^rr\/-
.i ar't- # l- r a nnnnq i J- o n r ^ co q q :
-a
Lt t Y eX n'l nri n.r Weste1.
r r L r u L l ft n S OC j et'/u f
r vu r L bV
p) ml anS
3O
of non-!{estern need-lists. So r,re le,l-,,c it, ',,rith t}-re hope that
it can stimulate a debate.

fs There a Hierarchy of Necds?

In most litcrature about needs thcre is an explicit or irn-

plicit assumption of a gencral hierarchy of needs. Usually,
there is a distinction putting somc of thc "physlological"
or "animal"--in general very somatic or material--neecl s at the
bottom of the hierarchy, and mcntal or spiritual needs--in our
11
terms identity needs and freedom needs--higher.-' The thesis
may be seen as an axiological thcsis (the higher needs are
higher in tire u"n=** anoy arc Iess sharecl with animals, for
insi-ance) , as an cmpirical- thcsis (the lowcr needs arc pursucd,
in f act) , or as a norntative tl-resis (the lower neecls should be
 tlc

satisfied first before attention is given to the higher needs) .

Any such thesis is dangerous because it limits the range of

possibilities that should be opened by any good theory of needs.
As such these theses constitute threats not only to cultural
diversity but also to human diversity within cultures, and
throughout any individual human bcing's life cycIe. Thus, the
i dea that non-material needs are "hlgher" than material needs
can be seen as a way of legitimizing thc position gi..ren to in-
tellectuals in many societies, and to asceti-cs as sacred or
h olrz
rrur] in
flr
q r rm p Jvuf
q o r - io ]- io q-
gursJ, n r o q r rmai r'l rz qnF-i
Dysuf
:rl i efq.)r
urlJuJ v! eno?i r'l
pt/LLlo!ILLIL9 i ryi nn
I,!sDqrrLqurJ
-vrLrs

in non-material needs. As such their lives seem to be built

--^ "^ '': 1^ r- 1- ^- needq s hor r ld tLtlqL
hat nOt alsn oirze g i qe
rtIJE fLUn a hicrhar
Qluullu lIIyrlg! rlLUvJ -
t Jllvu!u 1]vL q!JV yrv A rllylrCl

n oqif ion" . (l 'he

\-.,e l a t.te
ra c re r n o rt n .-_-.'
r. ' ctrssari lv m.:
..._anl -ng a more l af __r
1..* eri al lv
r or . T ar r lar l nnci l i 6 n --i _ n te l l e C tU a IS al S O S eem tO get that--bU t a
?- )
position of particular esteem) . " As theories
needs are about
more I i ke' l v to be f ormulated 'i
hrz nf el I cr:trra'l s l-han hw non- j_n-
tellectuals, the point is worth considering, .9., as reflected
r-n ut.opras.

This does not apply so much to the hierarchi'thesis as an

a mnirjn rI t . hagig. if it Can be aSCertainecl emn.i r.i r-aIIv
Lfll'/!! r9 q a f that
]

people in fact do pursue material neecls frrst and then non-

material ones, even under c ondi ti ons ',,rhere they cannot be said
to be forced to do so, then this is an irnportant consideration.
Hovrever, the basic point would be that as an empirical thesis
this is certainly not a generally valid rule about human behav-
ior. People are willing to suffer both violence and misery--in-
cluding the sacrificc of their own fives--in strugglcs for iclctr-
tity and freedom. I,^Jhat is a gcneraf rulc might be tl-re possibil-
ity that the thesis is valicl at an extrcirrely low leySl _gE_mglc-
rial s;rtisf action: t-hat in utter depri.,,ation (hunger to the
point of starving, thirst, cxposure to pain intlictcd by nature
or by human beings, nob pcrmitted excretion or basic sanita-
tion, no possibility oi movint; , suf f oceLion, "st.arvin,J " Ior scx)
nri * "* rrri t i oc ir a Cleaf . TheSe a1. e tLhr r LC Caseq
u q JcJ w
wf h e
r E!r c , g fL l r Lh- r . pOithet
gL
r-

"animal beha'"rior" i-s of ten applied--and ref erence is made to

extreme bchavior undcr, for insL.ancc, conccntration camp situa-
 +
?2
irnnc

There is no denial that a rock-bottom basic physiology of

human beings exists which--under what v/e are used to seeing as
e>:treme situations--would seem to steer completely human be-
]ravicr. But this is not th. same as sayrngt

( 1) that all human beinqs first pursue the satisfactj-on of !1-^^^

LIIgJE

needs to a maximgm, or at least very f.ar, before any atten-

tion is given to other needs; under all circumstances;
(2) that other needs, "non-material neeis, " cannot be given
immediate attention at least after extreme material depriva-
tion has been overcome; or that they are not there all the
time orl-y that they are ovcrshadowed by the activit.y to over-
come material deprivation; nor
(3) that all hunan beings have the same mlnglgm borders, the
sane floors vihere deprivatron is concerned. It is assumed
that some cultures and some individuals can stand physiolog-
ical deprivation much better than others, that the thre-
sholds are nLuch lower, in other words, whether this is t he
res ult of conscrous training and practice or rot.34

ft is the normative thesis that is the most dangerous one

as seen from diversity. In thrs thesis a presuned empirical
regularity is elev.rted Lo the status of a norn with co;lsider-
able political inpl LCf,cions. It';rat iL says is , in fact, that
concrete policies and strategies, both on the individual and
collective levels, should be oi:clered in time sequentially so
as to give first prioriby to the satisfaction of matr:rial-
nced:;, and Lheq the time may corne for non-maherial n,:eds. fn
of h r,r w nr r iq. t t hc
u] I v nor m aLi vc f lrec iq mav sr.r\/rr ;rq. i7 r\r(' rext for

dclibc::ate inattention given to non-material necds, claiming

Lhat "timc is noL yct ripc-" Both individualIy and collectivcly,
this may serve as a basis for indefinite postponemcnL: the
individual may alwal'5 fecl ti-rat there are some matcrial nceds
not yet sufflcientJ-y s.rtrsfied; in thc collectivity there will
dl"ra1's i-re sorr,c individuals whosc material needs have not becn
sufficientry satisfred. Again, it shoulcl be repeatecl that at
tt'ic level of e>:treme depi:ivation tl-Lcrc vrould be no ijif f icultv
 \)

accepting the thes j-s as one indica L.ing short-time priorities ;

the difficulty is with the longer run. And here there are two
nroblems: firsi- oiven the number of materiai needs that could
he
!c I i c.f p6
f I J Lgq, anrr ^: \,-.n l-r-rn ^,.,rnber of
qIrU
YIVEIT
u119 llu members in Collecr-_irrities such
as nations or countries, the time needeo to arrive at anything
like full satisfaction of materral needs first is 1ong indeed;
the assumption then being that for this cntire period non-
material needs will not be attended to.

In practice this will serve as a carte blanche for the

1 - rzn a nf n ^l -i f l- , r f ni r- c l r r ar ::t1_ r ]a' q.o
^d Lr r aL r L,r \jr- r--L :qg! C c onom i c
- r "-- --.i
r c> - - - " " * ar '
"*
r^ro lrro .hr r . r - af f hr . ex nens e Of COnSidef able amOUntS Of aliena-
',9 !rqlv'

.|- inn :nrtu

j rA r r r .\- - i^-) fI Ir mnr an66- 17 r elr r c ! i ef
L ! vrr q rc'/!eSSI( . llllltj!9Li,r eY !s va)Pur
r 'tFr rr ur
Al v- r r J , i nn< FLrha
rc SO U p

k'i f r - hc ' ne- I

ri o h t a fte r n a tu ra l and soci al ca.t_aqfronheq, A rF onnd
-LY

exannles of hOw this can be done l-n a vlav whir-}r in f'he lono rn''r
v/ould be highly af ienating : people are iite: aI -1' sr)etrl:;n;t red;
the ,",
e rl v l aro af j- ho r o- air r i
v v v tv r r r )
nn end Of a Chain O: dCCiSiOnS and

^^r
AULI \ J lt > ,
': ^ * ^ * ^L
I I UL fL ! . ho
u sJ Lr+rrJhier :f of
vI L
L l riqtLe
! -r o ', . , 'n ir IUc!_uU-:JU
V"1 i d IJ- ;L !i L s- i : l t t s i : c - _ i r - r (\E. f v r -!E.i
e ur r j -
Uvu

for the cir cumstance that manv of the trrcks anC efforts to
cheal- that take place even Curing such samaritan acti-rities
--much like j-n schools--may be interpreted as an effort to get
out of the status as receiver and client and into a status as
acting conscious subject again, less a.l-ienatcd b1' Ehe structurc)
Zoological g;rrdens and morc L,enign conccntration camps are
examples of how material needs can be satisfied in a way com-
p1.:fn'lrz r..\'nl) , - r t ible W
w r uiLlf
lt aliena t fl rO
q u rlvrl t and f p r ) r r 's L;JJr
. : u'il t. on- T- r hr 1n,- l.trrs!u
i , a>r
u - - lr r c l . v

!I-^^i^
Lrlu>a> lttoy ^rrvevu
>E! to
L\J lcgitimize
ruYrurlLtrau the
Lllu construction
uvll- of societies
th.rL cle facto arc zoological gardctrs'rrrit I..Lrt;c.") i\:rd t-ltc proL-
l-cnr here is not only that non-maLcrj-al- needs arc put f o,rcr
do'".rn on the nrioritw I i st It is also that the strLtclurcs tl-rat
have been used in order to satisfy only material needs may l-ater
stand in the vJay of satisfaction of non-material nceds, They
m A\/ f re rt'z.o s oc ial ac t ion i- nt o n n t fu
i /u
r)rns
u v!.^ r nF hicrh lnrzrrl n , l l r l r r r - 'r i , l 'j -

!i -snfr:r,
- rrrarrL
ml f lrv
i rrrl u* - r - - ,F qnninl- r r a pcrrnaltent cnterqcncy opcration, not
^t) J' -
to say a zoological- garclen or concentration camp.

But that does not mean that thc opposite str.etegy i_s any
better: to put freedom and identity or non-mat-erial needs in
 I '-{
tl

gcneral higher or even highest on the list of priorities. Trans-

lated into a political program what this means in practice is
a considerable range of options for those who have their material
needs satisfied to expand even further, adding more and more
material "needs" and ever higher Ierzels of satisfaction, legitimiz-
':'.- !1-i^
rtrY LrIIJ ^^riJn
auLt\ under such banners as "freedom" (to choose con-
J qlrrg! ^^^r^
Y uvuJ , for instance) and "iCentity" (with consumer goods).
To this it may be objected that in doing so thcy are in fact not
^'.-^.' : *^ h^h-naterial needs, they are only adding to
vur Durrrlj ltvll rilq Lgr !qr rlsgui "having, "
ary^h :{- f
']-rn
6vnanca nF lll-roi nn tt JO
sv crl qL Lrls sAPgrtJs v! ugrltY .

If need theory is to have any purposc or positive political

function in contemporary society it shoufd be to serve as a
basis for revealing such social malconstructions or cases of
ma lclevel onment and to indicate other nossibilities. A s,or-i et- 'r
!1--r -i .i r!ra*+l t^
tna t rs - r 11CO
^^-^-l--l . peur E ^ \^FJ - y^-i.,-i
rv r r -^
rv a L L c r r L - L U r^^
r Lu non-material needs, of

a society Lhat is incapable of giving attention to material

needs for the masses of the population, may be acceptable or
nnmnat i h l o r.,i lLt theories of historical processes !JJU J that
a r t- a ^ _ def ine
thcm r'
as inescapable, necessary stages of cleveloprnent. f n the
name of such theories any kind of crime can be defended, and
any kind of alleged privilege can be legitimized as "historical
qf fLl li -.I>
'i c c r _rn
n A ..tra
rru q c.ij f
u u JJfu rr" ar r Aq.
qr "f hr r nn' l rr hi r ':r 'i rr-valur n^eei hi
l /v J D r l r l r Ly
I i t- r r >+
qL 5Lo . yng

^E l ^..^ r^ -' - ^- .L.tt

\Jr L l cvcru Pr ucr l

A theory of needs should serve as a basis for a rich image

of hum an belngs and demarrd of social constructions that they
rocna cl- l_hic r iChnes s . Th a t , in tUrn, ROy afSO Serve aS a b a Si S

for committing crimes: tire "image" conceived of elsewnere may

]^'o artarl l,non Others
*I i ! Or Used aS a pretext tO UpSet Or thwart
the ir sense of priority. Hence, the .rrgument i_s not against
hrrri na nr i nri,ties in concrcte situations -- a1l of us have --
but against any theory of needs th.rt tr:ies to univers.rlize the
priorities, f ree zrng l-hern into a general law, thereby decreas-
ing the divcrsity. Moreover, the thcory of needs should arso
ser\/e as a check-l-ist, as a warning of possible basic problems
that may ensuc if prioritics are or:ganized in such a way that
important classes of basic needs are pushed into the background
 ',,-
iN

fnr
!\JI I rrao
rO-YE
q6a{-
JgU
i nnc
UIUIl- of J -lr o c na i o r . z .nd f Of C OnSidera
evrrrrvs!qvrs h 'l e nor i nd q
I9uJ
lJu!

of time. What kind of set of needs can serve this purp,tse is

an open question.

Finalry, some words sirould be said if not in defei-rse of ,

at least as an effort to expl ain the popularity of the hierarchy
thesis. Confronted with any rela*-ive17 rich lisL of ne,:ds, the
task of moving forvrard looks so formidable. V/hen the needs are
ordered in terms of priorities, hierarchicalty, the ta.sk of
tr ying to meet those at the top nalz look less formidab- e. In
today's practice the needs at tne top in the sense of i'laving
top priority--usually the material needs--are those th,rt render
themselves best to adminisLration and management by th,: elites
already in power. Higher attention given to "se1f-reli.rnce,"
which is one way of expressing a range of welfare and _rdentity
needs , viould run directly against the-. r posi tion; the r;amc would
apply to lreedom (meaning by that, of course, a criticirl and
conscious choice, not a "choice" manipulated by intell<:ctual,
commercial, and political eli tes). Thus, the hierarchy thesi-s
may serve status quo purposes, particularly in a st::uc,-ural
sense. On the other hand, it sirould not be denied that the
hierarchy thesis may also serve to give much more a+-tention to
the material deprrvation so prcval ent in the vrorlcl at - arge and
that it has served to build a cer:tain consensus anong l)eople and
groups that otherwise miEht have remained inactive becaLuse of
cli-sagreement about non-materiai needs and how to meet t-h"r.3B

'l'he
rrrc nosi
l rur r LlUll tiotr taken
Ldj.\ell hcre
IlUte vlouIC
V/U | J IC i be ono
IJ e
U J I.- of a\/oidi n.t any

sbuilt-in hj-erarchization of neecls. Individuaf s and gr()ups vril_l

havc thej.r priorities and indeed their own conceptions of
necds. Thr: purpose of necd thcory would bc to inspirc thcnr into
av/areness, not to stcer and direct them into r,vell-structurerl
nced sets. In this there is, of course, no denial that not
f :\.rr-l
L V u rf \,/FLhrr{l
i rrqn rr ri ) c i ]- 1n fnr J- i ma Qnon1- '
^Ace
POSSIIJIC - LUI -* " 1I) ( - ) ( J^J
dIIy y '- c^+
iL - a\/
dI.;
-/ - l C LSm
about theories limiting the t:ange of the "historically Dossible"
is not thc samc as a position clairling thet evcrything is
possible; it is less historicalry determinist. A major purpose
of developnent theory and practice woulcl have to be to expand
 t1 t
a,/ |
L- t.

Lhe range of the possible, and thj-s is better served by non-

hj_erarchical than by hierarchical need sets where the priorities

are universally given in advance. PeopIe should work out their

own priorities, and the sel-f-rcLiant oncs will always have the
couraqe to do so in dialogue with others.

Needs and Westernization: Ten Problem Areas

After this preliminary exploration, an effort will now be

made to go more into depth. The basic assumption vrill be that
human beings do have needs, that there is suclt a thing as basic
disintegration or pathology that shovrs up at indirridual/personal
or societal levels, or both, if and when needs are not met (one

would, of course, have to add to this assutiLpticns about the

range of neecis, the clegree to vrhich thel' are not met, the }ength
of time, the number of people involved, etc.). Above, the expres-

sion "human beings" is used; tnus the assumption is seen as

universal. On the other hand it does not say very much: needs
a rp
cr!u no
r r uL l- s nec . i
Jyuv f ipr 1 -
,
nof
LLv hino is saicl in nreCise terms aLOUt thc

breaking points where thc pathologies ',ri 11 s Lart devcloping .

Nevertheless, there is a position taken: hunatr beings are not
inf j-nitely mal Leable. We do have goal s , son-,e of then +'ake the

form of basic hurnan needs of vrhrch the individual mai'be more or

fess aware. Those basic hunan needs differ beLween individuals
and groups ancl vary ove r Lime; thcy arc mallcablc (:rlcirough not
infinitely so) , but once they are sufflcientlf internarlized j-n

a human being that individual is no longci: nalleable without

considerablc risk. Insidc him or her/ mol:c or Iess consciously,
some sort of reckoning takes place; satisfaction/dissatisfaction
js the term used for that. Thus the thcorz of socialization v;iII
have to play a fundamental role for any t.heory of needs unless
that conccpt is reduced to a physiological level held to be so-
cialj-zation-indcpendcnt (and hcnce culLurc-independcnt) . And it
raises the problcm Lhat pcoplc nra.// bc socializcd inLo trying to
satisfy some needs that vii-Il st-and in thc way of their own s at-
isfactj-on of some other needs, or in the way of others tryinc; to
 /1 "1
l;
i-

satisfy theirs--these others being present or future genera-

JuIvlr
- iJ. n n c C n n q A.fr r a n f l +Lr rhv a +ua.gv
- 1-'corw of r-nnf I iCt iS al S O aI. OU nd the
vvr lJeY " , !J v! e v rr! !

a .n rn A r nf An\7 1_
Lrhonr
r Ev!-r yz Of nepJ ^- !..i ur uur^,.r - r 'l r J r z q an:r nj r .i ul I_LI nn
v- lr scu> t L/aL c t! ri ! F v^no
lre ri J bE:d.r j .Y

for those patterns of development (meaning meeting basic human

needs) that are not at the expense of others.

What we shall now try is to develop some idcas about the

relation between this very broad concept of needs on the one hand
and something referred to as "lVesterntzaLion" on the other.
Westernization, then, is seen as a process that shapes anything
in a certain direction, a trr/estern direction. It is seen as a so-
cial code that leaves its i mprint on whatever comes its way,
transforming it so that the result i-s compatible with the code.
l'lahrrc rurh] vo aaFa r .r ' i ' l I :n n o n f and nrndttr-o r-ef f ai n tvnes
L l ,l /u J Of teC hnO-
,

logy and reject others as incompatible. The problem is what

happens, or can be expected to happen, to the notion of needs
r.,han ovnaeorl tO WeSternizatiOn. TO haVe anything
u rrJ errrrlY tO
Lv Say abOUt
o,a
o
that, the concept of "Western code" has to be defined."-

To do this it is sufficient for the present purpose to

spell it out, not to justify the way it is sllelleo out. It is
assurned that the code is expressed partly as some general
assumptions about how the world in gcneral and human relations
in particular are organized and how theT evolrze--referred to as
the social cosnLol oqy_--and some more specif ic ideas about so-
cial structure. To describc the coc-le tiro short lists witfi f ive
points on eaci-r wil-l be usod,40

Thc Western social cosmofoqV is characterizcd by:

(1 ) A l{cstcrn-ccntcrc-d, univers"rlist, conception n qnAaF

(2) A unilinear, prescnt-ccnterr-.d, conccption of t i-rne

(3) An analytic rather than holistic conception of
epi s temo logy
(4) A man-over-man conception of huntan relations
(5) A man-ovcr-nature conccption of rel_ations to nature

Tire Western social- structure is characterized brr:

(6) A vertical division of Iabor favorinq tire center

 L}

(1 \ A nnndil- innina .\f f h e nor i nherv hv th e r:ent eI.

\ I I n uvlrul ulvrrrfr: I "l

(\ "/
B ) Maro i na'l i zati-on : a division between a social inside
and outside
(9) Fragmentation: separation of individuals from each
other
(1O) Segimentat-ion: separation insiCe individual-s.

Further explanation will be given in connection wj-th the discus-

sion of the various nced conccpts. Let iL only be stated again
that this is an effort to separate a general theory of needs
from Western "perversions" that tend to slant the ccncept, 1n-
vIuulIIY
;
^1"'r ^^ uIIg +tr'^ ^riticism
u! r uru!rrLL of
v! the
Lrre concept,
vvrrvulJtt inspecif ic directions
rlt
a1
that are compatible wj-th the Western code. '' Thus, the position
taken is that much of what has been done, both in theory and in
practice, in the field of needs so far bears an unmistakable
-W"=t"tn
rmprint; the f ollovring is an ef f ort to help identify
that im print. But the pos ition is not that the concept of nced
itself is Western--as pointed out abotre. I^lhat belongs to a
more general concept and what to a Weslern specification is a
field of research under the general heading of "needs" and of
i ncro:qi na q i -*i i ^ q) Western power exercised from the l{est
-*9rrr!auqlrus
(vrhich is not the same as the Western code, that may be imple-
rnented from other centers than the traditional h'estern ones) is
A)
vraninq. -- To clo this wc sh.rll prr-,cecd onc by one on the list
of ten, above, ancl try to c-ira'r; sonc kind of clemarcation line
bet'*reen the Western and the general. It is not important that
the line is sharp nor that it is Eenerally agreed upon; what
mattcrs is the effort and the consciousness about the problem.

(1 ) A b ies t t r r r - Cent er ec l , Ur t i. v c r : ; a I i s t - Ccnc:r:i;tj on of Sp.rcc:

G ivcn thc tendcncy in the Wcst to see itself as univcrsally

valid, as modcls to be imitated, and in addition to promote and
institutionalizc proccsscS 611;lpating from tr{estcrn centcrs, pcn-
etrating 311 over thc world (at- least to the level of the
elites) implanting the Westcrn code, it is obvious hovr the
West will make use of a basic human needs approach. The first
 nLl

step will be to establish a list of needs so that it can serve

as a basis for a universal conception of man. Leaving aside
whether such lists are meaningful at a1I, the lists emanating
from bhe liest will have a Western slant, me'aning that if people
attempt to meet these needs all o\"/er the vrorld f ewcr changes
vrill be needed or expected in t-he h'est than elsewhere. tr^ihether
consci onsl..r or nnJ- q.)mF r.rr m^n'r of tlre nceds will be Western
needs with universal pretensions, thc liest thereby being buil"t
into other countries as a modef. Given tlre power of the West
to institutional-i ze and implement its concept j-ons , not the
Ieast through intergovernmenta] (and other international) or-
ganizations, this is not an abstract ei:ercise; it becomes pol1-
tical reality. Thus, the West may makc use of such llsts, wlth
universal pretensions legitimized through UN and UN-related
resoLutions, to exercise pressure on other countries to con-
form and become more compatible with mocle]s from the WesL.43

The f irst answer to this point- is sir,';1c enough: instead

of universal lists of needs, stimulate r-hc search io:: particul-
ar lists. The ultimate in particularit-.., -,,ouIc1 be onc incliviciual,
here and now. However, it is cJ11
c:ra.ll'.. ass'.r-"ieC that there j-s

suffici-ent overlap betv.'een i ndrviduais over some intervals in

time and some distance 1n space trof- to have to disaggregate to
that e;<tent. But what, then, j. s the unii- of aggregation suf f i-
clently homogeneous to posit its goals in the form of ics list
of vrhat for it is basic human needs--or at least to posit sone
of thr.i r croal s in such terms? The honest answer vrould nrnlr:ht'r
l JL VtJsp L l

havc to be that we simply do not knovr; niuch empirical rcse.rrcl'r

vrould be needed. Bu1- if we assume that there are tvro roots of
human needs, one physiological ancl one cultural, transrnitted
through the socializati-on process, no doubt in j.nteraction with
each otl'rer , then a fruitful point of dcparture mighl_ be to
think in tcrms of groups that, grosso modo, are physiologjcally
in the same situation (as to underconsumption, adcrquacy, or
overconsumptron) and groups that belong to thc same culturc.44
Neititer approach would lead to the nation or thc count.ry as tlrc
group to formulate suf f iciently homo.Jenous neecls. Neit.her woulcl
 '" ')

reflect the class differences usually mirrored in substantial

differences where physiological adequacy is concerned, whereas
cultures might also cut across classes and even unite nations
and countries if they belong to the same cultural area. It
should also be noted that both criteria have to be applied,
not only one of thcm. A need-hor.togcnous group would be scattered
4q
aIl over'"--hence, it would not necessarily be a pol-itical actor

But this 1s only a first ansv/er; it ieads to quite a lot of

questions. One criterion of the fruitfulness of the needs ap-
proaclr j-s whether these questions are fruitful questions; the
claim is that they are. So, imagine that we have a nurnber of
such need-1ists, a set of need-sets, the best possible expres-
sion of the goals of humankind in such t.r*=.46 Where do we
q f:n d fhon?
, s r r gl r .

f irst of all, vre asslune that the lists dif f er; and that
some, but only some of the lists are Western. This would give
us a basis for an intportant disti-nction beLween "universdl" and
"univers aI using the trl'est as a basis . " A re jection of the lattcr
as undesirable/impossible j-s not the same as a rejection of the
former. Thus, from a set of need-sets there are at least three
ways in which some kind of non-lfestern unirrer:salism might devel-
op. It is possible; vrhether it is desirable is another question.
The three methods can be described as through intersection,
rrn ian
UllAVll,
r nr l
CIIU OUJL!qUUfVIl, lrAq.116l
c Jl JU e u f - 1_ i r r nl
vu rrJ.
z
- hql- r ar - f- inn

f[ougth int"tsection. The f irst and obvious question to ask

vrould be whetl-rer thesc lists do not to some extent overlap. As
the number of Lists incrcases the ovcrlap will.rt least not in-
crease, but it may still br: non-zero. Given the f act that human
beings have certain similaritics pltysiologically spcaking and
that human socict,ics also h.i-.ze ccrtain similarii,i-es, a unlver-
Far minimum would be expectcd. To the objectlon that it mighi: be
" trivial" the ansv/er would , af coursc, be that althouclh trivial
from an intellectual point of vievr it is far from trivial from
a human point of view, particularly for thosc for whcm these
needs are not met. rncidentally, it should not be assurned, that
the overlap or intersection would onl-y contain material neecls.
 I
, \-,
l,/

Thus, it would be surprising if something like a "need to be

Ioved/esteemed" would not enter into this minimum, and the same
might appl)'to a "need for a sense of meaning vrith life." There
might also be several necds classified as material in one con-
text (because of the heavy load of material satisfiers) that
would not be included i-n the minimum. However, such speculations
about the content of the mi nimum without being guided by empiri-
cal research are rather futile.

Through union. This woulcl be the opposite approachf joininE

all lists together and seeing t.he joint list as an expression of
human needs because human beings some'..rhere (and, one might aCd,
at some time) perceived them that vra\r. As the number of l-ists
increases the union will at least not decre3se, but for each ne'nr
f icf m-i nht e vn e 3 t q r - \r e S Of t Of di mi ni chi nn ro.1-l l rn in tefms
^-o

of nev; needs to be added to the pool, in other words a conver-

gence tovrards a universerl maximum. But in what sense v;ould that
be universal? llhat does it matter to mc, as a Nori;egian, '-irat
somebody f rorn Rrrranda posits a need to die vzith diEniti', .ind
v-ri1-h nrclclr-n\/-
-Y'")v'''1|
on a 1istZ47 f t does matter the mone nt we assune
a certain cofirmunality among human beings. I as a Norwegian
might never have thought of that, anci e\-r-jn aitcr it has been
brought to my attention, f miEht put jL vcry low on m1'Iist of
priorities. But even sor I mighc sense that it plays some role,
and it might help me undcrstand m7 own problcms and that of m7
socicty better becausc I might start asking wh)z wc do not givc
more attention to it, and vrhetl-Ler it migl-rt not be worth-while
doinq so.

In other vlords, I woulct assumc that there is somethinq of

a Rwandan even in a Norwegi an4B--otd tr""-**.r'--.lna atr"a
"*
might learn from each other throuqh a conscious proccss of in-
crcasing understanding. Thus, Lhc assumpt.jon would certainly not
be that culturcs are fixed and immutable--nobody vrould stand f or
a thesis like that--br-rt that they can inspirc cach othcr. still,
grven the union of nccd-sets, it is obvious that cach group
woul-d dif f er trcmendously in tl-re vreight (not thc sane as priori-
 :)-

.t-.i o q ) !^
L!LJ,/ 1Lrre),
-h a r r m ir - L!
rLL!9ll L - ^^.i- -
dJ>f Yll Lv each need. The new idea brought in
.|_l-rrnrral-r
urrrvuYrr
lha rrni
qrf!vrr nn tnnrn:nh rvould be that this should be a con-
scio u s p rocess, not just a O,1 weighting (does not bclong to
11c
U- ,
r'lan
UVEJ
c 1-.o'l
UE
nna
MrY fLUn qr q
tr \
/
nrr
vu IL of old habit and low level of con-
^ ^.i ^.
>u!uu>11gJJ.

Through abstraction. Tmagine wc compare Lwo needs-sets and

fj-nd something that can be translateC into "need for a minimum
of 2600 cal per day" on one and "need for a minimum of 1600 cal
per day" on the other. Does this mean that the needs are differ-
ent and not overlapping? Does it mean that both are expressions
of human needs, in other words, that neither beLongs to a uni-
versal minimun (intersection) but that both belong to a univer-
sal maximum (union) ? The answer seems to be no to the former and
veq
Y UJ
1.o the laffer- C)ne mioht abstract from the two formulations
] rr..a for something for which food (calories) are held to be a
satisfier. Thus formulated it vzould clearly enter the intersec-
tion. At the same time the tv"o more concrete / more specific ex-
pressions might lead to obvious reflections in the oti-Ler gror-lp
about possible over-consumption and under-consumptron, respec-
I9r v i rrag+lJ rr ,
n: r l- i r : r r I ar l r - z As t he S e af e f OfrnUIatiOnS abOUt needS , n Ot

abcut factual consumption.

The step from quantities of satisfier to a more general

need for food (calories) was not much in terms of abstraction,
so consicler another example : a "need to move at least tr,'rice a
tl 16^-'n,.1-r^--1 1-,-
yc,q! \!v ! r . Lur qLEu pt q ,,-,'.dd group) r a "need to st.lY at tlte s a JT1 c

place f or at least. tv/o generations" (formulatecl by a more seden-

tary group) . Looking at them, one might draw the corrclusion that.
place of residence matters, and that people want to bc able to
choose or decide themselvcs. They may choosc to mor;e or choose
to stay, but they do not vrant to be imposed upon in tl-reir choice.
They simply express the need for a "freedom of choice of place
to live," but in different vrays (obviously any such gencral-
ization sirould be reie::reC ]:ack to those groups to see whether
they could acccpt thcm as--clilutcd--statc.-rcnts of t-hcir vicws)
Simi larIy, such exprcssions as the "nced to clrangc rcsi-dcncc "
on one list and a "need to chanqc spouse" on anothcr might
 LJ
l-ead to a "need for change in personal environment" or some-
thing like that; a "need for commensalism" and a "need for coha-
bitation" to a "need for togetherness in everyday matters," and
so on. And, a "freedom of choice of place to live" on one list
and "freedom of choice of spouse" on another might lead to a
general need for some freedom of basic choice," where, in vrhat
rrro.LuErbT r-5.nottrer
a -!!^- ^ i
- question. The comoletc strait;acket is
accepted nowhere.

The examples serve Lo indicate t'rvo le.,zeIs of abstraction:

from needs snecifj-ed in terms of satisfiers to need-dimensions--
and this is actually what vre mean by needs, the quantity cf sat-
isfiers being another matter. And then there is the more inter-
estinq abstraction: from need(-dimensions) to need-classes, and
these classes may be more or less inclusive. The divisj-on of
needs into such classes as security, vlelfare, identity, and
freedom needs is one such effort, and there is the hypothesis
that tirese need-c1asses, with reasonable interpretations, will
lre non-emnl-v
-...r "j
on Arv
*,.- : vrall-reflecteC list e'./,tn if Lhe nore' snecif-
J tr

ic content of the classes not to mention the satisfiers, differs

v;idely. Thus, there may be very liLtIe universality in the in-
tersecti-on or overlap sense of that vrord at the level of quali-
ty or quanti ty of satisf icrs, cven nol, much at thc f cvel of
need-dir,ensions, but thcre may stiII be somc uni-vcrsali Ly at
the l-evel of need-classes. On the other hand, the more abstract
these classes are in their formulation the lcss intercsting is
the statement just made, ul-timately ending with the statement
" thcrc arc human necds" (some mlglrL. also deny that thj s has
any univcrsal validity). Tl're problcm is to formulatc t.hese
classes of neecls in such a way that somethinc; intercsting can be
said about them in general tcrnrs, and this is a reason why the
fourfold division ir-rdicated above is preferred to such distinc-
+inne =c rr r ' l- r "q in ln a i ra1 /n tt- ltUraI"
t"'l' rLurQr Or
u! "bjt)Lv|/LLI
onl yzsi cal Jrvut/ /nsvr:ho.:nr-i
L)o-l
rl
urrvrvurur/ /

spi ri tual " or " psychrosoma t j c/psychosocial/psychohabi baLional ."

such categories may be good for classifying origins or "roots"
of necds but not so good for analysis of thc politics of ncccls,
ancl that is our l:ey .oa.orn.49
 ,t ti
Lf

The three universalizing approaches do not exclude each

other. For some purposes, particularly as a defensc against the
n:rf ir-rrlar 1- r z 616 O f CUlt UI . al _ imoerial ism fhaf mioht_
rrrrYrrL ho
vs referrcd
-Jl -.,,t,-

to as np ed- im no- i: ' l i cm r he UniVCf Sal minimrrm annr.^,Ach Wi t h nO

abstraction might be used; thi-s woulc-i be the way of emphasizing

diversitiz. For other purposes, when.hulnan communality should
be pointed out, the univcrsal- maximur.r aoproach might be used,
although any ef f ort to distr:-butc vreights would soon highlight
the differ enccs. Perhaps thc major utility in the union, or max-
imum, approach Lies in the inplicit challenge: through this
approach each group challenges the others--an indispensable tool
against the flatness of cultural relativism. A Western group
postul-ating a "need to dominate other peoples" and an Indian
group postulating a "need for suttee (widor.r-burning) " sl'rould not
have their needs accepted simply by reference to thei-r culture
which may be said to foster (have f osterecl) such .r.ud=.50 In
n on or-'l t . ' h^ngy 61 need- Sat iSf aCtrOn Of One n
r r ue
u ve d f Or
!v! Some
Jvr r ( u i mnl i es
Yur r v ls r ,

l-ess neeC-satisfaction for self or others on the same or other

needs there is a problem, and the claim "we are going to dis-
integratc individually and/or socially if this need is noL met"
is noL the last argument in the matter. Rather. this is exactly
where a dialogue des civilisations mai'bc usefr-rL in sdggesting
elements that could be given up or rncdif ieC. Thus, it may be
argued that expansion with donj-nation as a result is more than
a wish or want or desrre for thc tr{cst; it is a need for Western
people in the sense that if the tr^Jest cloes not continue to ex-
pand, then some kinci of disjnte!ration o".rr=.51 What the cxamples
serve to indicate is that thcre is nothing sacred about needs,
nor about culturcs; they are sub;ect to tests of whether ti'rey
serve self-realization without doing damage to others.

Finally, therc is the abstraction approach. It can be used

to shovr communality at "a higher level," mcaning the level of
need-classes. With great carc this can be uscd to formulate more
general- theories about need-satisfaction, its clynamics and
pori Lics , as long as i L is rcmcmbcrccl t.h; t gcncrar rcasoning at
a hrgher leveI of abstractron is not automatlcallv valid whcn
 .") /'
)L'

translated down to the more concrete level. At rnost it can serve

as a good heuristic--usually starting from relations valid for
one t)'pe of society (e.9., "when needs for welf are are met before
needs for identity and freeConr are attended to, it may be very
difficult to meet the latter without basic structural change; the
same is true with the oppositc priorities"), using the thcory
bas ed on need-classes rather than need-dimensions to arri-ve at
hrrnnthaqaq v
/-Ot
\..' ConcluSions) fOr other sOCietieS. It is hard tO
see how social research can be meaningful at aIl without doing
sonething like this; at any rate, it is being done all the time,
aq whrrn rFcrn I arities uncovered f or a soci etv at
q u nno
vr r g noin+-
IJ in time
a yo nn c ! r r l : 1 -a q l a S valid fO r the next day, deC ade, generati On,
-V ear,
non.Frrrrr / r . , hi n [ iS W h e re mOSt peopl e vl Ou]d f eel that thei r val i di -
ty has to be te s te d anew, mrght feel thi s al so appl i es to
t' ^ o th c rs
sh or t c r t im e i n te rv a l = ) .

(2)_A Unj-L inc:r, Pr q' s ent - Cent er ed ConcclrLion oI Time

There are tvlo problems here, and the first one is similar to
f ho nrnl-. 1am i'rst
Ir r
vvr glLL treated: SOme kind Of Inl6ste1.n time-imoer.i
v'LJ LL! Il L I rrrE I l rrp u ! al i sm
t q l l )rt t

in addition to the space- iniperialisn discussed in the prececling

section. The basic logic is the sare: a need list reflecting
I{estern soci ety today is postulated as valid for aIl times, is
seen as time-less, in other words. History is seen as the gradu.el
realization of this list- vrhich is thetr constructed in such a way
that approximation tovrards the West can also be seen as progress
so that the lrlest as model and the idea of progress are botl-I re-
flected.-" Thus, the phenomenon is the same but the problem
posed is not amenable to the same typc of solution: the people
of the past are dead and unablc to dcfend themselves personally
against temporal need-imperialism. But they l'rave oftcn left
traces behind, "sourcs," and could have their views presented
b1z component historians wl-ro would play t.he same role in timc as
social anthropoloqi-sts can do in spacc: thc atlvoc.ecy of spc:cif ici-
q4
t1r and hence , by implication, of diversity-^--at reast relative
to the present.
 trt
);\

There is, hor,vever, another problem here, hidden in the

term "unilinear." More precisely, it is the non- or even anti-
dialectic view of processes reflected in this term that has
sonre important imprications for how needs are conceived of.
Thus, looklng at the terms used in most lj_sts of needs, one is
struck by their onesidedness. One hears much about the need for
security, very little about any need for insecurity. There is
much about the need for food, but where is any need for hunger?
If there is a need for togetherness, vrhere is the need for
separateness, even for isolation? where is the need for hatred
i-f there is a need for love--perhaps even a need to be hated
or at least disliked if there is such a thlnq as a need to be
loved or at least liked?

The ansv/er to this should not be seen in terms of adding

the opposites to the rists; that wourd also be too mechanicar.
Rather, what is missing is a more di.rlectical approach to needs
and need-satisfaction. For the hur-rgr1' there is a need for food,
but for the welr-sated, the satisfied, there may be a neecl to be
hungry again so as to have tire need for food and (if it is
available) the satisfier of that neecl and vrith it the en;oyment
of need-satisfaction. In other words, it is assumecl that need-
satisfaction j-s something inherently enjoyable--something per-
h:nc f n l-'a i'cluded in tl-re criteria of that elusirre concept
rq v! LlrrL EIU >r \ c L "true
-

need. " But if that is the case there should viith each need be a
need to feer that need again, a lookincj for'..,'ard to next time.
For this reason thc vrorcls satisfy/sat-j sf i er /satisf action/satis-
fied are not quite good; they portray' what goes on as a single-
shot af f air. Iqoreovcr , oltc can easilir con j ure f or one' s inncr eve
thc imagc of somcthing "satisfied." l'or my inner y, it is an
orangutarl once observed in a zoo: sat-ecl in aLl respects, wcll
fattened, yet rooking profoundry unhappy and static. The image
is one of satisfaction as an Endzustancl, as a placc of arrival,
not as a place from which one dcpart: again into d nc\r/ state of
need awareness and, with it, a new proccss of neeci-satlsf action.

The tvro f igures below are intencleci to represent the two

vi-evls:
 -)
n
i-/
)

tr r-rY.
i a Need- sati sfaction

Mechanical View Dialectical Vrew

It may be objected Lhat the latter is intplicit in the former, and

this may-be true. But it should be made explicit. There j-s a

difference betvreen gettinE security and having security: the

Iatter malz become a habit, a state of affairs one is not even
: r .'rrA a
vLf
. r ho f ar m ar ic r
* nf OCeSS. We Shall n
rrvO t e a S S UuLrs
srJ me furlq
hat n e r _ -n l e
t .t/- L Irsvlrrs

in general are searching for one or the other--about this littl-e

is known--only'that the concepts chosen should be such as not to
block eiti'rer i:ossibilitlz. This can be dore bi'e):pressing all
needs as worcl-pairs, including the opposites, or--as vie shail
nracor ln r ln - - i n t- o r n r n f {-}-ro nnqi 1_i rra {-ari 1g U S ed in thi S di f gC -

tion.

Thus, the need for food is seen as a process, with no be-

ginning and no end, of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, urrdulat-
ing through time with sometimes slovr, somctimes quick rhythrns,
with no resting point, full of contradictions at any point. The
"need for food" should be seen as a short-hand exprcssion for
this more complex need. In all needs for something there is
also an elernent of the need for its negation--that is the thesis.

This point is repletc with poljtical implications. Thus,

some of the Unbehagen in der Kultur, here intcrprctcd as a c1cncr.al
sense of dissatisfaction with modern, industrialized welfare
states, ffirY possibly be undcrstoocl in this [)crspcc Live. Thc rest-
lcssncss, or somc rcstlessncss to bc morc prccise, may not be due
to needs that are lef t unsatisf ied, nor t-o oversal,isf action, but
l-n J* n n nn rf anl Sat iSf aCt iO n Of SOmC b aS j c
vqrr9 noods
rtsuqJ . q
_v
.) nel. f cCt bhat
r P

suf f -icient need deprivation is not permittccl to whct tl-re appetites

and derive the satisfaction from need-satisfaction which in turn
make people appreciate more not only the social environment that
 ]'J

providcs the satisfiers, but also themselves. Where is the joy

that can be derj-ved front "labor-saving devices" if one is sur-
rounded. by littl-e else, to the point that fatigue is never per-
mitted to build up? Is not togetherncss something different for
a person always surrounded by crowds than for one sometimes lone-
some? In short, there is probably a rhythm/ or many rhythms (de-
pending on the need, oo the person, on where and when) to need-
^-!;^-^!;^-
bd.LISIOU.a-r,t a dialectic that shoul-d be permitted to unfold
itself freeIy."" "^ If this dialectic j-s forced into some mechanical,
truncated form there wilI be negative consequences of which we
probably knovr very little. Suffice it only to say that this may
be what many people seek during vacation: a counterpoint to
their regular IeveI of need-satisfactlcn; hi-gher if the general
]evel is low, and Jower if Lhc generaL level is hiEh. Thus, the
lonely manager surrounded by matcrial cornfort may seek the com-
pany of friends urrder "primitive" conditions (from which he
may easily escape, though) ; the vrorkcr, less maLerially e'ndowed
but bowling, doing other sporLs, drinking in thc pub/bistro or
whatever every night, may go on package tours to "good" liotels,
alone or with his/her spouse. The question rs whether annual
tsL"rL Irlr-hn
Irl )/ tL -
nE
V!
*his
L]lr rkind--and
\r r lu qr tq cvcn thcy i,'c:rlcl only be avail-alle to
- q r,
qr
qnF^k nn- r l i Ii ^n
!F
8ro
y t^ r--ro a l Ir z I!J
I s@ Jysqn l.n
uv J-
U I lhoir
s M v l tu l u Ivl l I
61r
v- t^r
v'.r uhoF
L r r u ! har \l U l U AC f
- r ti nl r or

rhvthms miqh'- be wanted.

(3 ) An An aLlz t ic R. r t her : 1' hanjlolis t i c Conceptj eLo_f_ Eilr eLernelejl-L

Westcrn epistemology, it is oftcn said, is analytic, folI ow-

ing thc Cartesian dj ctum of subdividing a problcm into components
that can then be attacked one at a tirne, starting with the simp-
ler. The problem is vrhether a problcm can be subdivided, or
whetl'rer anything for that matter can be subdivided and still- re-
main the same. Elephat-rts cannot bc subdivicled and remain the
same; there is somc thing irreductiblc, tirc ele phant as irolisis
that is (considcralrrT) more than thc sum of the trunk, legs,
tail,etc. A list of nceds looks like.r list of components. The
qucstion is: what is the vrl-rolc that has bccn subclivided to deliv-
 .? Lt
):

er that list, and what, if anything, has been lost in the pro-
cess? Thus r w add the possibitity that nothing may have been
lost: if one subdivides a toybox of l-ego-bits j,nto the component
parts it makes good sense to say that nothing has been lost (be-
cause it was only a mechanical heap anyhow, and even intended to
be so--full of unintended possibilities for synthesis) .

In a sense it is the human person that has been subdivided

j-nto components. Hence, there is a double problem here: the
wholeness of human beings and the wholeness of our images of hu-
man beings. Both problems are difficult; they can be approached,
but not solved in what follows, written by an admittedly analyti-
n:l lrz minrlorr Western 1.esearCher, , prObably
f--y-*_ the WOrSt pOSsibIe
tr-l

point of departure for this type of exercise.-'

First, it should be mentioned that people in general, unl-ess

fL rhr sa)r r .1 a * a!
lhrq
:rro
vE h
,gogon
lr J- r : r r gs/
u!qr i noA /dafnr
us!vrmod
ltlgu JLIl
- hr
!vnr
uYrtc rrh rnaod
l Egu r n:lqr J J I) r r c 'i
q.r c
7 U LJ IILr L 5c E

their own situation in terms of need-lists and need-satisfiers.

If a verbal expression is asked for, the expression "state of
well-beir9," used in the WHO definitj-on of health, is probably
qR
q) yuuu
^ ^^ -1 ar a,.!. "" There is a sense of well-being and a sense
of its absence; the latter possibly more acute, more capable of
r-eachingt up from the deeper recesses to the outer layers of
conscj-ousness from where it can be articul-ated as cries of
pain, ds exprcssions of ill-being. People may a1so, but again
not much seems to be known about this, react to the total situa-
tion: they may be undernourished, badly clad and housed, in poor
healt.h, yet enjoying good company and a sense of "education" (as
59
clistinct f rom schooling) and exude well--being. Hot do they
arrive at that conclusion? Probably not by personal utility
cal culus, by assigning + and in chccking lists of needs (tife
bhe chccking Iist for a plane before take-off) , multiplying by
the
urru c'i oh
Lr yrr tsLJ a n- , r
qrru ^- r
uaf ^, , r
L'utcl ^! iLl-tiyF^ furls
ho n r n ruuqu
lJ!
]rrnF L SUm
. befOfe faCial eX-

pressj-on is decided upon. One day we may know more about what
happens, e .g. t what kind of clivision of labor takes place
betvreen the tvro famous halves of the brain (the model just given
wourd be for the analytical hal-f, a more direct reading of the
total situation for the izlng o'
synthes haI f ) . tvhc ther it is g.se-
 7t

ful for us to know more is another matter, for the guestion

id inr l nno
vr r e, nnl - L
LL\J nnl
\J 'r
l IIy h^'lr t- ,,r r .$i n$
uc
ctrA Ll
-^ 1 ,^/] Is <a
- ' .^]ifr L!uqr
PUr ^^ tO U t- i n phy S-

iology. The problem is what happens wheh powerful analysts

subdivide a holistic experiencc of welL/iLI-being into com-
ponents call-eC need-dimensions, use them to construct images
of hunan beings as need-sets, a;r.i then propagate these images
to Lhe people they are images of, asking/demanding that they
:--a n F l- hr ' qo - im :coq Aq l_hoi r nr .l n

Second, however: analyti-c vs. holistic images is not a

dichotomy of alternatives; it is or can be seen as a both-and
rather than an either:-or (usincl ]:c--h hal-.;es of the brain) .
The problem is not- how to suppress analytical thinking in this
field, but how to facilitate, promote holistic thinking. (Some
of the dangers of analytical thinking will be pointed out under
.l -h o CoamonJ- 1- ^'1ILJ W /
u rl E h o :d
rrE q ui nc
!r lY nf
v! t/1t-
\ lvl
)\ UuYr tiEr t r+j nn
Lo.LJ - ( J l l t r - /C ^,.'\ .

Third, how is that done? How can the researcher develop

imaEes that arc one-sidedly anafytical? Probably best by learn-
ing f rom thc people, by understanc1ing, through dialogues, hovr
f he'.,' undorst-and their own situation. Somet imes i i- mav he hr-
emphasiztng only one (or very few) of what the anall'st niiEhr
ref er to as the need*dimensions. Sometimr:s it may be by ref er-
ring to vrhat the analyst vrould see as necd-satrsfiers. Sometimes
it may be in vthat the anall,st,nrould experience as relatively
Ioose and unsLructurcd exprcssions, usin-; such undiffcrentiated
words as "v/ell-berng," "happinesS," etc.; sometimes the ex-
prcssion may be non-,,'crbal and ma'y cvcn cscapc totally the
attention of the analyst. Alt of this is to be taken seriously ,
as anothcr modc of erl.pcr:iencing and cxprcssing life, not as
something to be undcrstooc l in anal-ytical terms but t-o be under-
sl-ood in and by itself. Thus, onc idca migtrt be to havc two Par-
allcl langu.L!JCs rlealinc; witlr soinct-l'ring of the sarnc, not neccs-
sarrly mutually translat-ablc.

This is the point where other approaches to human clevclop-

mcnt or hum;rn gro'rrth tlran thosc bascd on necd ttreory would enter.
Tl-rus, what happens to a human bcing as he or she proceecls
through the Iif e-c'1clc, f rom chil-clhoocl via aclolescence to adult*
 . ri"
tp'

hood - i s someth'i no of ten ref erred to as "maturation. " rt can

also be seen as human development/growth--but not as satis-
faction of needs. Rather, as age-groups'differ physiologically
and also in their level or kind of socialization into cultures,
j-n the 6i
needs wj-II also dif f er with the stages lif e-"y.I..
It may well be that some of these transformations of the need/
satisfier matrices (see under (1O) below) may beidentified
62
with, or at least related to, s'uagcs of maturation. At any
rate, need-satisfaction should not be seen as something akin to
filling-empty glasses and then emptying thcm again because fiIl-
ing is more fun than the fuII glass (the argument in the preced-
; pr l- har qhnr r l r l 11
Irtv'^- ^^ ^!i
>e U L^*\
r\Jrl ,, . r \qLlls!, fLr ho
ls cl: c qac
94s " " - v lh-
'E 5e( j l l d5 (al- --tl.-d,Ir
- ^i *g_LtI9
^
c- ttt

the tj-me, some of them expanding, some of thcm contracting to

1 -h o nni nf nf rvr aqnr i^ !sr rq4hr'rin
:, a . , n 1 _ h ar crl :qqoq nr ow rng, seemrng r'l rz nrrf n
r- -r
novrhere--al1 the time changing the need structure. Which of
these changes should be referred to as "maturation?" What are
the aspects of maturation that are qualitativcly different from
what vrc can cxpress with need language and this type of meta;:hor?
Thus, in need Ianguage there is something calculating, life is
seen as an effort to extinguish lamps in the console signalling
"need unsatisfied/unattended." There is not cnough active, con-
scious work by the person, alone or tvith others, to transcend
his or her own need structure, being the master, not only the
.^.nFr:t. nr
v } . / er of fhat aOn=OlU.63

And tircn , another ref l -ect ron : why should human deve Iopnrent
or grovrth be seen in unil-inear terms--is that not in and by it-
sclf an expression of Western time cosmology? Why should maturi-
ty incrcase with agc--to besLovr more prcstige on the old, using
duration of life lived as a compensation for the shortness of
the time span left? If degree of socialization into a culture
tirat through dialogue with othcr culLurcs show signs of being
ant j-human is proportionate (or at least monotone) with time,
vrould vle still see life span livcd in that culture as an indi-
cator of matur tLy/wrsclon'?64 anc'l woul,cl lincarj-ty not leacl to
extrapolation, extrapolating from maturation curves from child-
hood via adorescence to adulthoocj j-nto some kind of super-
aculthood, so far atLainable onry by cognitivc or ethical gcn-
 )'Y

rus py >aY sD a ltu > a !r r L- , E /\l Jrur f l rY u\J.

es ,
- l - r i oq
lLrIf lL)/!v9
-\rna .\f
vr hrrman
rlurlrqll r ' le r r o ' lcr n m anJ.
usvslvl/rrrsrtu/ ,/rrrnr^r1-h
urr m'i rrhi -
rrllYrlu l -ronnmo
uguutlLc 667rrl
ll\JItucrI,
YLvw

something available to most people? In gther words, assuming

that there is that potential in us all, under what conditi-on
can it be actuated?

I'lany questions, no ansv/er. Need theory does not serve as

a guide here, possiblv because it servcs as a better guide for
defining minimum requirements for human existence than for human
zin rra'ln nma n. r - q l- r ewond .l - an o h i e r_ - -
usvsIUIJr(rsl!L
-'r:l
YUqIJ lEJVrrU hat.
LtIqL. TrrrrJ
his is
a> n
1t o t necessarilv /
qrr v!Jeu

tion because this approach may be less elitist than other ap-
proaches- -particularly if the hierarchy thesis is rejected.
q n me f ; ..i m l .- ^ .:- ^^- : c ar
Rrrf
uuu JvrrL g u r r Ir rh.incr
y I> ^ ItLIJ>^-r iIY.
;- - f 11tr : Il tl AU C I> ^ Iq! fr
r !vnm
rrr /r
ev^m
r r lnl
y rol
9s_o
9, :nd
ql rs

it is too atomistic-Iike a chemistry contented with the de-

qr-r'i nf i nn of
rv! ay cnmnorrnd.s i n terms of the atoms that enter, unable
to describe and explain in terms of molecules and their struc-
tures and sui generis properties.

(4 ) A M;rn- O v er - M an Conc ept ion of Huralr Relations

One way of expressing this part of Western cosmology would

be in terms of verticality and individualj sm. Society is seen
as some kind of a jungle where conflicts are resolved through
processes defining wlnners and Iosers rather than through con-
sensus and solidarity-building processes. It such processes
are enacted often enough, the net result is a society of verti-
cally organized, mutually detached individuafs; as the process
is built ir-rto the social code, thr-s type of structure will be
naf nnl.r
v "- : I
n r n r ' l' :CCd b Ut a ISO ronrodrrr-r.rl
r L Ir L vq q vu u . Tho
alru
nrnh'l om ic
rr hOW a
t/!vv }J!vvr L r r r

codc of that typc vrould affcct Lhc thcory of needs. fn gencral

Lerms: by emphas,.zing thosc aspecl*s of nccds that would give
prominence to thc three thcmcs just mcntioned: conflict, verti-
cality, and individual-ism.

As to conflict: nno
vrrL r,rnrtl
wvu!u 'l
avnn^!
s^tr(jL: L
trl^af
We5Le:III
nrn +h^^ri
LIICU!l-C5 ^d (Jf
^F
nnnil-
lluuuJ

t,o enrphasizc +:hc nc:cd, oy thc Llicorics of nceds, that, when

translatcd into political practicc, vrould gencratc conflict
 ,)
30

rather than cooperation. One way of doing this would be by

n'irrinn n ri n ri {-rz fn mr J- or ial noodq !r om Am l .r arsi !- n
e^I,!.L,v rrry +h=f
Lr r qL vnrr 'I pef -
,

spec tive on such needs is that the sati,sfiers are hiqh on ma-
fL EI-Lq
r.riI a I r-o mnn n.- + ^
U\ J lLL|: UllClI l* 5,
!L1^-
j.Id,L
+ ^"^h
>L t U I l r-omnnneniq
U U I L L I/U l r El l L D hv
pJ def
q s!r Ir I i n i 1L !vr
-i l o n have

SUlLt\:: ^r ^*" ^+
Elc:lttglIL rf
\J! s r-a rr:i f' ,2
JVq!u!Lr
(a
\qL
t Ieast
IgqJL w hen
wllsrr nursl
vu!J--* red ad l ih he-
p=
!lY__-aj*,

cause of the finiteness of the vrorld); consequently, that if I

have more, somebody else will- have less. This may be one factor
behind the Western tendcncy to give priority to material needs:
hv cloino
ef sn .nnf 1i r-1- i s crrrar.=ntnr.d - r-onilict t vv'!/ that can serve to
qa!r y a!n darIY
a h rrma
Il u l rl q lnl hainnq
!gIr rY J rvzor
= !l_ir ,:l
Lr vq lr z
I IJ .anr
qr r ul i nru!
!1l i i r r i r tr rv=l !uqq! 1.,
IJ .
E

M nr e om n h a s i s On n o n -m a te f i al need.S w nrr I d - i n oenera I

-l
nrnr-l rrn o o t.ro r zero-sum
zar ^- clr m games in
6:moq i n society.
c nnio1. r r As
A c rwill
.l i I be
l-ro seen
c imme-
r: ^!^L E1-- L^ 1^ "- f her a Ay e ex r - ent iour
n sv r r D fLvo 1ul-r.rhb;i S : tLr
h recr e rm av
tto.J a lr v
qr so
\.rrd ry JJcl _ \-rw v.\usIJ c

be non-material scarcity. The important point, however, is not

whether the fine line between competitive and non-competitive
needs passes exactly between material and non-materiaL (tnus,

ther e are also material needs, .9., for air, that at least so
far can be seen as Iargely non-competitive--but decreasingly so
with increasing pollution). The point is only that other codes
mioh1- qi-ecr neon'1 e rnel sor-ietieS in Jess comnerfit'i ve directiotrs
by emphasiztng other needs more and the competitive ones Iess--
nf n nf hr z nr nf an/l' i nn i- hr 'r a ar a rlO Sl r - hr fh'i
J u9r ur J r l rnOS
Y- aS htU nan
-^Irrq o

needs.

As to verLical-itv: there is the point alre.idv refcrred to

above of promoting images ol human bcings and thejr needs so as
to foster competition and colrf Iict, rtltimately leading to vcrti-
cel n rrlori na F{ nwc r r er - i f ShO U I d be noted that thiS Can be Ob-

tained also in other ways. Thus, need-dimensions may be used for

vertical ordering even when the satisfiers are not contpetitive.
A switch from attention to things such as cars to attention to,
c^t'
e.q J
iarr m-"
. . , * _Y h
!!
n i lr lo wif
YY!Llt h fL trho cctmnol
vvr r r l r u u !L r ve -i ti rro corl
vvu u r' of Wcstcfn
I J "l vvrrLl/sLr!re
^nmhrF L

sor_-.i r.f v--"'l .,O k at

qL hO W m UCh m or ( 1 i n v F r!ur
rl T !LItOll
]--- r7 e l se on
Mn ltUW lttuull Jvl r -m
Altt --,,\661
Olry!vu7 u!JL ull

this street" is not very different from "look at hr:w much flner
my car i-s than any othcr car on this strectr" or "look at how
nuch more educated I amr" etc.

Rr-hinrl l- h ic
urrrJ iq
IJ n of
rtvL n n'l
vrrry ,., fhr.
LlIg na)qqi hi -l i f,u r-rf
JL r;rnki nrr
!crrt^lrry nonnl n
l/gut--_
 ) i

but a cultural norm pressing people to do so. Earlier_genera-

tions might have talked about competitive instincts.b" Do"=
this mean that we shoul-d talk about a basic human need, dt
l-east in the Western context, not only to have and to be, but
66
to have more and to be more?"" In other words, that it is not
only tire absolut-e level (of need-saLisfaction) but also the
relative level that counts, perhaps even more than the absolute
_ _^67
level-?-' C1ear11', the thesis would be that the Western code
would tend to foster need definitions of that kind.

One possible approach would be to stipulate that what

cannot even for logical reasons be met for everybody should not
be referred to as a "need," or at most as a "false" need;
for if I shall have or be more than anybody eLse, others cannot
be in the same position--that would constitute a logical contra-
diction. To rule it out, by definition, hovrever, sounds a
Iittle bit like removing sin by outlawing it. The problem still
remains that this value persjsts, and certainly not only in the
Wcstern code. And thc value seems often Lo be so deeply intcrnal-
ized that vre should refer to it as a ner:d, spcifying where it
is founci, if iL passes the test that its non-saLrsfaction leads
to some kind of drsintegration, and t]-ren proceed to question it
in a dialogue, v.rhich ultimately means qucstioning the culture
6B
+r--r ...i r,^^
r . ! VgJ
Fi^z La i+ .
LI I qL II)g UV !L.

Hov,'ever, we choose to look at this, neither: conf lict nor

vertical it.v can be said to be built into the nced s6p6-onf Aq
sucl'i. But vrhat- about individualism?

As to individualism: no doubt thcrc is somethinct indi'"'idual-

istic in a need conccpt stipt.rJ ating tirat thc only neecl-sub jcct s
there are are individual human beings. T'i-rus, the position taken
is that the nced for togctherncss is felL inside ]ruman beings,
nowhere eIsc, and tlrat it is insidc human beings that a feeling
of well-being--because that need is met--is generated, nowhcre
else--other positions beinc-J sccn as obscurantist and Iacking
empirical ref ercnts and as poli tically vury clrn(jcrous. 'fhc nc ecl
to belong to a society of which onc can be proud is arso locat-
ed in ntenrbers of that sociecy; a counLry outdoing others in v/ars
 Lii'

or economic competition is a satisfier of such needs, but both

the need and the need-satisfaction (not the satisfierl ) is in-
dividual. This trivial point, hovrever, is not enough to label
need .|-heorv in crenFral
: vrrsr s ! aq individualist.

A clearly individualist need theory would go further and de-

mand that the satisfaction not only take place inside the ir-rdi-
vidual, but inside the individual in j-solation; in other words
that a socj-a.l context is not needed. No doubt need theory can
be slanted in that direction, and this will be discussed j-n

sorne detail below (under (9) FraEmentation) . But nothing in that

di rection is built into the concept as such. lVhat is built into
it as here presented is an effort to rule out concepts of
"social needs"bY because they seem so often only to be felt by
rrrlinrr olit_oq and Often cOnfUSe satisfiers With needs- Peonle
m ay fcel a need for security, elites may try to exprcss this as
a sociaf need for nuclear weapons and try to convjnce people that
they feel a need for this. Ultimately they may succeed in so
doing in vrhich case this object1on vrould ha."'e to be rernoved--
there remains t-he p::oblern of 'r;hcthcr 1-his is a tl:ue or a false
need, and vrhether the posited satisf ier rr/ould meet the need.

(5) A l"{an -Ove r - llat ur e Conc ept ion of Relations to Nature

The assumption that only individual human beings are need-

sublects draws a line not only against human collectivities of
various kinds as legitrmate need-subjects; there is also another
borderline wi tl-r nature on the othcr sidc. l'la tur:e -- animals,
;-'lants, and other forms of nature--is not seen as being a snb-
ject posscssing needs. I'lo doubt this is in l-ine with Western
tradition of dcsouling nature and bc-souling mitn and only rnan--
and as such an item of l{esternncss built into tl-re theory, sub-
7O
i pr-f to cha'l I onoe ancl ncrqq i bIc nroclif ication.

In the meantime let it just bc noted that to deprive nature

of the status as nced subject does not mean that there is no re-
cognition of necessary cot-iditions for the survivat of / say/ an eco-
 .t
\ll

system--just as there are necessary conditions for the survival

^t
\JL
!Lrl l Y^^ ^an' i
Lq!lTLqIIJL f al' i s,t' sD JvJ LLqITT
fem (\vror Iln l v fLhl l qaL t w
Wge w
W( o url d
r U !L not
l 1 \- i L identifv
t 5dY f

these conditions with satisfiers of human needs, dt least not

without havi-ng more evidence) . The concept of a conditio sine
qua non is broacler than the need concept, -1 ' ' or the need-satis-
faction concept to be more precise (as the satisfaction of the
basic human needs j-s held to be a necessary condition to avoid
disintegration or pathologies from developing). Given this, iL
is not obvious that it is necessary to extend the range of
n ee ri_srrhie . 1f s f n , 1r nai nh f g l S .i lv
r r ulq J qv J v v sr in natUfe__bUt vq u it
ru iS
ro f eact
lgqurlJ

admitted that this anthropocentric position is both Western and

unsatisfactory and that it should be replaced by something bet-
ter. But just as the recognition of collectivities as need-sub-
ject.s opens for aIl kinds of reifications of non-human develop-
mo n l - l crrnh :e nr nr lttr - 1_ i nni qm di c .tr i l r r r f i nni cm 4r orv r'-nl*-
r r -J r- o n l s m ,
'
and modernism -- inst.itution-buitding) that ma1' easily prove to
be anti-human, the recognition of nature may open for an ecolo-
gism that may also become anti-human, or at least a-human. And
these are five of the dangers we wanted to avoid, the sixth
r'trnrror ho in n r n r ,' l f rrri cm
uqlr Yur v u* r lYr J r t ( , * , . J ', the f ei f i C ati On of anl z crrl f U 1. e aS an

infallible guide steering the human enterprise. Thc position

{-:kan L^-^
rrs!u, ,,o doubt, is some kind of htrnanism, seeing the
ccncerns for ecological balance as anchored in man's "enligirtcned
self-interest": if the "needs of nature" are rrot satisfied,
human beings vril-l ultinately suf f er. Thus, the "enlightenrnent"
ref ers to ecological av/arcness rather than to subjccts ttrat may
l-ra nnc it- orl in nOn-hunan naLure, but with
',-"',, which/whom at leasL so
far we scem to be unablc to communical-c.'-

( 6) A V c rtj -c a l D f ,rf tg l _ " 1 !g !9 r Favor.j nq the C e

llovr this vertical division of Iabor vrorks is obvious: by

a group in the center telling the rest of the populat.ion what
their needs are. under (1), above, thc tencJcncy tovrards a wcst-
ern view is discusscd--in geo-political- terms. The point here is
how the same structure is also found insiclc societics. TI-iere are
 Lt V

those who work out lists of needs, and satisfiers, thereby

contributing to the programming of othcrs, and there are those
who have their needs defined for them. The system is found j-n
capitalist and socialist countries aliket in the former the
corporations play more of a role, in the l-atter the state
bureaucracies (and the party) . It should be pointed out that
this usually goes beyond such tasks as stipulating a political
program with priorities. The point is not only that major organ-
izations and those who manage them steer a social policy but
also that they have a tendency to deny that what is not includ-
ed in their program of action could also be of basic significance.

As poj-nted out above there v;ill for se-,'eral reasons be a

tendency to focus on material neeCs; in the capitalist countries
denying the reality of some of the identity needs, in the social-
ist countries adding to the denial list many of the freedom needs
'7 1.
--they are all for "later."'" The examples are chosen so as to
make very clear how profoundly political the problcm of needs
anct their satisf action is , whrch nleans th,r'- thc s LruEg le f or --hc
right to def ine one's ovrn neeCs is a hl-glrlv political struggle.
In a sense the situation is very sinilar to the situation that
has reigned in the field of "development": the idea has been
co-opted b1' powerful elites, a combination of bureaucrats,
capitalists, and intellectual-s at national and international
lev els. That the idea can be abused by those in power is, of
course, what poi/er is about. The needs of human beings do noL
disappcar because the idea of needs can l:e abused, nor does
reality change if onc should decide to usc somc othcr term. The
same applies to "developmcnt": it can be used for political,
even militar:y manipulation and for econornic exploitation; the
problems arc still thcrc, particular:l y if
devcloprrrt'nt is seen
'7 4
as a process aiming at mecting hunran nceds. '

Consequently, the problem relatcs not to the conccpt of

needs, ho;rcver it is dcfincd, bur Lo the power of defininy nccds,
particularly for othcrs. rf anything shourcl relate to a need
!v!
Fa- i
lu= r r ur LJ
-l ^-F.i
!,,
th e n it mu s t be thc need to defi ne onets ow n si t-
u a t ion, j- nc lu d i n g in th i s --i n d e e d --tl -re def i ni ti on of oners ow n
 Y3

rlceds. Again, which is the unit defining needs--the individual,

+-l
Llr u
-'n +u lJ-
rv
ra nnr r n{ - r r z
vvurru!_J,
l.ha r an i nn- - nan vq r r ha
vv
d- i qa,r c c or l l
u r r vu Jr vv, bU t f e-
^rA
Yr i r-
v uu/

gardless of what leveI is chosen, participabion in the need-de-

finitlon would have to be the general norm. This is basic in
an v
qrr_1 sel f- r el i anf annr oac h:
*ry 3 Self -reliani- clrr.\rrn qatq its own
"

goals in a participatori- manncr, including the goals that are

formulated in human needs terms. About such goals human experi-
ence is certainly that consensus is not Lo be expected; if it
were possible, humankincl woufd probabli' have had it by now.

But is consensus desirable? Would that not merely mean a

uniform world wj-th each part of the vrorld being a replication
of the other, in space and throughout time--like we imagine t er-
mite societies? The polnt is not to arrive at consensus but to
arrive at dialogical processes trat pe::init the issues to be
articulated and the mutual challenge that we ha.re made a pl-ea
for--uuder the headinE of the universal maximum mentioned i-n (1)

abo-"re. In such dialogues bureaucrats, capitalists, and intellec-

tuals, national- as wel-1 as international, should also partici-
n atp : /
l- hov
ur r gv Ar o
u!v : ' l qo
srJv neonl
!/v v l /!v
e '- Rrrl_ in the rlI.Csent StI.uCttrr^ the..,

count too much. The vertical division of Iabor will nake then
use vrhat others say and express i n '.rarious '!^Ja'.,'s
as rd.'r; md!uerial.
for them to distill and elaborate and process towards standard
n arrf in a ^- ^cUedur
V _ : u U L \ -es
J t hat can scr-,/c as
( {J fp ll UrUri /Ilornl L Jr i n . t . q ft.La! r societies
IJr

of the future.

Does this mcan that peoplc with some element of power

shou.ld abstain from postulating needs at all? No, f irst of all
they mj girt. do it f or themselves ; secotrd, thcy migirt. p.rrt.ic j pate
in dialogLrcs about nceds; third, they should hclp explorc what
in the powcr structurc, including thcnrselves, might stand in the
v/ay of people meeting the nccds thcy thcmsc lvcs s I.-ipuI;Ltc. In
other vrords, less ef f ort to administer othcrs, more ef J,ort to
searclr for, and countcracL, causcs of maldcvclopmcnt aL hontc, in
the imcdiate social surroundings.
 utY

( 7) A Condit i o n i n g of th e P e ri p h e ry by the C enter

'l'his conditioning is not merery a question of potential

and actual curturocide and depersonifioation to be expected
when Western need-structures (point (1 ) above) elaborated by
erites (point (6) above) are beamed in arl directi-ons as uni-
versal norms to be pursued, but also a question of making peo-
nlo
I/* -
rlononri anf f u on the
vrf urlg satisf
JqulJr iers that will follow in the wake
of the propaEation of need structures. 'r rt is difficurt at
present to see fully the possibirities of conditioning the pe-
riphery by means of basic needs strategies--on some ot.her
aa
, to
occasi-on' r,ye have listed six:

{-ha
LlrE
Pl\T
Dr\ a^n?Atnlr^c
AVIJTVOUTTEJ as an effort to sidetrack the NIEO
issue
fh o RN annr r r ; CheS as a new way of leoifimizino i_nter-

venti on
]-h o Plr
u!\ l ennr nanl.'uqur
oc ls-
L rrs qy!J!
^q
An i nqi-rrrman*-
to increase the r,ar-
ket
J-h
LrrUa RNT:nnr
U!! .\:r "^^e
qiJf L VusllE> s loi.ring do.,.,'nThrrci wor l-d
arnt^rfh

fho R^I:nnrn:nhoc
*.YF' to clec:ease technical
assistance
1 -h c RN a n n r o a r :h e S as A vtFan.\n
vr e u t/vr t ,l a r - :rr:.i nql - t-]ro
v- U C _ C l t5 C
^. - -^ u yq r l r J u LllE

lVhether such consequences are intended j-s of less significance;

the problem is that a basic needs oriented stratcgy may work
this v,ray vrhen opcrat-cd from thc ccntcr, includinq T'hir:d worfcl
a1
. tl
centers.

In a sense this is to be expected. When fed into a cer-

tain structure, steered by a certain code, nceds will be struc-
tured so as to be cornpatibrc. rt is only possiblc to do this,
ho"iever, with a very truncated need-set, singling out from
more complete sets the needs that fit, excruding others (such
as the need for serf-actuation, for self-expression, for being
active and a subjcct, for charrenge, for creativity, etc.).
Thus, the safeguard is buirt into neecls theory, analyticarry
 t{5

speaking; an enormous amount of distortion or perversion must

have been exercised to make such important needs recede into
+L^
L-lrc
r^ -^r-^r^',h,l.
!4uNY r uulru. This
f lrrD is
rJ in itself
rlr worthy of research: how is
it possible to distort images of human beings so much, what
were the preconditions, how did it happen?78 ,h. functions
serveC by the distortion process are increasingly cl-ear; the
process itself should be better understood. As it is now, sa-
tisf iers tencl to def ine the needs rather than vice .rur=..79
Needless to Sdy, this leads to an overemphasis on material
Bo
,r"ud=.

(8) Marginalization: a Di-ririon between a Social fnside and Outside

What could be better for reproduction of the marginaliza-

tion of the masses of our societies than a hierarchy of needs,
having at the bottom people whose major concern it should be
to have material necds (physioiogical and safety needs in Mas-
Iow's parlance) weII taken care of before they can/ought to
(the ease with lvhich one slides from descriptive to normative
statements here is part of the mechanism) proceed to non-mate-
rial needs? The isomorphism between needs hierarchies and so-
cial hierarchies will reinforce either of them, givi.g a sense
of confirmation to either. Elites will be the first in propa-
gating the idea of "material needs first" under the guise of
humani tarianism, thcreby prcserving the marginalization for
gcncrations still to corie, gLvinl the magnitude o[ the job of
"meeting the basic necds of those most in necd" vrhen it shal_l
B1
bc clonc the v/ay thcse elites sugclcst: manageri.lly. To meet
those necds may even bc a lovr price to pay to retain a mono-
poly on social management--as this is done in the soc j-al demo-
crati-c welfare state.

This bccornes even morc slgniIicant given what is probably

a reasonable map of the real situation where need-satisfaction
is concerned:
 il,
Ll '.r
'' '.J

TABLE 3

THE LEVtrL OF NtrED_SATISFACTION: A CONJECTURE

I\IATERIAL NEtrDS NON-MATERTAL NtrEDS

Bas ic Non-bas ic Bas -tc and Non -bas ic

ELITtrS YES YES NO

ri^1-'
! !UII UUUII
{-riac
UI !=- YES YES /NO NO

nnnr
P\JLrr U\JUrr
^Ar1h
1-r
u! i oc
rEr NO NO NO/YES

The elites in countries poor and rich in the world today cer-
tainly have basic material needs satisfied and in addition a
Iot of material satisf iers (of ten callec "EadEets ") beyorrd
that. The masses have much less of the latter; this is, in
fact, how some of the borderlines betvreen elites and masses
are drawn. As to non-material needs the conjecture is simply
that in a modern, corporate society based on thc typical bu-
reaucrat-capitalist-intell-ectual top managemcnt (with somc-
vrhat more power to bureaucrats in the state capitalist and to
the capitalist in the private capitalist countries) satisfac-
tion of a broad rangc of non-mat-erial needs is impossible--
and thc conscqucnce of this is probably found, among othcr
places, in the ratcs of mental clisord.r.82 ,ot the masses in
the poor countries, this is aII differcnt: the material situ-
ation is deplorable in most regards; the non-ntaterial not
neccssarily so. If one of thc kcys to jdcntity is cLosencss,
this is where it may still be found; as many authors, often
naively startled by t.his obvious circumstancc, rcport: ,'in

the slums r found the soridaritl', thc qcnerosity, thc warrnth

so often missing where r come from. " Could there even be a
rclrrlr
f ri
^! susprcron
a, , - ^ l
^i
in the erites that this is So, that this is
 v>
terribly important to the total "quality of 1ife, " that the
el-ites, hence, are jealous "why should these wretched people
r^--'^
rro'vE a- llYr
-':-1^'
rL to be rich where we are poor, " and that they
evcn--consciously,; = , ; . mainly
; ; ; r ; ". ::," r";:"
unconsciously--unleash ,upon
,.:" l;:- nr^-

cesses of such a kinC that even this cl-oseness may be taken

from them, with vague promises of a better material exj-stence?
Thus, if they materially remain Iow (and this j-s where the con-
cept of minimum satisfac tion, of a floor of better distributed
nnrrcrfrr cnfr-r=)83
v i .ev r v / while at the Same t.ime f'I.o nrcrr:essps vlvvuJJg, make
them conform with the hierarchy thesis, then marginalization
could continue forever (tfre bottom line in table 3 would then
read "YtrS-NO-NO").

But there is another forceful way of fortifying marginal-

ization in a society, also easily seen within the framework of
Ol]v ! CO>UIIOUIJ ^. ^- 1^1r z vyJe!r-!v!r!rurALtjU
r ell- f or m r r l a t e d needs
IICr.]L-l> tLIIe--J
heorv- . There is tUllE
he n cl q -
F,V)

cDMrr
ihi ri frr n
U! r
i*^ - hi erarcl -t..' of needs vreII
Ly UUIli,
,a ^uU
-^ -^ rts LJ- + LalrY sui ted to
'l{,-^ .il 'l .i*. ua
:-^,,
Llrdy/ rrrres, even sotid
-^'l fines, .betvJeen those who engage in
"lower" and "hiqher" human needs. But there is also indeed
.i 1^-i -l -i
L.rlu pLrs:,rrJrrrty
rl-a
of creating a hierarchy of satisfierl f or each
need-dimension, with a second-cIass variety for common people,
the masses, anrl. a f irst-class var j ety f or people high u-J, th:
o-

elites."" A look at tablc 2, ricaht-l-rancl column wilt ir,neCr ate-

ly make '-he reacler f i11 in the inf ,rrration: f o:: each satisf ier
(good/scrvir:c) this stratif icei-ion c::ists. In thc market a
range of satisfiers is offered, for basic and "non-basic needs "
(tfre latter vrould actually not be nceds, but this is nont he-
Iess a useful figure of spcech), but stratified so that some
B6
is accessible to onty a f evr. n.rr"", even if people were
equal on the Ievel of matcrial satisfaction, quantitatively
speaking, gudlity or pretcndcd qualil-y differences in the
stratisfiers could still carry thc function of ensuring mar-
ginalization. Of course, this aspect is not so central to
needs theory as such as thc lricrarchy oF nccds.

But is t-hcrc not- aLso a hicrarchy conccpt inhcrcnt in

the idea of basic human needs, even if one draws a line and
 t, :
-,.{, }

assLxnes that needs theory stops when the needs no longcr are
basic--beyond that are the wants and desires, etc.? Is not
.i n a m in n in +.he
m ^Yr . ' i n a .r llq!
I ( t q! 1 ! as i za f u!v1l o- vvlt(rrrY baC k
!q vr \ dOOf
u vv! c\zFn
EV gll iL-l r !hrorrcrh
vU YII an\/
q t^ j noedq
l tg g u J

tlrco
UI TLVLJrr'-
t F\ r en
Uvu l r when a dis t inc t ion between
vu u YYL U i r I ov;er
M vg ! and
q IIu hi oho-
Ir l Yr r g L
rl l grEU
a-a . r c

is rejected?

There are two ways in which this can be said to bc Cone

even within the present theory, and they have to be examined
cri J. i r-al lr z pi r c f f hor a i q the idea that when baSiC needS are

not satisfi ed this will be harmful to that individual, there

will be some type of pathology whether it sho',.is up at Lhe in-
tra-personal or inter-personal leveIs. Second, there is the
idea of a hierarchl' of needs according to how harlrful the non-
satisfaction is, from needs whose non-satisfaction is Iethal
to needs whose non-satisfaction seems compatible with nainte-
nance of the personal and social system=.87

No doubt a theory of needs draws a line between those

whose basic human needs are not satisfied and those whose are,
given the specificities of the societl'. So does, incidentally,
the whole tradition of carinE f or tl're i II: tire re is rnarginali-
zation involved with the institutionalizar-ion of the ill, (t.em-
nnr:rr'\ nn n - m n m } r a r ch i n in qnci orrz qoni -ati on rom
Ev Ls LI t ! ! s r r r r lJ v v r eu_I r "- 5; - hcal thy

np on lo in f ar ni lr , :'rd i, r r r r l- , t and
qrrv so on."' nA ,\Jvvs
r o r . '1 . turlsv!)
henrw of
vL n aeds-
lrrsuJ,

however, should serve as a corrective here by constantly re-

*i -,ri *^
rrr!rrsJllY uJ
+r-af
urrqu e\/6rn !!i f
gvgrt a oerson
q is def icient relative to one
I

need-dimension, need-satisfaction cannot possibly consist in a

trade-off sacrificing other need-climensions in order to make
up for the deficit. Thrts, there is not that much differencc
between a hospital and a zoological garden: freedom is dramat-
ically reduced, So is identity; security ancl wclfare usually
bei ng the necrl-cf asscs takcn carc oJ . Conscclucnl'l y onc would
expect the effccL of hospiLaJ trcatrrcnt to bc somc disintegra-
tion in othcr ficlds, uflIcss, of course, the stay is of a vcry
short duration. rf a theory of nccds is to bc of any value at
arr it wourd be to serve as a reminder of tl-ic nceds of the
Lotal human being, also in such a situatio.,.89
 Lr j
\t
i

But even if this is done there will nevertheless remain a

distinction between those with more needs deficits one way or
the othcr and those with less" To this,it may be retorted that
since basic needs are not necessarily material needs by the
definitions in these pages, t-hose with a defj.cit are no longer
n.)-eqqari
r r uv uJ J ur : 1J lr z ln r - :f
rvvqLuv nri a m r r n ct i hp ml 1-eri al l rr n-.\r- fu r rhorz
uJ r.rnrrl
v"vq r u d arrrr:' l
e Yu u r -
!/vv!,

ly much or even more (see table 3 for some indication) be found

9O m L" - i
:m^n n l -ho n^n- m :.{ - or i:l lr r n.^'-
rJor. Thlrs, in today's society those
with a deficit would be found all over; it would be a more "de-
mocratic" concept. But this is at best a temporary answer: given
the tradition of most societies to stratify, and of t{estern so-
cieties to stratify individuals, one could imagine a new type
of marginalization: between those who suffer from no needs de-
ficiency and those who suffer from much and consequently have
o1
to be treated bv the first class.-'

Of course, this vroul-d be arqainst needs theory with its

emphasis on the need to be subjcct of one's own situation;
sti11, there is something to tnis objection. One fine of de-
fense would be to insist on the diversity of need-sets, but
even within sinall and homogeneous groups this marginalization
may be reproduced. In other words, the use of needs deficiency
as a v/eapon : "your need X is not sati sf ied, s o hc',v d are you -- "
This is already Secrr clearly toclay in conncc tion vrith schooling:
"You have only so and so mucl'r schoolinrl , hcnce your need for
education is not met, hence you are not. a conpetent individual."
Of r-rlrrrqr: - here the usual confusion bet.,^t,.-1:nnretr-'nr'l r.d satis-
fier (schooling) and need (education, very broadly dcfincd) is
o' )
cLeari-'lack of schooJ-ing, even Ii-teracy, iS, of ccurse, not
the same as lack of educal-ion. But there is scmething here in
vrhich a nev/ typc of marginal-ization may be rooted, and this
somcthing should be the subjcct oF intense djaloUuc.

The second point, a hierarchy of needs according to how

harmful the non-satisfaction would be, is more easily dealt
vrith. Our prescnt socicty makes deficits in material ne:eds
visible: poverty can be seen, so can illness. Deficits in non-
 5c

material needs are less visibl-e: alienation, lack of ability

to love and be loved are more easily tolerated than is poverty,
both in the need-subjects and in others. Why? Because of the
material bias of our societies, imolvino that materia.l nrnh'i om q
vv !u r r J

are the problems held to be resolvable within these societies--

other probLems are either defined a',vav or given up--and that
consensus for action is buii-t around material "facts, " not non-
material "values. " But in a different culture, more emphasizing
non-material dimensions, this may aIl turn out very different-
Iy. Sorokin makes the distinction betvreen sensate and ideation-
g1
rr arrlfrrFAc.
vq!9q!UJ,
- no doubt the ranking of needs as to how basic
they are depending orr how harmful the consequence of non-fuI-
fillment will differ in these two cultures. But this is what
culture is about: needs are bio-sociaI, they arc physiological--
cultural, this will be reflected in any hierarchy of needs. ft
can be deplored, but that is what socio-cultural reality is
qUUU L.

Thus, the Maslo'rl hierarchy can be seen as a very precise

cnn l-ri cf -i n: r ar l tf anSJ at iO n Of We S t e rn CultUre intO a theorw o
v! f
-1

necds. But did we not argue against that? Yes, and on two lev-
els. First, because it is often offered with the pretension of
being a universal hierarchy, of bcing something beyorC merely
a reflection of tr{est-ern cultuial biases. Second, because it
reinforces Western-type social stratification, even class for-
mation, further. Thus, the critiquc of that kind of hicr-rrclry
is partly i-ocated in the contradiction between West and impor-
tant parts of non-West, perrtly in conl*radictions inside thc
l.lest. Our personal bias would be that a soci-ety is bcst scrved
vrith a thcory and pc>Iitics of needs satisfaction that place
the material and thc non-material on a more equcrl footing, as
arorted sp\/eral tjmeS abOVC. In that
L fr q L CaSe a hinrrrr-hw
vu r L q r r r L L q !u r r J drawino
u r q Yv!r r )

Iines between the material and the non-material would be im-

possible,' DO margin;ilization coulcl be built on that basis. But
this is the type of struggle that has to be fought inside each
L, , - ^ /
^. .u
u 'l r L r r E / Jvu
^ ^ ^ i r ctv.
^
 .<' !
I

/t) Frro man t at ion: Separ at ion of Individuals from Each Other.

If the only need-subjects there are are the individuals,

why should not this individualization be carried further? The
problem has been mentioned above (under 4) z "that the satisfac-
tion not only takes place inside the individual, but insidc the
individual in isolation; in other words that a social context
is not needed. No doubt need theory can be slanted in that di-
rection, . . ." ActuaIly, "that direction" splits into two,
both of them meaningful within a Western tradition of individ-
ualism and fragmentation, but very different in their consequen-
ces: that the need-subject alone providcs for the need-ob3ects,
the satisfiers; and that need-satisfaction takes place in social
is olation. The hypothesis would be that the !,es te::n tradition
would pick up both possibilities and slant a Lheory cf nceds in
these directions.

The first interpretation points to the hernit or in modern

parlance: not only to individal self-reliance, but to individ-
ual self-sufficiency. This should not be confused with general
self-reliance theory which would tend to emphasize the smalier
group, the beta communities, dt the ]cveI of locai self-reli-
ance more than individual self-reliance. But in llestcln--and
not only lJestcrn perhaps evcn riiorc t-n Iiinclu--ti-Lought., people
Cl ,1
who provide f or themsel-ves havc alvrays inspi:-cd grett'- rcspccL, "
and rightly so. To slant a general Lheory o[ nceds in this di-
rection would be something quitc diffcrent and certainly nol-
impl j-cit in the theory. There is nothi ng in tl-re theory speaking
against "goods and services " as such; thc at:gument would be
about their relevance for basic needs, the access to them by
the most needy, vrhether thcre is under-consumption arrd so on.
There would also be much emphasis on whethcr tlea individual
noed-sttbiecf alsO is a subiecl-. in fl'rr- snnqr, of n,rrfir-in,-rtinrr in
decisions concerning thc satisfaction of her or his needs; but
this can be donc without having monopoly ovcr decision-making,
production for nccr,l-s.rtisf.rction, distribuLion till consrrmpt-ion
takes place, including disposal of wastc pr6ducts. TI-rat a soc i-
 5' I

ct:' is needed in qeneral to satisf y ncecls is not disputcd.

The second interpretation is more important because it

touches on major trends in contemporary society: need-satisfac-
tion in socj-al isolation. I'ood is consumed on TV trays, from
Iuncheon boxes, and in "diners; " shelter takes the form of de-
tached houses and apartments away from each other--very differ-
ent from the clustering in the vilLage as a human habitat;
pills and other forms of medication in a sense permit the indi-
vidual to treat herself or himsel-f but also deprive him or her
of social experience in that connection (the outstanding exam-
nle nf 1-ho l:fl_ a r h o in cr l- r n ff l p-faodi nrr nf
vr h:hi oc
lsvleJ rl onri rl i
uEptrvrtrY na hnfh
lvurr
rr"

mother and baby of physical contacts and mcrnents of beauty);

machines are more often than not operated by one individual;
schooling can be done in loneliness through correspondence
courses and "university at a distance; " Ieisure and recreation
are individualized. (The react-ion against package tours, vrith
groups traveling together, is more Western individualist than
the package tour itself--vrhich also can be seen as a vial'of re-
nrnfrrr.i na vqnmal-1.r'i
v . . . s Lr r lr r y nn rr:'l'r:l-.'
tike the Muslin Hadj). T *'" 1 v , l a t c h -
' * - * - - le,
'i n o in 'i c ola1- iO n fCr S C C C n d!u (l(-r - - anI o '- F n Er-,- nrim:rrz
SUbSt it Ut eS l

crrrr,rn q- r
n nl' i ] _ir - al ar - 1-
qv e f i' ,Yr ir fu.J ' is redltccd to a l n n o 'l
r vl r u rli rr ar-f r - r rvz vn t ui rnr l Yo
IJvr4

in a booth, isolated from the outside; Protestantj-sm and other

religious t-rends define the religious dimension as a.lod-indi-
vidual ref ation (unmediatcd by thc congregati on and i n pr i-nci-
ple, if not in practice, also by thc priest); tclclrhoncs rc-
duce communication to a relation betvreen two persons at a timc;
transportation is in very small units--a car is made for the
faLrily at most, a bicyclc for thc individual; consurncr dccisions
are increasingly madc by indirriduals, DoL cvcn by fanrilics as
'r/cneo and childrcn emancipat-ion get under w.1y. And so ofl, and
so forth; v/c have onIy madc usc of thc obvious points dictatcd
by the right hand column of table 2 to see how our society
IId.gmerrtS.

A1l this, or some of it, onc nay be for or against; that

is not the point. The basic point is that there is and should
 5 3
be nothing in needs theory as such that would make thi s type of
social formation a logical consequence of needs theory. On the
contrary, under the need-class of "iden.tity" it would be strange
if most need-l-ists would not one way or the other include some
referencc to "togetherness." A society that systematically
counteracts this need wiII be punished sooner or laterr regard-
Iess of efforts it might make to make a virtue of its vices by
proclaiming that this is a "natural" tendency.

(1o ) Scq m ent at ion: Separ aLion insidc Individuals

We have discussed above--under lnarqinalization--how hier-

archies of needs may serve to reinforce social hierarchies,
and--under fraqmentation--hov,r the indir,'idualizatj-on o" the need-
snbject may spread to the production of need-objects, or at
t".=a a" their consumptlon. Here an effort will be made to dis -
cuss how lists of needs mav serve to rei-nforce tendencies
tovlards segmentation, or rather: towards a segnented node of
need-satisfaction, ds opposed to an inteErated mode cf need-
saLisf action. One way of exploring thrs n;.)' be as !oIlo'.ts.

So far we have lool'.cd at vr!'r.''need objccts/satrsfiers ar e

consumed/enfo'!e:d (to mcct neccls), but not.t lls"t. Let us split
this "ho'rr" in to thrcc silnple but important parts: ahcre, when,
and vrith whomr rfcrring to space, time, and what we might caII
,o.r*o; rcspecLivcly. Togcthcr, tlc'sc tlrt:e- iniqht consLi-
tute an action-spacc where eacir point inoicates where in space,
oq
vrhen in time, and with whom in social spac e." tror simplic j ty

Iet us reduce this to a two-dimensional space, collapsing spacc

and social sTrace to SSS:
 t

L1 vi

-IY Eegre4gs and integratcd modes of need-satisfaction, I

SSS
Seqmented mode f n tccl rated mode

As time progresses, .9., from morning to afternoon to evening

to night, a person's action-Iine passes through new points in
space and social space: maybe with family in the morning, vrork-
m ates in the afternoon, friends in the evening, and bacll to the
fa::iIy at night. This is thc se!nented ncdc; in the integrated
m ode time also progresses, but alI these activir,ies are carried
out with the same people, more or less at the same place (SSS
is constant, hence the straight line in the integrated mode) .
The continuity in space and people provides for a carry-over,
a social continuity from one activity to the ncxt. The segment-
ed mode is of ten ref erred to as "com;rartrrental-ized " because
transition fronr one activity to thc next inplies a chengc oi
place and social par tners; a na',.l "co:n;;arLrent " in sp:rce. As \./c
all knovr this is in practicc carriecl out much more dr amaLicaLll,
than thc figure convcys: space is divided into minute regions
f or distinct ;Lctivities ("Drrn't eat in thc living-room!") ; time
is divided into intcrvals for distinct actjvities ( "Don't eat
ct 6
between meals!"); -'- and social spacc is dividcd into regions
called role-parLncrs l:y tlrc spccjalists on social space, tlrc
sociologisLs ("Don't eat togethcr with your supcriors or in-
feriors!"). Thcrc arc space-budgcts/ timc-btrdgcts, and sociel
space budgets--hoi:ef ully tirey add up in thc sense that if one
gets through thcm all the net result s|rould be "balancc, " intcr-
preted as need-satisfaction. The condition, of course, iS that
the budget is maclc up ovcr a sufficicnt rangc in spacc, time,
 I,',

and social space, and many do not have the resources to get
sufficj-ently far into the corners of space and social space
(as to time: time gets into us, it is not we who get into time)

O ne may now be for and against either pattern. The seg-

mented mode j-s Cisruptive, but it also provides for new expe*
n-rnrri dnc c+:hi .|-rz
!r . i l e rornecuo, , fh o in 1 - a cr r e l- e r l m nj O i pr ()vrcrcs S t'arJrr-r I i Ly r hr.f L
uu +l
Lnef e ma y

be too much of that. This is not the point, however. The point
is that needs tl-reory may be used to reinforce the segmented
modc, by assigning to each point in the space in figure 2 one
type of need-satisfaction, one need-dinension or at least one
need-class. One model would be, as mentioned: in the morning
eating and togetherness with fanillr, in the afternoon work
(to make money, the univcrsal saiisiier) rv:-th work-mates, in
the evening recreation with friencls, dt nignt eating and to-
getherness with family. fnside each of these four categorics
minute sr:bdivisions can be made, tracing the action-line
through urban and/or rural space and inside the dwelling as
the hours, even the minutes proceed. fn the integrated mode all
of this woufd happcn at the salne place with the salnc peopl,,.
Marx wantcd to break the monotony of work by allocating four
different types of work to these four time zones: hr:nting in
!r-^ fjsh .i n c_ r .i ffr n lLrru
-hc, =Frarn^nn r-aff ln
Ltlu - ^ - ^..i^ ^
1ilv!lrJrlYr r!Jrrrrry qLuq!1rv'Jrlt L=orrtI\Jo!o-ata
-p:ri no in thc

evening, a1.-l .,rriting soci-al crit-iCi3,r, at nic;ht-'--irc says no-

thing about vlhere and vii th whom, in other words .//here the
stabilityr cortinuity, vrould be.

With the rise of bureaucracy during the last centuries,

and in this century al-so at the intergoverrrrnental level, a new
type of distant rolc-partner appears on the sccne: the govern-
mcntal mirristry, thc intcrgovcrrirircntal agcncy. Lookirrg Lhrough
the Ilst of satisfj-ers (goods and services) given in table 2
many of the ministrres and agcncies arc readily idcntified. It
does not take lnuch imagination to supplement thc list with
some morc: the Ministry for Love and Fricndship, thc Intcrna-
tional Agency f or 14.trri;rgc-Mak j ng. 'fhc morc scgrncntcC (and
fragmcnted, marginalizcd) a socicty, thc lcss competcnL will
 /.\
{^ ' i -

pcople become in intra-personal and inter-personal integration

/ 'l nr;a f- i p n d sh i n. a m:rri ana
lrlvrrv s r rn
sd ^ar+A iu u fr l r ) / nl
vu r V haV
r r q vu e f O dO Wi th
-h.l
\ qr r u , ,

that); hence, ds these needs persist, new satisfiers will be

created--and the minisLry/agency is thc form into which prob-
lem-solving is cast in this phase of iiestern (and hence, by
inplication, also for much of the rest of the world) history.
Any Iist is an encouragement for governmental and i-ntergovern-
mental bureaucratic growth and differentiation, for profession-
al specialization, and in general dir.'ision and subdivision of
labor. Since these are so deeply ingrained in our societies,
the process will also work the other v/ay: lists of needs will
be refined further, including sub-neeCs and subsub-needs and
+^ fevo inr - r e a q i n o l r z qnpr-ial izod n r n d p g g l 's of
JU UlI1 UV ^^r r es nond
U9!!9J}Jv1re !r.e!sqJLrrYL:t JyEU!q!ragq }Jruu
gR
JO LI J L ! E! > .

Again this is not implicit in needs theory as will be seen

immediately, but there is no doubt that analytical rather than
holistic presentation of needs renders itsclf to this kind of
process. On the other hand, it is difficult- to prer.'ent lists
f rom h oi
vurrrY no m a- r o ' , 4nr o- \ r or r lsrru
-he nrohl or i S nOt SO inUCh l-OCated

in the subdivision of needs as in trc specificitiz of the sat-

isfiers. With specific satisfiers geared to meet only ore nced,
?r
v/F
v/u o of
Ygu
fhe
ur r u m at f
rrLqL!r1r iX tO t he le f f in fL r Yui o
ru r r r n J, i rr r - h
"vY!L nif r 'r S e SatiS-

f i er q oea re d to meet Sevef al needS at the ti ,ne- \^/.r (rFt the

m atr i x to the riq]-rt:

"--F1d Qnam nnfnel

ou r nr - l inlor r r :J - nd uu lrtr u- nc
y lw6111 of need-satisfaction II

q
"1 "1 "a J

T$ X o \l
t\ a
I I

N.
t nn N. o X... X
z
\o
)
NI l^
f" o x... o N" x o o... o
J
\:
a
N1 UU.o.A
AVnv
n n

N: neecl; S: satisf ier; x: q:]_ i qf :nt L

i nn. r
]v r , irre levance .
Pos sib Ie nec,tative ef f ec ts are not shown in 1 _h i s nreson ta l--i on
 5+
To the left is the one-one correspondence, orderly and neat,
n'l =n-i^-
+',^rF
t'n ac SO
-
A.a'i'lrr
eas ] - l) drA\r/e
r - -..
nrrf nf
Pldrlnlng ar^nn o scn^^j:-l-iz:{-.ir
pecf allzatl-On; tO

the right a compl-ex pattern where thcre may still bc some very
specific satisfiers, but most of thcm are diffuse, nreeting any
needs. They are satisfier-contexts, meeting need-complexes: a
good meal in an esthetic surrounding/ in good company, good
talk, perhaps some music, much friendship and love--and joint
qo
food-making not only joint food ccnsrxnption.-- Of course, the
analytically minded may still discer:r conponents both on the
need side and the satisfier side and subclivide till a matrix
oF fh e s Ac lm enJ - er ] f v net-- is ni:Oduced. ThiS jS what One miohf ex-
'_r
pect of any lVestern intellectual trained that way since this
'i q, na ri. of t . ) r lr r - r aFl.
v! s! e, t he DI. Oblem is hOw i t annparq furv l n o o n 'l e.
u u vp l v,

not to anal-ysts.

Thus for the need-subject it may still- all hang togcther,

but vrhT? Because of the unitl'of space, time and pcoplc and
action--like thc old precepts for Greek drama. In other words,
there is an intimate relation between segmentation and inte-
gration as displayed in f :-gr1;g 2 and as displayed in f igure 3:
the separation in terms of location and social actors in fiq-
ure 2 ts almost necessary in order to obtain the ty1;e of spe-
cif icity given in f i<;ure 2. Without that scparation th,: pl:rcc
and.-he peoplc, all thc things around that do not clrangc wj-II
provide continuity from one satisfier to thc othcr, ancl from
one nee'd to the other. Thus, the irrtccrration on the satisf ier
gng_ Ji-rg__!e_g-iaI conter.t side naLz constitr-rl-c one approach to
'l-lro n rnhlom .-f laCk Of hO l i s i n in thC basiC needS
",. aTrt)rO.,rc5cS.

In the phcnomenon of segmcntation one key to the under-

^!--A4^"
J Lqtrurr!Y ^t:
uI
Llsic
ud- ru lack
!uur. of
vL sense
jurtJg ofL satisfaction
v Do Lr-) mav also bc
-

located. The atomizcd, one-ncccl-at-a- tinrc approach nray simply

not lead to the same satisfact-Lon as the more molecular ap-
proach to a wholc necd-complcx. I"laybc the belief has bcen that
satisfaction is proportionaLc Lo thc quantiLy of satisficr
whcn onc shoulcl ha."re lookccl in anot-lrcr clircction, ttre richness
of the context and thc complcxity of the nced-bundle! If there
 58

j s something to this, the obvious prcdiction would be increas-

ing dissatisfaction of the diffuse kind as a consequence of
increasing need-satisf action of the specif ic kind ! A p;rradox
thaL one would not expect thc protagonists of the prescnt de-
partmentalized social structurc readily to embrace: it is too
100
tnreatenfng.
* * *

Concluding this survey of possible perversions of a gen-

oral lLr!Ev!-y
- l . r o nr r z nf *^ ^ ) ^ rn.|-i nrr w h;l .l _
wllqL in re,a'l i l rr ie ad-'-!-!:^^
qUAyUGLIUtI
E!qtr IICgUJ, y!gJgrtL!1ry !tl rsqtleJ IJ
-r

to trVestern socj-al cosmology and social structure as if it vrere

universal theory, Iet us now summarize. "Westernization" is
like a machinery: somethinggoes through and it comes out, Te-
cognizabl-e, but twisted in particular directions. Thus r our
assumption is that tr{estern theories of needs will tend to
claim universal validitl'; that the approach to time will- be
non-contradictory and mechanistic; that the epistemology of
needs wi ll- be analytical, non -hol istic; that needs vrhose satis-
faction generates conflicts of scarcity will be ovel:emnhastzed;
that nature will be seen as vrithout needs; tl-rat there will be
a strong division of labor between those who define the needs
and those for vrhom neecls alre defincd and that the former will
plan the l-ives of the latter; that t:re center lvi 1I propagate
not only need images but also satisf iers and tl-rereby create
or awaken needs; that needs will be or:dered into hierarchies
thereby reinforcing currcnt stratification into higher and
lo'rrer classes, engagj ng in satisf action of higher ancL lowe r
needs; that need-satisfaction vrill be individualizccl; and that
nced-satisf.rction wiII be increasit'rgIy segmcnted, one necd at
a time and context. If this vJerc nccds theory, the presenL
author vrould bc ag.Linst it; a theoretical trec shoufd be known
1O1
hv i is f lreornf i r-;rI and rrmnirical
""' L'- f rrrit=.

But it is not. It is not even West-crn needs theory, a1-

f ha ,,ah f lr ar - ArL6>
q L sJ f u L r onc
VrrY r ir r l . n C l i n a t i O n s in theSe directiOnS. And

thcory can be twis tcd, anrJ thosc who do tirc twistinq r):ry bc
una?/arc that tlrcy do so, and/or may righLLy/wrongly cLaim that
others do even more t,rristinq than thc.z do. fn this case the
 5-i
distinction made is between a generar needs theory and a speci-
f ication adapted to l,vestern conditions along the ten lines in-
dicated above. From this one should not draw the conclusion
that the general theory is good and the tr{estern specification
is bad. Ivhat is wanted are many more specifications, none of
them pretending to be the universal truth. what is needed is
a generar theory broad cnough to hclp us generate such speci-
fications. In short: let one hundred specifications of need
the orl, qrow--.

Basic Needs Aporoaches: Sorne

strencl tjts anc1 i.;eaj":nesses

Basic needs approaches are certainly not new. Just to

mention two traditions, the Western/Christian and Ind.ian/uindu.
1n)
Girre us todav our dairy bread'.-- is an invocation for minimum
sar-isfaction of basic material needs (it certainly does not
stand for bread alone); John Ruskin's unto This Last is fillec
vrith this idea (but the sourcc of satisfaction is no,,.rmore
secularizcd); Marx' entirc theory is actualJ-y based on think-
1n1
ing about needs i 'u- and in the history of the UN LorcL Boyd
Orr' s f zrmous Que]:ec spcech when FAO vras f ouncled in 1945 is
1C - 4 r--'
ra rl n i n lL
\-.,! rzdrr r - Ly :lnnc
d. r . , r r y {L'
- ho
u reAm
er .ns rl ir*r^t C . C an
^^.- - 1d h i , dccply inspircd hy
rl^v4 -i !,,
Lnrl-srl-anrry
^!-i -^ and John Ruskin on top of his Hindu roots always
had those most in need as top priority, in thcory and prac-
1r \ (
tice. '-' This orientation is ref l-ected in Indian planning,
perhaps particularly Cue to the influence of the late Plt.ambar
106
PanL , " " an extraordinary person. The tviin ideas, wlrich f ocr-rs
on vrhat is f undancntal and on thosc rvho lar-k nr.a.-i
I--.---*-'
<ol y this,
O1 r..-!
Lr,!vuy,,
{-hrn,rrrh
,,rstory
}-ri^L ^-.-1 but not
^n} as a- nainstrcam:
^-. had it been a
mainstream, thcn t.hr:rc might still hevc bcon incclualicy, cvcn
exploitat j-on, but not so much ab je ct misery. Ancl that reacls us
straight to the ma jor strcngt-h of and the ma jor vrcal-,ncss of
p.\t a

Thc ma;or str c rt.J t-h L: LhaL B tl l , i i Lar' ./c t-o sct pri ot_-i ti .-s.
rt is an effort to cut through rhetoric, focusing on what is
 la (l

essential- and basic, and to provide individuals and societies

with a measuring rod that lowers the focus of social attention
downvrards, "unto this last, " saying this: "telI me how much
material and spiritual misery there is at the bottom of society
and I vrill teII you what kind of society you have." It is then
not assumed that the spiritually poor are not necessarily the
1/1Q
same as the materially poor;'-" what is said is that a society
should be judged by the misery it produces, of either kind,
not by its riches. Human suffering, deprivation shall count
more, and serve to set our priorit.ies straigl-,t.109

'the m aior weak neSs js fhaf RNA qA\z nnf l - r 'i n n =h n r r f how mis-

e rV iS nrOdt t c ej. f ' hnv do nr r f nnmnr.ico a qani.al i-hanrrz. ThUS

q .a \/
fh a rt _ -r n6.l- hincl
- - _ _- - _Ltr 9
el-J(
dr r 6r
JLltr f L inonr
_Lr r i{ - r r
te\]uI Ly , IF ar
(Jt ltnebc
- l .r oea =r n
dr e
r al ={- i .
I eJ _d. LIOnS , ev en

abstract ones, and it would be hard to assume that thcre is a

need not to be exploited, or not to live in a society with too
much inequality. Equity and equality are social values, and so
is social it : s t iCe. AS SUCh t h r =v mav ho so deenl-' info6na-iZed

that they' attain need character, but one viould assume such
cases to be exceptional. What is f elt inside a person ',^/ould be
concrete deprivation, leading to concrete tension, even suffer-
ing, and that is vrhat needs theory is about, not about social
an.:lvs-i s^ Thrr- l.rrr r:icinn the flOOf abOrre a Certain minlmUm
agrccd to by people themselvcs so that misery is abolished,
1.1o
basic needs will be satisf i ecl. even vr]len inequity and in-
ecluality are constant or even increasing. Thus, there is no
automatic extension of BNA to cover all god social values;
tirat would be to stretch the needs concept too far. And in this
a major danger is locatcd: it is quite possiblc, cven whcn
material and non-material needs arc put on a more equal foot-
i.g, to combinc BNA with many kinds of cxploitaLive processes,
'l
cha nn nl in r r m . \ St f CSO Uf CCS tO v l a f d S the f jr-h as tvrrYoncr as furre
he nr-ror

are above the minimum. One may impose a social maximum, a ceil-
ing--but bctvrcen cciling and floor thcre may still be inequal-
ity and incquity; thcre may be need-satisfaction at thc expcnsc
of 11 1
sonrebody el-se's need-satisf action. Needs theory cloes not
automaticarry guard against that, excc.pt jn thc (posturatcd)
 li
pi

nced to be a subject.

The ansvrer to this shoul-d not be to pretend that BNA can

of f er r,vhat is not withj-n their paradiqm, but to call f or adcli-
tional perspectives, thcories, paradigms, aporoaches. Nlost im-
n nrJ-:nf r ^r nr r l. l be t heO f ieS abOUt hOW mj-Sef \/ i c nrndrrnar] and f e-
J
--

rrrn drrr-e d- and

qrru Suc h
Duurl tLllEv!trsD
heO r ieS c-iqi--ihorr
E^!Ju urrsj qIs i '^ r 'r -
rlruIJPctrJ< able to
Pruuuugu,

rr +L l r1s ^ ^ o
vL f th e nhenomena. A nd here the w ords rrsati s-
-+:r
YEL
AU -^ .ts
!VVLJ

fier" and "need-object" shov/ their limltation: they give an

impression of something given to the need-subject or obtained
by her or him, Iike food or medicine. But it could also be
more automatic, as something provided by the structure if the
laa
structure is set right-. "' Further, a theory of conf lict is an
indi q n o n q ,r l- r ' le
! r luaJ Pglr J r r p! E
a r r r li fi nna1 na7<6pr:fi rro: sati S fi efS afe Oftgn

sr:ar.:e - ,
t her e
el r e! m ^\ , 2 he t r ar . l r--Of f S and ChOiCeS tO be made.

A second strong point in BliA is the rich image they can

oirro of fi- e llr m = n l' .o in r r .rha6 thnv A -a n-t tOO naffOf.l l V i ntef-

preted. A list of needs like the one given in i-ai-ile 2113 can
so easil y be subdivi-ded among the social sciences, and i'- is
rather obvious r,vhat the psTchologist, thc social ps','cirol:gist,
the sociologist, politologist, and econo:r,ist vrould focus orrr
deriving their hono pslzch.ologicus, ar:C so on till we reach
homo economicus. BNA transcend such ef forts at compa::t-Jnentali-
zation, aiming at rich bio-social, physiological-culturaI
imagcs,

But tlrcn conc3 a m,:jor wcak-ncss again: tlrc crnpir j ca

cedures f or dc.reloping thcse rich inreges are f ar
f rom : i,:gf .
Surv'ey rescarch may gct at valucs, depth interviews m.ry probc
more dceply into motivations. But for needs it is morc cornpli-
cated: what the sr,rbjec t says, in spite of being a sub jec t, is
not necessarily to bc taken at its face value. To use the two
distinctions made use of in this paper, conscious vs. unc_on-
scious (also caIled manifest vs. latent) and true vs. false
needs: the subject is not neccssarily conscious of her or his
needs, and vrhat is held to be needs may turn out to be false
n er.d s: f_.
hnr :--^.^L-- 114
. , _lr m , r r zr nnl-
r LL* hn J_-.h. *. r t -_ lmpor t . t n t' .
 V l,/

The answer to thj-s would be that empirical methods do

ox i q f . hrrl l.h e r z r - e r fa in lr z h a rl e l -o rrn herrnnrl
vuJvrrv
qi mnl rz
J!rrrI/a) :ql ri nn
qJ^!ttv t-hn
Yv Ltlu

person what her/his needs are. The dial-ogue should be a much

more promising approachr around the theme "what is so impor-
tant that we cannot do vrithout it" ("v/e, " not "you; " if a
social scientist is involved; helshe is also supposed to enter
the dialogue answering, not only qucstioning) . 1 1 5 A process
of mutual probing into depth may reveal to what extent non-
satisfaction of the need can really be held to be that crucial,
and how much effort or sacri-fice one vrourd be wj-lling to make
for that need. This would still be verbal, orrly intense so
that it may exclore the deeper recesscs of the mind.

The second major approach would be through practice,

again with thc same srirdivision. Empirical situations of clcp-
r i"r1-ia n m i- hl O CCUf W hef e SatiSf J! iefs
r s! J U
u JLS l fa l I v
tq _ I rL )Jir - FU QU
s r_ l- n I L disann6Ar
q r Jq t/,/Ju r

vvrrvraJ
r .rl -rn l
l rz v!
nr nr ' '- l^^^
y*. - ..-tLy;
.- 116 does Cisinieoration takc place olt not?
And in the concrete situation, r.rhat do people in f act sacri-
fice in order to meet a certain need? Iulore particularly, are
thcy willing to sacrifice along other need-dimensions, for if
they do, that serves as an indication of relative priority.
Tirus, people are known to be will.ing to give up their lives
for freedon anCfor identity, So physical sq;r",ir7;l is not un-
14''1
condi tior-r;..,ll.-z thc nost ba.slc nee(l . ' ' ' But the.,, are also viill-
inf to give up frccdom and/or irlcntiLt' in orcllr to ol-lL,r_n
security and/or vrclfare--indicating the futility in trying to
establish any universal Iincar hierarchy. Frorn considerations
such as thcse one arrives at a flatter neecl-landscapc in gen-
craI. tror particuler situations and groups cl_car pcaks may
be visible; vre do not deny hicrarchies in concrete situations.
 j' ..>
13)

Thus vre have csscntialIy four empirical approaches:

TABLtr 4
TO EXPLORENEtrDS
trIIPIRICAL APPROACI.ItrS

1S It p(-)S S rpIC How much sacrifice

to have it satisficd?
to do without?

Verbal approaches (A) (B )

-
(through dialogue)

Nonverbal approaches (c) 1r)\

(observation of behavior)

This table can novr be seen as an exercise j-n methodology,

and one may discuss which method is more valid and which method
is more reliable. The conclusion is probably that the nonverbal
methods are more valid but less reliable, among other reasons
because repLication is fess feasible; and the verbal method i s
more reliabl-e, but also less valid. Tlie ve rbal approach is
certainly the easier to r..rso.' 'o

But the four ap'oroaches can also be seen as a form of

social practicc. Through dialoguc people help each other, rais-
ing the general av/areness and consciousness of their own trne
needs, manifcst/conscious or Iatentr/unconscious, meanj.nE ;
that what they really cannot do without. This vriII havc to be
zlrn o h
p rr m or nq nF m anf a I e' r n o r i m o n leeJ
lrrrerr ili th refgrence to
uv lr L I , ^vr F r -L. e n
past, experience--asking both wl-rether it is possible to do
without, and ho'rr much one vroulcl sacrif ice. And then f rom con-
sciousness into practice: trying oui-, stripping onc's exis-
tencc of false nccds, focusing mur:it nlorc on the truc needs
(not to mentron the true satisficrs of the true necds), cx-
pLoring vrhat onc is wLLIing Lo sacriFicc in practicc. Thc
n e.a r1 cna i
Jvvlvg]' ]"^.*
o. l- r r is 1_he SO c iCt y that pCt:nitS SpCh CXpCrirLentS

witirin a vride range, for this is onc way in which bet-ter so-
cieties can be built. And if a pcrson engJ.ges in this endeav-
oL, is that- not-.r sir;n of mat-urit-y?
 I il
Ji

A third point in BNA is that they indicate a future agen-

L
r ll:cr
L n-
'j .L J!
rl]u
L o r-n
vL l'ILr lJiLr
nrULl
- ^* Ll ^.^J
dllu a^ -vcr
' 6r \/ y rr i r t-nh
l .L r nr
al 1({ l a)U
\J nen
U ]I a\nr
\J r l tj-. lRJ\l- \.H
A , dO mOf e

than set a list of priorities, af things that must be done.

f -a r r a a #rlur z LJ . _I
rr n r ' ln r sJ- o o d fh o v oo hr=vond r'l i sr-U S S i On Of mi ni fnU m

ler,'e I of satisf action in at least three ways. f irst, !b_":

lar fho r ^ r h n lo e ' zn ln r - :1 - l6 n Of tfU e V e1.S U S fal S e needS ,
^ n- n

thereby potentially being a tool for enriching human existence.

A condition for this, however, is not only to strip onet s need-
set of false needs, but also to enrich it with latent, but
true needs. This is where there i-s so much to from
learn
1)o
others-*a reason why the union approach to universalism'-" in
the field of needs is so important. Second, they open for the
r. rh a ' l n nvn'l n r = tiOn Of tf Ue Ve 1. S U S f al se crf i ef i arc
^,reS ti On-

i nc r
t !1Y ell . l. h e re l a ti o n s h i ns in tahle 2 r^zifh flro n r a +g n q l g d SatiS-
u !vL

f i orq nra-'i qo I rr hrz h c' i n 6 : l- hnnr al - 'i n:l r r r nf cu vrnm

\r e
o.| - hi na
t u r r !r r Y
- ^nc f

non-observable which ca n serve to define a class of satisfiers

-[ron which thc bcst, th c most adequate in terms of a range o:
r fl - 'i r r 'l
needs and resources ava i' l:h' l n m :r r l-rn niJ
p nl-.nr
(jK:l e u . rrr-Lrc1/ L:lc:' Oir.:r

fcr the whole explorati on of richer rel-ati-ons bct'..reen neeis

and satisfiers, particularly hovl nc''l satisfier-ccnr,e:<ts can
be imagincd re lating to vrhole need-comric::es. Tit-:s, ma..-be
transcendental meditation is a wa)/ of mce L.ing both lhe necd
21
for rest, health, and for' identityzl Anvhow, tlre point is
to reason fron the needs, combining thcm ntentally, asking
for rich satisfier contexts that may speak to new, more in-
tegrated conrbinat-ions, and not to be steer:ed by existj-ng
sltisficrs simply bccausc thcy arc thcrc.

The rnajor: weakness corrcsponding to this strcngth remains:

t-hcre is a dif f crencc bct',rreen 1-ensi on relief and human cleveloc'-
ntcnt; and thc image is not ]-rolistic cnough. Thc preli-rninary
answer would be that needs theory nevcr assumes that nceds rc-
nrain at the same levcl, a sort of basemcnt level in a builditrg
v/here values constitutc the uppcr floors. Needs can be devel-
opcd precis ely bccausc they are bio-social in character. We
have tried to point to thc process: throu-clh internalization
of values, to vrant so mucit to do wi'rat is qood and right tha.t
 ;{r

1))
it becomes a need to do so. '-- But this will never exhaust any
im.rcrn of h ttm a n l- r r .in o q h a r-,rttse of or'rr r-:nar-i
uqlruvt frr
uJ nf
v! 1-r:nqcnndi
ur alt-uulru nrr r llY

wlrato rrnr im aoe q, om nhod. r has c o n sr vt u r t rqrv . f od

LUu, i n
rll rY r nvvun d d
u r ! i r ogn
u f i nnq
ururro,

in bad, in both.

Conclusion: basic needs approaches are indispensable in

An v fhe or v of r lnr r al nnm on+ +. h a t sees devel onmenf
r vl 4 tl u l l u aq,
qJ d o r r eg'1 l vt/Il0r gnl rm en +. L
u =v
-I "'

of hum.an beings--in other theories BNA become unnecessary/ even

12.3
- In one way or the other,
--,,,1 . BNA wiII be present,
i i q frrrh i n c

even under other names. Thus, instead of letting the needs

creep up that building from the basement, one may let the v al-
rro q n r oan *-uy'rr,
dnr .- '-'
121 : * !^
into !\
the basenent, insisting that it is
all culturaIIlz conditioned. But one i.oes not escape f ron the
idea of a genqr-go_sine qua non. No development theory worth
its name can do vrithout an an'-irropology of human beings, and
hc',^rever vast the variations, the concept of necessarT condi-
tions remains. That the approaches are beset with problems is
obvious; that constitutes important challenclcs l or: future rc-
scarch. But the major problems arc those p?p'u, ac:lcrcnts or
critics, who see them as tl-re only aprlroacne s ani' either pre-
tend that BNA have d.rrS.rirS rvhcn not e,,.en tne question can be
f ormulated vrithin a Bt'rA paradign, or att-ack it for r-he answers
BNA cannot anC shoulC not c{ive.

So vihat we need is a rich range of perspcctives among

vrhich BNA are one, and a rich theory of basic nceds, all of
which will be vcry complcx. Ancl yct it'will ncvcr bc as com-
plc-r: as human life and social reality thcnrselves, in thcir in-
f 1n j- te variety. Artd that rnay t,ttrn irr t-o a virtue wh.r i- Lo rnany
seems like a vice built into basic needs approachcs: they arc
not only complex, but also chaotic. But why not? Maybc t-liey
should be chaotic, to guard against the type of clarity that
will only too easily scrve as a basis for bureaucratic/cor-
porate/intellectual mani'r,.rI;rtion I i'lrcre is much wisdom in the
by l"Iushat,oii125 in defcnse of tl-re alternative of
chaos: King Chaos died when t}-re Kings of the Northern and of
the Southern seas "structured" him by giving him eycs and ears,
 v

a mouth. For that reason we referred to the subject of this

paper as approach, not as "model", and not as "strategy"l
-- wcIl knowing there are strong forccs trying to puII basic
needs in that direction. Some clarification is necded, not
too much--whethcr the llresent effort is adequate is for others
to decide.
 t l-

NOTES

* Paper presented for the Workshop on Needs, organized

bv t.he Tnt-ernationales Institut ftir UmweIt und Gesellschaf t
(IIUG) , I'r/issenscl'raf f-szentrum Berlin, 27 -29 l,Iay , 197 B; f or
fho qrh-nrniect Needs of the GPID-Project. It is afso planned
to appear as chapter I.3 in Johan Galtung, Da9 Poleszynski, and
a -r^ -^ T. : i r - l-
VlIlqA, I ndiCat of S f O'!r D e rvprr e
U svsl r r sl'l
lLt o n m F n f
n r---rnrr
yr v'q !!u
l-"
!] the Chaif
f lt lLlgl>

in Conflict and Peace Research, University of Oslo, the GPID

Project. I am indebted to Poleszynski and Wirak and others at
the CCPR, OsIo for countless discussions of this subject since
the "lVorld Indicators Program" was initiated in 1914, and for
the di-s cussion at the workshop. A short version of the paper
was also presented at the fnstitut Universitaire d'6tudes du
Developpement, Gene-ra 22 February, 1918. Some of the work was
done vrhile the author was vrsit j-r,g researcher at the IIUG,
Berlin-h:est, a fine vrork opportunity most gratefully acknow-
ledged.

1. In the GPID project of the UN University, an j-nterna-

tional and interdisciplinary attempt at approaching the devel-
nn-nenf nrohl6maf iorre f rom al I f hese anol es at the same time is
r-^ i^ - AnF lr r ieF s , . l o o aq11
n iJovfllrrrY
inino 1Ltlg
-i-o5g
JJgrrrY -- . 1 ^
lLlqUC r \JIls !I is! JrvV tcrtns in one sen-
tence woul-d be as f ollorvs: "De\zelopment is a process transf ornr-
ing str'-.r.-tu:cs--parF-icuIarI7 thosc o: proiuct ion/consu-rption
anC major institutions--so that basic human neeCs are 'satis-
f recl f or an increasing nurnber of inctividuals at an increasing-
Iy high leveI' (1,I. Ilarkovic), within the framework of meaning
pror.rideci by culture and the outer }imits provided by nature."
SLogans Iike "self-reli-ance," "endogenous development," and
"ecoloqicaL balance" are compatible with this formulation.
"Basic needs" occupies a central posrtion bec.luse it is so
closely associated with the goal of development which " should
not bc to develop things but develop man" (Cocoyoc Declaration)
BuL this docs noL mean that it. is g jtrcn central cpistcnrolog j cal
*^^;!.:^- 1 1a e tr in .t_ -i r7pl 1z nor thanr^l -i a:l l rr n^l :
PVJ J - LAVlI ,
- ^ .i+ h - r
llUILllUl UEJU!TLJUIJL!/ l l v! L l l r V!g L !U q IIJ, lll/ that it
ic 1ur-h
re
o rv rrr -nlr z nor enn- ]- ir r o
/

2. For an ef fort to draw a bal.ance-sheet of strensths and

vieaknesses in BNA, see the concludinq section.

3. tror an analysj-s, see Johan Galtung, "social Cosnology

and l'/estern Civil Lzation" , Papers, Chair in Conf Iict and Peacc
Research (hereafter, CCPR), 1979. No doubt this is a key con-
cept in Western social cosmology. Hovrever, it makes a lot of
dif f erence vrhat j-t is that is undergoing progress, whether,
for instancc, it is the "economy" as measurcd by the GIrlP, oL
the level of cosmic a\.rareness, or happiness, or satisfaction
of basic needs for the most needy. rt may be said that all cr-r1-
turcs h;tvc an implicj-t idca of progress: progress is to imple-
ment, realize basic aspects of the culture, e.g., to come
croscr to the one, to the transcendcntal-. Typicarry wesLern

-1.-7q -
 i,{
CU

nright be the unrestrained emphasis on matcria] progress which

sooner or later will- Iead to competition because the material
i s scarce. This competitive attitude vrould probably also very
easily carry over into non-material fields: "see how saved I
am!"

4. This argument is dcveloped in more detail in Johan

Galtung and Anders tr'lirak, "H'.[nan Needs, Hu;nan Rights and the
Theory of Development," Papers, No. 31 from the CCPR, Univer-
sity of OsIo (1916); also published by UNESCO in Reports and
Papers i-n the Social Sciences, No . 37 , 1911. laore precisEly,
there is the l-iberal/capitalisi "productionism cum consumption-
i sm" (development as increase in domaj-n and scope of the eco-
nom-ic cycles ) ; the social democratic "distributionism" (develop-
ment as a more egalitarian distribution of access to gcods ancl
services) ; the marxisL/socielist "revol.itionis:r" (developncnt
as a special type of structural transforrnation in accordance
with the marxist Stufengang scheme); "culturism" (development
as whatever is correct by the culture at that point in space
and time); and "ecologism" (development as whatever maintains,
cvcn builds ecoloqical- balance).

5. This is the thesis of automaticity, of a strong cou-

pling betvieen a process in the structure on the one hand and
human needs satisf action on the other. I'luch f aith is needed to
disregard aII the data contradicting thc liberal ancl the narxist
automaticity theses (e.9., about tricklinc Co'..,r-ianC n,ultiplier
cffectsr or Iiberation of creativity), exc:ot, pernaps, for
some limited groups of pcopl c o:: for a shorc period.

6. The "homo mensura" thesis (Protagoras) may have two

interpretations: that ultimateJ-y it is the impact on lhe human
bcing that matters, and each man/vroman (or group of merr/womcn)
m.iy have their ov/n measure. The first -interpretation would run
against reifications of the types mentioned; the second against
universalism. This paper picks up both interpretations.

7. This is thc rcason for the intimate link betvreen re-

ification and bureaucratizai-ior-r: the means bccome encls, and
thc bureaucracy adninistr-.ring thc mcans reservcs for itself a
monopoly on thc "def initior-r of thc situation; " thcy will tcll
tl-re peoplc hor,v the means/errds are developing. If the ends are
in thc people thcmselves it may be more difficult to irnpose
outsidc judges: the only judgcs are thc people themselves.

B. The slog.rn for the of f icial BNA so f ar has been "mi-

n j-rnum satisf action of basic/matcriar/human necds, " somet j-mes
shortened in a way that blurs the important clistinction be-
t'rtecr-t needs anr,l sat-isf iers to ,'J0inintum needs. " 'fhc_,most impor_
tant efforts so far to define, analyze, and make some steps
towards policy rccommcndation within the uN system are made by
TLO (Employmcnt, Gro-,;i_h and B._rsic Ncecls: A One-l'v-orld Problem
( Nc,'r York t lr acgcr nn fhn ni nnanr
r --.^-* ;l -ng
vrork done by the Barilochc group (Amilcar o. Flerrera ct ar
 $ ,,1

Catastrophe or Nerv Societv? A Lati.n Amerj-can I,VorId lrlodel (Otta-

wa: IDRC, 1916)--and b)' UNep (John and Magda McHaIe, Basi-c Hu-
man Neects: A Framework for Action, with introduction by Harland
and preface by Irlostafa Tolba, the
UiiEP executive director, INc',,' Brunsvrick: Transaction Books,
19111--very much based on the work done by the Center for rn-
tegrative Studies (then at ginc;hampton, now at Houston) for t he
Aspen Insr-itute for Humanistic Studies (John and Ivlagda irlcHale,
Human Requirenents, Sttpplv Levels and Outer Bonds: A Framv/or k
f or 'l'| i nk i nqr abO ut
d!U]l! t!1lc
he Pl a.
rIqr.LLs!_/ rr ar-t R r - r r l)Jrrrr
Du- i - i !L
"WILit 4lI
*-
irOdUCtiOn
f,llr

n ZSl. The Bariloche

conccpL f ocuscs on thc necds f or f ood, housing, medical scr.,-icc,
ancl slhools; ILO arfds to this, naturalJ-1', a "need" f or employ-
nent (which would be hard to demonstra'ue , but not harder than
to demonstrate any need for schooling--that is, there is a need
for something to which schooling and empLcl'ment may constitute
some answers under certain conditions) . The l'lcflales are broader
6'6 6n on j. rre I I rz ( hr r t
\v qu
t hen t he v af e nOt COngf ra i;red l-rw f he demandS
to computerize, make models, simulate), focusing on food,
health, education, shelter, clothing (Basic Hunan Needs, p. 22),
but al-so adding some remarks on "socio-cultural needsr" human
rrhrc qonrr1i
!r.i rjiiLr, r , r l, r v .nrrmanI
s^nnl , , e- - * - * J Y , i recreltion, ar:,d c n '. 'i f O n m e n t a l
protection (e.9., the matrix on pp. 118-19, bot-h references to
the book for UNEP) .

The set of papcrs out of the fl t l.'crli Enployment Programme

^ r'1 ^ ., ,\JP
,- !Ll1I>
1- . i^ L- - .OUI
- r i! . : ^^ ?.9., ]4. J. D. HOpkir]S and D. K.
I\JI LUV/ LJ- LIUII; ( O.
Norbye, "l4eeting Basic Needs: Some Global Estimates" (Geneva:
ILO, 1918); papcrs on bas ic neecls in Guayana (by cuy Standing,
1911) and in Somalia (by l4ichael J . llopkins, 19'/ B) ; not to ncn-
tion Sheei"ian and ilopkins, "Basic Necds Performarnce: An AnaLysis
of Some Internatj-onal Data" (1978), "The Basic Needs Approach
to Development: Some f ssues Regarding Conccots and l'lethodology"
(1977), and Michael Hopkins, "Basic Needs \cproach to Develop-
ment Planning: A View" (1911). In the latter there is a compar-
ison betvreen the (minj-mum level of material) BllA and the World
Bank approach, as expressed in tl. Cl'renery et ol. , Redistribu-
tion vrit,h Grovith (Oxf ord Univers it1' Prcss, 197 4 ) and summarizes
ffias folLovis:
"The main differcrncc, of course, is the explicit focus
on meeting basj.c needs and not solely on incoine gener-
ation for the poorcst--basic needs is not only con-
cerned to generatc income through employmcnt, to buy
privately produccd basrc goocls, it is also concerncd
that publicly provided basrc goods and scrvices , c.g. ,
housing, hcafth and educaLion, rcach t.he poorcst groups
of socicl-y" (p. 22) .
IJopkins continues:
"Finally, perhaps thc most inrpor:tant difference betr,vcen
basic nc:cds and redistribution with growth is thc pro-
ccss through whicir basic nccds are to be obtained. Ba-
s jc nceds Jrrc not just_ .r sct of consunlption items to
be aimcd ar_, thcy must also include a set of non_mate_
rial needs vrhich are both ends in themselves and the
 means (mass participation, self-reliance, social jus-
tlce, equality) through whj-ch basic needs must be met"
Therefore, any discussion of meeting basic needs tar-
gets must center arou.nd what is in the set of basi-c
needs, who is to choose the basic needs and how is
this to be done" (loc. cit.).
The last sentcnce summarizes t-he GPID approach quite well-. Also
see E. Lee, "Non-matcrial Needs, " ILO (mimeo, 1976). But even
though Ilopkitrs, in conrncnting o;r Lee, says "--in any attempt Lo
determinc a "core" set of needs, T woulcl urgc consideration of
boti-r material and non-material needs," the tl-rrust of the ILO
ap1;roaclr is certainly on thc maLeriel cnes.

UNESCO makes an effort to broadet-i the approacl'r, as one would

ownor-i end o\/en dentand fron Ui.IF,SCO, ir-r i|s UNESCO Polic.f Rele-
vant QuaLity of Life Program; a presentacion of whrch was given
at the XIth WorId Congress of Sociology, Uppsala, 14-19 August
1918. UNESCO has also voiced scepticism against BNA as compet-
ing with NIEO, see UNESCO doc. 1O5 EX/7, 22 September 1918.

Outside the UN mention should be made of the Overseas Develop-

ment Council in h'ashinEton, e.9., John tr^I. SewelL, The United
Stetes and lrlOr^1d tterzel..,-o'@ (-:.-.rr ycrt, z-c:CO:r,
Praeger, 1977) , where the Pirl'sicaL Q'ualtc)1 of Life fnde-r (PQLI)
is also presentecl (pp. 141-54), tlic ilcle:.: is based on Li,fe ex-
pectancy, infant nroilalitl', anc,l litei:ac',, anrj y:-cl,is s*.:rrtlinc;
results to the naive vrho belicved that- Gi.lP had to do with such
things--r-t ranks cc;untrie s quite crr if crcntly, of course. Ilany
others could be mentioned, but the upshot is clear: the basic
needs approaches so far hai"rc focuscd on a small number of ma-
terial needs, and on the minimr.rnt or f loor level of satisf action.
Tn the Aspen approach this is referred to as the frrst floor:
the f irst f loor is minimum human needs, the f oocl,_-tteaf tft, ana
educatior, to which each person should be entitled by virtue of
being born into the world we call civillzcd, The seconcl floor
would be such other basic needs .-rs are dr:f incd (and rcdefined ovcr
time) by each nation-state-for rts o'r/tr people (Mcllales, Basic
fluman Needs, p. 1 5) . Nobody \riould belittle this hlghty irnpor-
t.rnt breakthrough in dc='"-r: lol,tiren t t-hj r"ri:ing in a wol: ld v,.hcre
approximately 612 of the popt-ilation of devcloping market econ-
omies can bc describcC as scri.ously poor and 312 of this grollp
as destitute (ILO, trmployment, Growth and Basic Nqecls, pp. 21-
22). But there is the vcry irnportant danger in thc whole ap-
proach that a group of the vrorld population is defined as some
kinrl of sec ond-class citizcr-r (a fregucnt expression j-n the In-
dian debate on this issue) f or whom mi-nirnum sartisf acti-on of a
h.rndful of nceds is alI onc is aining for. Ar-rd in addit-ion, it
f reczes dcv elopmenl- thi-nking at a vcry f ovr lcrzcL inclcecl , whcre
dcvelopmcnt thinJ:ing shoulcl makc us look forvrard to ncw hori-
zons: increasing numJ,rcrs of ncccls zrt increasing l-cvels for in-
crcasing numbers of peoplc.

9. Thus, titerc is somct.hing ncgative about the nceds ap-

proach, very well expressed by Dorothy Lee in her "Are Basic
 +l

lieeds Ultimate?" in Freedom and Culture, ed. D. Lee (trnglewood

Cliffs: Spectrum, lgW
"The premisc that man acts so as to satisfy necds prc-
supposcs a ncgative conception of the good as amelio-
ration or correction of an undesirable state. Accord-
ing to tl'ris v j-erv, Inan acts to relieve tension; good
is the rcmoval of e-zil and welfare the corrcction of
ills; satisfactjon rs the meeting of a need; good
functioning comes from adjustmcnt, survival from ad-
aptation; peace is the resolution of conflict; fear,
of the supernaturaL or oi adverse public opinion, is
the incentive to good condrrct; the happy individual
is the weII-adjusted i;rdividual. "
No doubt, there is in the need concept the idea of tensj-on re-
Iief. But these tensions are real, whatever the mix of the phys-
iological/cultural basis. Vlhen she argues that "it is value,
not a series of needs, which is at the basis of human behavior"
(i-bid. ) , she is oblj-terating the important distinction between
values in general and values so basic that the tension result-
ing from non-fulfillment becomes destructirre. Needs are in this
Iattcr caLegory, and it is not a fixecl catc;or7. We 3an Lurn
values into needs, the question is, ir'Lrich ."ralues should become
needs ?

10. Erich Promm, in his scnin.-ri To Hat'e or to Be? has a

listofc]raracteristicsof,'ihei.]cill{a,@intro_
ctuced by thc follo"rinE .:tc:rd,s: "The function of the new societiz
is to encourage the emergence of a nev/ Iu1an, beings whose char-
actcr structure will exhibit the following qualj-ties: wiliing-
n Fq s fo uir r e 'UP
'* ^r "r t r ^- - - l - ': r 'i - - i^ ordcr tuvo f r r 'l l . z b c " a n c l s O
IrLJJ Lv yrvu ArMrltl- ^F
vI lloVIrr\J aJl Uruur rurrJ

or, anc l so forth. I like the l-ist; it is full of moral exhor-

tations, buL then vr}'iy not? In a sense it is a list of -vrhat it
means to be Eood, to others and to oneself. To nany peoplc tirese
are not only values but nceds irr thc scnse that nct to be/do/
act Iike that viould have very negative consequences. Thus, a
nr-or'l m2\/ hp .aid to be a deenLv inte,rnaLizecl vaIue, and the
question is, again, v,'irrch values shoulcl be intcrnalizecr?

1'1. Thus, vrorlcl pl-rilosonhies tcnd to be relatively silent

on material nceds, with thc important e>:ccption of somc of the
basic r //estcrn philosopl-tics in Antiquity, important for the gcn-
eral m.rtcrierlistic bias of vrestcrn thot-lghL. (but they m.-ty arlso
have bcen rnisinterl:rcLcd, and at-.rny rat,e, the Middlc ^lic;cs v /crc
lcss matcrj ally bcr-it ) . Uhal- i s clcncr,-i1.112.rssociat cd with Ori-cn-
Lal thor,rght- (for a clctctc).
sLlrr./cy scc J. K. Iciblcman, U1_<-1_e5-1-anc1-
pff_glf_!i']_lt'1lqqj?ltly (i.l'c-rrYork : Itorizon Press , 197 (: ) has a
4:L
vcry non-matcrral bia:;. Somc such biases arc dial-ectical: onc
ti:adition trics to correct for the other, exposing hunr;rnkind
to inrages tirnt are either non-materiallv poor ou so full of
clisdain for the materiaL that many humair L"pu"ities remain un-
derdeveloped; nceds remain embryonic--human dcvclopmcnt is low.
As can bc seen fron footnote B this is also very much the case
with BI{A: there is some kind of strange f ear in connection vrj-th
the non-material needs, Ieavirrg refcrcnces to thcm parcnthetical,
 \?
tv'

n
l rnvL I i L
Itl ng
f Y !q
oaUr:1
E U. od rillLV
nln J_ ho
Ullg rmLlqJVr
ainr hodr
l v uf z nf lLr
_ hnr
l VUrYr
al -rrL.
.| -

12. There is an assumption, though, perhaps an unwar-

ranted one, that they may be madc conscious about their needs,
e.9., through psychoanalysis and rcfated procedures, through
l.i ,,i !la
ola log
-l ue
^ s wl. t n nf
ot r r ler n r c - f s , dnu
:h^ +h r n r r a l ^ .
Lrr! vu)r, r .r r n ]-
-lce.

13. Thus, there is agreenent viith Andrze j Sicii-rski, in

"The Conccpts of 'Nccd' and 'Value' in Lhc Light of thc SysLems
A nnr oar : h- " 'i n Social Sc i e n c e s fnforrnat ion, 1978, pp. l1-91,
I LL\ * " - - : . i Y

vrhen he wri-tes:
"--v/e may adopt the following definition: a need of a
grven systcm is tnat proi,c:---- ',..u-rse of vrhlZE-a de-
f ined state of_!!S_e""iton.=t.. of tnt s_vstem is a
necessary condj-tion
iionment. if a neelis not
satisfj-ed, that condition is not met, which results
in the functioning of the system being disturbed"
(emphasis his, p. 7 3) .
tr{hat he cal-ls "a defined state of an environment" is what here
vrill be call-ed a satisf ier or a need-object, ancl Sicifiski puts
its location in the environrnent (in the S\/ster', theory sense)--
assuning, it secms, that vlhat is c.rlleil a ne ecl rs sorLethinr; a
system c.rnnot meet itself ; tlre enr,,ironiient hars to come into the
picture. Hovrever this may bc, thcre is the idca of "nccessary
condition, " Sicihski applies the concrlpl of " need" to systems,
def ined as " any set of ob j ects ivj tir relal-ionships between them
and between t-heir at'cributes" (Ioc. cit. ). This is too broad
fcr my purpose; I shall- use it or-rly for human beings, and refer
to the broader concept of "necessary condition" simply as that,
as "necessary condition. "

14. Thus, some concept of freedom, not only of choice but

of insight in how to choose, would be associ-ated with a need in
all societies and cultures, not because complete uniformity and
regimentation are four-rd nov/here, but. because they arc resented
everywhere. This statement is clearly dif fercnt from aDlz hyi:o-
thesis to the effect th"rt "there is a need for frcedorn of ciroice
of consumcr goods, or of spousc, e'"rcr7'..rhcre. "

15. The dangcr, thouSh, wotild be that one may abstract

away from the particularitics of any spccific list in order to
establish classcs of necds at hicylrcr:, ancl nror:e r-iniversa-L, Ie v-
eIs. But this dangr:r is ir-ihcrcnt, in alry proccss of abstractj-on

16. So, what it a pcrson says, and cvcn dcnonstrates,

that he/she wor.ild "disint-cgr.itc" unless i_n a position to domi-
nate somcbody? Such pcoplc cxist, inclr:cd. Thcre is no argumcnt
that this m.ry be a clceply inLernal-.zed vafuc, but tl'raL d.oes
not rnean that we accept it. we might even lille to chal-rcnge
thc culture that givi:s rrsc to tl'rat rl,-_iluc.

11 . Siciirski use s thc broaclcr tcrrn "environment"--of which

the social context i s a n.rrt rho r-mnhasi5 on social context
 +)
qr- r'-oc 1ullv
-h o nrrrnn c a cl- r n r ^ r i 6s tha t. f here iS adi cti on
v u! v 9J
^f nO C ontf
between salzinn tl'rat tl-re needs are located inside individual
human beings as need-subjecLs, aud that many of thcm are social
in character. In other words, ther:e is no logical link assum-
ing that from "needs are located inside individuals" it follows
tfrit "needs are satisf ied by inclividuals in isolation, " conjur-
ing images of the hermi-t in a cave, the lonely Norwegian in his
hut (the lieutenant in Hansun's Pan, r,.rith his dog) , of mastur-
bation rather tl'ran social sesualrtl'. \Vhcn this misunderstanding
so of ten appears j-n the less ref }ect-eo literature it is prob*
abty due to a failure to distinguish bctween need-subjects and
neeci-obj ects/satisf iers .

18. And from here there is a straight line back to the

neLlative argument in favor of the BNA. The "natton/society has
a nced for production/consumption, for revoiution, for cultural-
preservation or cultural change, :or narure ;lreservaLion of
utilization," etc., are incorrectly fornul-ateC sentences, dema-
gogically designed to givc to political prograrns the character
nf cn moi_ l-'inn
vi!+ :r Y t haL haS tO be dOne fOf hUman l-reinos
v v l rrY to srrrrli rrrr
anr l der r el o n . ,
i n rn l ' i r:i I
+'tt
tl
L i n th c r:onr--enf of need. TO attack the
need concept on the basis of such demagogical uses of the con-
-1
noni iq
!r
ad11A lr z dnm
u s r L t q ;r
Y cnr r in

Siciirski,
19. "Conccpts of )Jeecl and Value, " p. 73i., speaks
"of a logical hierarchy of needs, nanely:
" (1 ) needs rvhose non-sal-isiaction resulis in the an-
nihilation of the si'ster.,, (tltesc cculd be terr:,ecl
as i-n traditional termr:roloEy fundartental ncccLs);
" (2) nee ds whosc non-satisf action results in t]'re sys-
tem's inabiljty to perform somc of its functions ;
" (3) needs ;6osc non-satisfactioffir-
banccs in the systcm's perforrnance of some of
its funct-ions,'
" (4 ) necas resuf tin.J in clr:turbances in the derzclop-
ment of thc syslcm (tlris applics to self-orga-
nrzing s)/stems in particular) ."
In other vrords, this is an exanplc of a hierarchy based on how
destructi.re non-satisf.rction is.

20. Unless, of course, as a part- of a hungcr strike unto

death, as a weapon in a sl-rur;gle for freedom and identity, for
instance. Such i-hings happc:r-i, siior.ringl clear:Iy that physical slrr-
vival is not necess.rrily tlrc need accorded top priority in aIl
s ituat ions

21. The Eng lish langua._ye of f ers arrother cxamplc of this:

" invalid" not only mcans "non-validr" but also "handicappcd."

zz . .bor I nor o oz nlor , . r ljOnS Of [Ovl dja]r-ctir- ;rnn,rrcnt di-

chotomi rs turr. out tc> bc, scc the articlc by Katritr Lc-rlcrcr in
tlli s rroLi-rirrc
-
 'k\

23. See Johan Galtung, "On Alpha and Beta and their many
Combinations," subproject "Visions of Desirable Societies,"
GPfD Project, Mexico, April 1978.

q ]_ i r r r - f
24. I'or mor:e on this di i nn see Johan Galtung, Thc
True l{orlds: A Transnational T ) nr qr r or - l -
'- - Y_J ::- :- * '"
i rro (Ncw York: The Free
Press, l'lcl4il-lan Co., i979), ul rdP Ls! a .

25. f am indebted to my colleagues in the World Order Mod-

els Project for stimulating discussions on this subject, espe-
cial1y during the meeting in New Brunsr',rick, August 197 6.

26. Thus, both Gandhi and guerilla t)'pe resistance are

based on very decentralized, nunerous, and autonomous unlts--
so that the sociecy cannot bc hit at any central point and dom-
inated fr om that point.

21 . See the excellent article by Pierre Spitz, Sj-Ienb. Vi-

olence: Fa.mine and fnequality, Geneva, United I'iations Institute
pment (unnr sD) /7 8/ c .7 , prepared
for UNESCO, Division of Human Rights and Peace; published in
International Social Scicnc es Journal, Decembcr 1978.

28. This is dcvcloped i-n Johan Galtung ar-rd AnCers Wirak,

"On tiie li.elationslitp beL'.recn flu:r,an Rights ancr Huir.an Iieeds, "
Papers, CCPR, No. J1, 1918.

29. It is actually being nace use of in another GPID sub-

project, "Alternative l{ays of Life"; see Procecdings from the
conference in Cartigny, April 1978.

30. This is a major lacunae in current devel-opment stud-

ics, and one of the ntany purposes of t.he GPID project is pre-
cisely, through interregional studies, to try to study l{estern
so r: jef'z ex nl ic : ! r " ' ^: ! 'r f . : o
vvrrr r^ 7 n fu vro- .1rJ,- r q - in non-
J v uI LLf u^v!ruILIy ltUL Vrl IU J bUt tCfmS Of
l{cstern societj-es--e.!J'r os sccn by frrcign st-udents and'dorkcrsf
to see vrhat light that can shcd on problems of maldevelopment
in the " First vrorld."

31. Thre best knovrn author/ most- wort-hy of bcing drscusscd,

is, of coursc, Abraham Il . I4aslovr. Ilis f amous hicrarchy was put
forvzardin''ATheoryofIIum.inMotivation,,'r:r@
L (1943), pp. 37O-96; also scc his books, Ncw KnovrLedcie i-r-r llr- rnran
Values (iJ,.:tvYo::k: ilar1:cr and l{ow, 1959); !_"_.,rgt]_"_$ fl
BeTn.J- ( Pr:inceton : Varr Nos tr:arxl Rcinl'io Ld, 1t-CZl t
sonalit\' (Nevr York: Ilarpcr ancl Rovr, 197O) ; Farther ^1"!fg-!1p1rj!4!gl-
llgaches of
I"lurn.rnNature (New York: Viking Press, 1911)@
Grom 194:) t'ras f ive levels: at the bottom are physioloqical
-
rrueur t/hrrn-or
nnnrlq
\rrurryur, fLrrrrsr,
h i rc t-
oxygcn,
A!/\'/t-h
rccovcry
y-r1\r.\y\,
from fat_igue) and safcLv ..
ncecfs (freedom from pain, protcction of physiological goals);
in the nirldle, bclongin!lness and lovc needs (friendship, love,
and ten.ier affcCtronl (piestige,
achievement, status, and dominance) ancl need for seli-actuat-
ization (exprcssion of capacities ancl ta eA
 'T 9

titem in these three because t]-rat seems to correspond not too

badly with what one may associatc tvith lolver, middle, and upper
classes in our vertical societies; the niddle classes taking
physiological and safety needs for granted but not able to ac-
!',rL- +1^^ 1^.i-i.^cf ai neeflq: fhe llt.1t-1Ar r-l:qqac doonlrz An-
LUOL(: UIIg rIIYttU- L ^r^rrn
Y!vuIJ v! llLLuJ, LIls uppu! vruJJLJ us9y!j Lrl

gagcd in exactly that, taking the others for granted--maybe

Ciscoverinq t]-rat in the struggle f or esteem and self-actualiza-
io n-
fLIUIt helonoir ^ - - ^J 1 ^uvc
"e nceds cyEL
re1- n e o 'l c r - 1 _ o d - Anv
t 9= rVrMll\,.1 llc5J ollu f llucuJ Somchow
>ultLL:lLuw lrsyrs!Leu. nr\1

vertical ordering of needs is likely to be reflected in social

stratification one way or the other, and a theory of needs hj.er-
arci-r..'may thereforc easily become a justification of social hi-
erarcnv.

32. This is ve ry cl carly ref lccl-ed i n the cl assi cal Hindu

ces Le systan w i th thc br'ali:r: n on Lop and f he I ahnrer. f-he sh udr a
at the bottom.

33. One is rcminded of the classical text in this field

ht r
p: Flt dAh K^^n"l
t
f)or
ee Cq-qf a: I
(Frankiurt: Europ,lische Vcrlagsan-
ci-:ll- 1tr vqtl . 6 1 \

34. If for the sake of the arg'oment v/e assume that the
tr{estern threshold is higher, meaning that more material satis-
faction is needed before any attention is given to non-material
needs, then vre woul-d also expect that in their t-endency to uni-
versaL:_ze Westerners vlill assume these thresholds to be univer-
sal. This, in turn, means that Westerners will constantJ-y be
takcn by surprise by the w:-llingness of other pcoples to s+-rul-
gIe for freedom and identity even under conditions of nate::ial
dcprivation that inactivate conpletely an averagc !iesterner.
That bol-h well-fed and vrell-clad p.jopLe nay be viil-ling to lay
do,.'rn t]-rcir Iives for freedom ancl icicn',iti' is vrell knov;n and
also throvrs douirt on tt-rc assurnlttion of I)rirac-,,i -in an absof ute
scrrse to secLlt:it1' neccls, to ph-:sic.,l sur,/'i,,'al.

35. This is spelled out in nore detail in Galtung andldirak,

"HLrman Needs, Hu,rran Rights, ancl tic T].leoL:v of Developnrent." G.
Rist has of f ered the iclea of a monasterl' lnstead, as a comnent
to the list in table 2--wrcr-rg if the neccl-class freedom is in-
cluded, probably a good description i: the range of needs is
curtailed to includc security, vrelfare, and identity only (in
the GPID net'/iork meetinq, January 1918) . Elise Boulding (in thc
World Order iulodcls Project IWOiutp] meeting, Auc;ust 1976) has
suggesLecl that one may st-ill ha'"'c a zoo vtith alt f opr neccl-classcs
mei---one may pro.rram pcople to accc.rpt administratir",c solu-
ttons to all problems rathcr than increasc behavioral ability
and the human capacity to sensc thc needs of others, The ansv/cr
viould be that this is a misrcading both of ider-rtity and frceclon
nceds--it woufd run against eiLhcr class of ncccls.

36. Ti'rc hunan ric-Jl-rts tradi-r-ion, whicir has its traditional

:;trcngth in Lhc ficld of f rccdoirr, lr.rs rcccni-ly .icldcd nruch in
the ficlcls of seclrrity and vrclf arc, buL is still r:elativcly wcak
in the f ield of ide nt- i ty . Iior an analysis, sce Johan Caltunq and
 '\ l,v'
*+

Anders Wirak, "On the Relationship Betv,reen Human Rig'hls and Hu-
man Needs. "

37. Neither l-iberali-sm, nor marxism, can be said to be a

sLrong on emphaslzing the possibility of non-material growth
before or toqether vrith material qrov;th.

38. Thus, a consensus in the Ui.l around material needs

would probably break down very quickly if the intricate, "phi-
lO s o n h i c a l t ' n r o hv vle
r v rm
L r rq n e r r fa ih
u q fih ^ rrrrry
+n i .l ^hFi t-r'
r su r l u r rJ
:nrl froodggl
r! u e v\ S hOU Id
y! IrLr

be entered into, vrith the First vrorld accusing the Second world
of repression and the Second vrorld accuring the First world of
alienation (and the First world reto::ting with a tu guogue) ,
the Third world obtaining nothing for lack of consensus. The
spiritual poverty of libcralism and marxism (conpared, for in-
stance to Oriental thought) may have been necessary for this
consensus to be worked out--for qood or for bad.

39. This i-s done in more detail in Johan Galtung, Tore

Ilciestad, and Erik Rudcng , "On the Last 25OO Years in Western
Ili.,torrz- anrl Somc Rcflcct ions on the Coming 5OO," The Nevr Cam-
br idg c Modc rn iii s tory , '1? vol-s. (Cartl-riCgc: C.ln,rrii7e Unrvcrsrty
ir*ffi, ch . 12, pp. 318-61). Fo;: nt.ch more
detail, see Johan Galtung , "Social CosmoLog-{ and il-estcrn Civi-
I j-zation, " Papers, CCPR, University of Oslo , 1919 .

40. This version is also used in the author's critique

of lVestcr n technology in Develonment, Enviro-nment and Technology,
UNCTAD , G eneva, 1979.

41. In so doing iL is also a response to thc crit-ique of

tl-re needs concept by my colleague Gilbcr:*- Rj s1.- (see his chapter
i n this volume) . At least in earlier \rersions I 1:erceive his
critique as being dircctcd not aoajnc'* r:c,:fs theory but. ag.rjnst
the Westcrn pcrversions of ncccls l-heorlr--or ar1ai nst somc oL
them. tror a nore effective critique of that kind of needs thco-
Ty, a rnap of Westcrn social cosmoloqy and social structurc is
needcd to clenerate hypothescs about what }:ind of biascs woul-cl
be likcly.

42. It is inrporLant bccause the viorld will now increasrng-

ly need a more abstract concept of "Westernness" to unclerstand
better vrhat is ha;;pcning. Pov/er located in the West may be dc-
clining; Westernncss m;)y, in spite of tl-rat, or even bccause of
Lhat, bc on the risc.

43. One migl'rt cven say that this is the function of the
UN system f rom a Western angle: what is profounclly t{cstern may
look more universal clothed in a ulJ resolution, dt least till
one starts asking questions about the deqJree of Westernizat-ion
in thc UII.

44- But there ar:e difficurtics here. fn a paper by Bri-

gitte Janik, "Die Befricdigung der existentiellen Grundbedr-irf-
 ?k

nisse des Menschen als Faktor der Entwicklung und der Entwick-
Iungsplanung, " Vicrte}j ahresbeffs t.wicklungs-
liinder, no. 47, March 1972, from the Friedrich Ebertstiftung,
pp. l7-94, the needs for calories and protein are given, sex-
specific, d9-specific and for regions (the Iatter: from trAO)
(p.6i). Keeping weight and height constant, the most needy are
nrcn in the age group 1B-35 (29OO cal), the least needy are women
in the age group 55-15 (1600 cal); this is for Europe and the
U.S. As to r:egion: according to FAO the most necdy are the North
American (271O cal--but thelz get 3090 , 14e" overconsumption) ,
and the least needy are the people in "Asia and the Far East"
(2210 cal, but thcy get '199O, dfl undcrconsumpt ion of '1Oe; ) . But
how much of this is a self-fuIfilling prophecy--the argument
h ^ in o 1.
L l r Lhr ,v ar e sm,elIer thev sho"l-r -^F 1^^^t' when the
! if r r Y "h!unr
u a u-J g
Alr qe j s!e J r Li q - - e -
- ..JU IU Yg U Ig D D

raa.l if.z is "hc'r-arrqe thev oef

)-" Ir.qs fherr ,are smaIIer"? Even if the
standards for infants are the same? Anyhow, according to this
North Americans in general, and men'1 B-35 years, all over have
some kj-nd of strange community: thei' are calory need neighbors.

45. This becomes even more clealyrhen neeos are made life-
a vnUIloE
U, \
cno- ' i
) pE U M U T
f i^ - ' ^' - ^+ ! - i' . ^ -elaf
IE!q u Iv!!!
ivelv f r . 's
!E/' aUChOfS haVe dOne. On e
f ino ovnan1- inn iS
!J
-)VIttgLllIll_V
I t { CHaleS,
r fv:1 \^ * vU . BaSic Hur,rair NeeCs, }l D . 52-56. If
in addition history is brought int-o the picture, there wilt be
mani/ placcs to search for companions with the same or similar
necds profiles, and hence a potential sense of solidarity.

46. The List given in Ervin Laszlo et dI . , G.oaIs for l"lan-

kind (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1911) are not or this kind; they
do only in part refcr to needs--mainly to goals suclr. as enrich-
lrrcnt, po,//er (couched in various terms ) , etc . It night be int-er-
csting to have several gr:oups look at tr vihit c:<tcnt these Eoals
can be s.rid to ref lect basic hunan rrGeds at all.

41. In a faf:er for the scminar "Objectifs, Processus et

Tndicateurs de d6veloppernent, " IUED, Geneva 1 911 /l B .

4E. In seems to be a basic

llindu thought
element: this
e .rr.rvh
s / sr od v has
lrqD him and her;
^a- r r 1- .urrllrY
in i- ^ it is a a
vI
c a HindU
I lJuJ
-VlllE
qucst.ion of becoming aware of it. For thr: Chri-stian there is a
poLcntial Christian in cvcrybody, but ar-\ act of conversation
is needeC to bring it oul-; it is not thcre vril-l'rout faith.

49. Thus, thc classiflcation syst,cm suggested makes it

possible to explorc sr-rch absolutcly basic political and stra-
tcgic problems as the timc order: what kincl of socicty docs one
get by emphas tztncl wclfarc before frecdoni, or by trying to let
thcn grov/ togel-hcr? It should bc easy to formulate sucl-r problems,
thc stcp from needs thcory to everyday life botl'r at the pcople
level and the politician lcvel slrould not bc too long.

50. Sce Johan GaItung, "VJhat is CulLurarl Dcvcloprncnt?"

C4 , UNI]SCO, 1g'7B.
 -r.{

51. Tiris is analyzed in some detail in Johan Galtung,

Tore Heiestad, Erik Rudeng, "On the Decline and FalI of Empires:
The Roman Empire and Western Intperialism Compared," Papers, flo.
J5, CCPR, University of Oslo, 1978.

52. The basic point is always to keep one's mind open and
regard these as hypotheses, not as laws. Incidentally' the mis-
talte of inferring fron relations betvreen need-classes to rela-
tions betvleen need-dimens j-ons is an e>:ample of the " ecological
fallacy" for variables (it is usually for units of analysis, as
when correlations for attributes of nations are automatically
supposed to hold also f or attribrrl-es of people); see J. Galtung,
Tireorv and t,lethods of Social Rcsearch (London: Columbia Univer-
sity Prcss, AIIen & Unwin, 196'l-63), pp. 45-48.

53. World history is then seen as some kind of rolling

agenda, f irst wef f are, then . . , ai^.Cs. on--alrvays assuming that
the West is tackling the more adr-anced points on the aEenda.

54. This is particularly important in connection with

nee 6s revsp !^ ^- - ^. r r +L I lho fallar-v of
r uuur.Arc . vllT L\J OVUIU g !q M v! u! UnivefSaliSm. The ideO-
j* =n'i hi
ora nhir.
y!uurrru tL!srru5
r6:nd^ III - ' ^ + L ^ ^ ^ 1 ^ d \'
AlrLlluPvrvyJ qlru llr-Lv!jcFnr17 A rp
u!s i ndi
rlruf,JI,s snenS abl e fOf
this reason, vrhich does not mean that nomothetic approaches do
not also have a role to play.

55. About this social science seems to have produced noth-

ing. It is tempting to make comparisons with music, to see a
pcrso;r's lif e v.rritten as a scorc, cach insLrument corresp:nding
to a need. Some m.ey be silenl-, some may keep the same value
throughouL (mcaning that tlre c'zcLcs arc vcry lcng, bttt hardly
infjnitc) , othcrs malz oscifLatc in a lal r1i' rclul:r fashion,
still other:s may shovr vrild patterrrs tltrouqh tinc. The score
mct.rphorc could sensitize us to vert-icaI reacting of the score:
vrould there be points where Inan'/ Iincs peall , dt the same time?
Or multiple troughs? hihat does it mean to "cluality of lifer" to
a general sense of vrell-being if niany satisf actions coincide in
Li me? How do people composc their scol-es, how free are they to
'r^
UU J Vt
nntr ^^lv
IIvL in fnrms of soclal.
VtLLl forcc.s r..strainino
LL!/rrr \/I ]_hpm- hrri_
D VU l o l - tv!U L J IU JL !u r r r r r r Y U IIg r L tt UqL

also in terms of consciousness? What is it, this strange thing

called savoir-vivrc if not exactly an ability to compose needs-
scorcs consciously and rncaningf ully? Tl'r.rt is, not only Iet.ting
each curve of nced-satisfaction unfold independently of the
ot-hcrs, but somchovr harrnonizing thcm, thercby also obtaining
"pcak expcr ienccs" ? (l.laslovr, Pslzcirolo,Jy oI Bcing, p. 160) .

56. In Galtung, "On Alpha and BeLar" alpha and beta

structures are seen as two modes of existcnce,. the rhytl-rm of
oscillation beti'reen them becomes a crucial f actor in explorinq
ho'vr they can be combincd.

57. llcncc, a m;rjor topic of resc.arch in this f iclcl is

Iirecisely hovi to dcvclop more holist-ic imacics. In what language
can it be expressed vrithout Lrccoming somc t-ype of bla-bta?
 +i
58. Surveys also ask for general satisfaction, naively sor
but maybe that is the most meaningful approach--maybe there is
q ome thi
J Vr Lr 9ur r lr r Y no nA i \ . ' o
rrsrv e,
i c nnnnc oA tO " SC]entif iCt' in the Caf teSian
sense, in holism? Thus, in the very important global survey
(60 r-oltn1_
v v uf r Lr f , 9J l ri e s,. 1t vnr v v v r \a \r ) nonn l a\ na-rl rrn.t- orl iprw
f t.he Gal I rrn Intefna-
\vv

tional Research Tnstitutes for The Charles F. Ketterinq Found-

atj-on, Human Needs and Satisf acl-ions: A GIobaI Survey, Summary
Volume, June 1977, a key table reads as foll-ows:

"Generally, how happy vrould you say you are? (%)

We s t e rn L a t in Far
U.S. E u ro p e A me ric a A f ric a East
tt\/ar r z hennr z 40 20 32 18 7
lr l' a i r l rr h: nnr z 50 60 38 50 41
r r I\T^t ]_ nn h annr ,r g 18 28 31 50"

We leave interpretation aside; it certainly does not showr ds

e r-n^rr ft.ra .i
s ^IxJ rn r e q q9J
eJdUV manv tim
s r r l r ge
r s in tL e "fhe
u l fu noOnl e !r n the
"materialistic" affIuenl nations arer orl average, happier" (p.
16, p. 12)--look at lVestern Europe relative to Latin America.
The clear difference is betvreen the U.S. and the Far East, but
from that it does not follow that the difference is due to level
of affluencc. But the point is that this is not only a global
survey, it also reports fairly global sentiments.

59. The survey just mentioned (see footnote 58) vrould see
lh
Lr r !is
J As e x c en] - innai-
urvrrqr fuhnr
r r v q Y rr
r . oh
r- ^ - 'n a r a l tcrns ma--eriaI well-
t

being seems to correlate with ge:lcr:l fcelings o: satisfaction

(but correlation is not causation; tl-Lcre inav be third factors
s
i n rr'\
er r ! Y .
^ n a rr'l - /

60. A typical description of the image developed is:

"The lcft hemisphere gcncraLly spccializcs in analytic,
rational thinking, espccially j-n verbal and mathemati-
cal functions. It processes information in an orderly,
Iinear fashion and is responsible for our time sense.
The right hcmisphere is prcdominantly concerncd with
synthetic and intuitive patterns of thought. It is
primarily responsiblc for our spatial relationships,
artlstr-c endeavors, bodi, image and recognition of
faces. Its verbal ability is quite Iimited" (Bloom-
field et al., TM Discorrerinq Inncr Energv and Over-
coming Stress (New York: DelI, 1975), p. 66.

The point is not to posiL onc half against the othcr, buL to
obtain a harmonic balance bctween bhcmr &s cmphasized by R. F.
Ornstein in his The Psychology of Consciousness (San Franscisco:
Freeman , 1 91 2) .

ol In Basic Human Nccds, pp. 52-56, the Mcliales reproduce

a chart from thc us National Academy of Scicnces, Rapid popula-
tion Grovrth, 19J1, sccin<; thc neccl f or: schools, liouslnrt--FoAl ,
;obs, ancl personal hcalth services a s a function of years after
birth age. The cha rL rcproduccs thc obvious: the need for hcalth
 '':
it!

is highest close tro the entry into and the exit from life; the
need for housing and food increase towards adulthood and then
rcma'i ns fairlv constant. And then the reororluction of dominant
it'.^*Ir,,i-:-;il^ n'err for i^l-,.-.,--
_.1.JUJ I5 JCUIr ;.-;.i;;;";-;.-.r^o'r^
qJ *.^
r-ntjt
!M
-
ul,rc. ulrv
-^^; -.- - -..*ll\-f J-ej dV

vcry low tovrards eJ-thcr end; thc nccd.[or schooling is from 5

fuv n )a
Lv
n n
vrrrj
I rr rv^r i {-h
YrLrr
: nn:k r r nr r nr l 1n \/^.r r q rrf Ada l \l n d nr r 'hf
vq vu t 1- hi c
t
z inz r nnnr q 'l
i.s
rr a
a Lr la:rav
/ of
v! or ^- n. i
vryurrr J i f o-
r a !u , hirf i t should bc seen as
Tr 7h.' na.t_ a^1- nnl i nr {-
n
v lnr !J I rr vtl \^
w r:\r
u\ . VYIr y llUL JUITUU!!1Ie Llhr
r ! nr r vnluYl
r nr!v
r Ju- 2 Li ivalYlhrl Jz nnt
IIU L i nhq JLr
- hr
r r nr rvcuy
r h-r r
^ n 6g J U !J
out, even with a trough in mid-Iife, leaving time for reilection?
ItrvTr hrz
tv n n frL
rrL =
ct \rv :r i
ctJ- Ie ^!"Lv (^c
Jr lvav5 Lff ]_i ;e?

62. Dangerously close here would be a thesis mirroring the

well-kno',,^m heuristic from biology, that ontogenrtic development
is similar to phylogenetic development; describing countries
with material abundance and hence at least the possibility of
devoting themselves more to non-material- pursuits, as more ma-
LU! g.

63. No doubt, the definition of a person as a need-bundle

with clearly defined cut-off points, minima and maxima, for
need-satisfaction, rendcrs pcople cminently suited for adminis-
tration by others.

64. In olher viords, Li therc is somcthing basically ',.rrong

vrith a culture, a.9., bccausc it prcr.1'rccs i:hcncr:ena like nazisn,
stalinism, and the war in Vietnam, woulC one still assume that
adults are more mature than children?

65. A difference between instinct theory and needs theory,

and an iir,portant one at that, would be that whereas needs vary
-1 r
-grearry
l -' l .r
- ^:+
:n J
ana .r .' *
ar nnf nnlr r l- r i n- nhr r qi c r l nai c r 'l " - 1- .
culturally determined, instincts rrrould be seen as bio-physio-
Iogical, species-typicaI, ard, he n:c, ur:i,/ersaI. Thus, the tran-
si"ion from one theor.r to t-tre other also pcrmits much rnore
fIe:,-ibility ancl variation in general.

66. Thus, the l{est would not have to reject Being as op-
posed to the morc material lJaving; the West could embrace Being
as long as it could make some conpetition and zero-sum games
out. of it !

67. Karen Ilorncy, in her f arnous Thc Neurotic Per sonali I rr

e/

of Our Tim e, c)<n rn s s o s r i ' l ri s r;osi

r ti on.

68. Thus, the assumption would not be that needs to donri-

nate and to be aggrcssive, the psychological mzrterial out of
vrhich structuraL and direct violence can be buiIt., cannot be
true needs within some culture, but it can bc argued that these
are undcrdcvelopcd cul-turcs preciscly becausc thcy institl
such needs in people. Accordi ng to this view a dcveloped cul-
ture (see Galtur-rg, "!"/hat- is Cultural Devclopment? ") promotes
values that when internalizcd to thc point of becoming needs
i nspire behavior that does not impede nccd-satisfaction in oth-
ers (outside the culture) r nor in those inside as judged by
 lr
standards conmon in the rest of the wor1d. To stop the explora-
tion of human needs with the idea that the culture makes every-
+ri i h^ -i -l.+
LI I r r lY
r-hat suttee
! and clitoridectomw
lYlr u, arr' sanr-ti oned hw U U IJ u V! IU EU L VIL TV q! g Jq tl u Lf VI1 L U pu

the cufture and hcnce sacrosanct, is thc extreme in cynicism,

and exactly the type of "culturism" referred to in thls paper.

69. Thus, the artic Ie on "Needs, Human" in Hunter and

I.l]-ri
'rr1!
f fon
v uurrt
l-nnrrn I nnarl i a nF
Anthropology (New York: Harper, 1976) ,
pp. 2B3f is divided into three parts: individual needs, social
needs that seem to be
"a minimal social structure to facilitate ordered,
necessary cooperative activities,
necessary conditions for the society not to disinte-
grate, and canal_ization ( 'the process of meeting
li-nOividuaf neeasT irt .specific ways unique to each
society's resources and beliefs' ) . "
N
r r vo
Lr rfr r ly ' r i n o i s addod th
L r l !r n r r cr
v q yh
1l fL l l Lha cnnc'onf
vvl r u u yu n
v!
qor-i : I noorl q ovnonl
S U U U-
L
,

some vague functionalj-sm.

1O. The effort to try to drai,r a line between humans and

animals are countless. My o.rrn f avorite f ormula is something
Iike this:
"both animals and humans are programmed, but it is
given to humans to some extent to reflect on this
program and to change it, again to some extent. It
is this self-transcending character that renders
distinctness to man, "
According to a view of this klnd, animals do not have neeCs,
1 -ho rz h: r z o inc linglS beCaU S e needS Can bC f ho nh-ion
v!J u u i - eu J Of f e-
flection. This certainly does nol- mean that there are not ne-
!gJ>q! \' ^^*'1 r tions
uvllurLrutl> that
ulrqL have
!lovu to
LU be
)f= frJIII_--_
ulf il l ecl f or anv f orm of
life to continue and unfold.

71 . See Sicihski , "The Conceots of 'Need ' and 'Va lues , '
and footnote 19.

72. And I arn quite vrilling to see my own position (f oot-

notc 70) as somcthing to bc ovcrconlc, precisely as an example
of l{esternness. I can see th.et it draws too sharp a distinc-
tion between hIlryo sapj-ens ancl the primates. Thus, alI we know
about homo saoiens ne.rncicrthalcnsis would nrrf if tncrol[61 with
lrs- r,o'., sar,rE;=ffi"r
"" | ".* a ! r l - *\ " . . : -
;ffi"f""1*.t;-";;';;;; IJl r r r L u u u r
and rhe
in-bctr.rc'-cns? A contirxrum rather than ciichotomyf Or are such
distinctions sinply due to our rack of insight into aninars,
possibly not because we are not good at communicating with
them, but because they do not evcn care to communicate witir
us?

73. "ldhen time is ripe"--the "principle of unrip:e tj:ne"

!I- -
Lrro
!
u rL r d y serve to Iegitimize almost any reprcssion.
'l tl
P,ut not at, mcctincl f-ht)n ir-r any v,/ay possible; in a
tllulilolt
-,,-.-
wdy (as enplr.rsizcd by Anocrs Wirak, ,,Iluman Needs as
Basis for Indicator Formation, " Papers, CCPR, University of
 tj'{ l

Oslo) . One vray' of f ormulating this might be as f ollows: de.relop-

ment is not only to satisfy the needs of the need-subjects, but
that this is done in such a way that the need-subjects can con-
trol the need-objects, decide over them. This is al-so one way of
do f inin o s elf - r ar iin^6 f ilz . g rLau
z.rt 'l 'i keno (\!r e s. -
urrvv, the cvrrrrrlJs
hinese !!_ sheno
prrEtry
^grry
gencration through ovrn efforts). I'or a very interesting example,
see The Basic Human Needs and Their Satisfaction, Sarvodava De-
velopment Education Institute , 1"1
oratuwa, Sri Lanka, vlith a pre-
facc' hv the nreSident Of the Sri Lanka S;rrrrnri:rza ehr2i13fl3p3
Itlovement, A. 1'. Ariyaratne- The needs are c.lassified in ten
classes: environment, water, clothing, food, housing, health
carc, communication, fuel, education, and spirituaL/cultural
needs. Thus the focus is on material needs, and the 167 satis-
fiers Iisted--based on dialcgues with Sarvodaya villagers--are
mainly material (no. 33: to have a raised raft built to keep
pots and pans) . But they arc all within the reach of the vil--
lagers themselves, with modest means, and hence a basis on
which autoncrnous developnent can start. Surely it will not
t- l-. ^ tE
-tlid 'l -'l .,
naatAcq:r.i Ir z cr I'
^ ^( - ) lU d- ! t IL arzaI
v u r7 noi
rrs! iLtrs!
-har m:*nr-i
ma tef :'l J.a tIy, nOf nOn-
-
material. Needs are dvnamic!

75. See the artj-cle by Yona Friedman in this volume.

Denis Goulet, in a paper "Strategies f ol lieetincj Hunan Needs "
(prcpared f or the "BreaC f or the IVorId Educa-l-ion Fund, " 1 978 ) ,
writes:
rr- Perhaps the most intriguin<.J conr-em?orary neeos
theorist is fvan Illich, who preachcs an "iron la'r/"
of need-prc-emption, according to which pack-agers
with a vested interest in provicling certain goods
pre-empt thc social Iegitimacy surrouncling "gieneric "
needs and redefir-re them to match the "specif ic" goods
they themselvcs provide. IlIich cl-rarges schools with
doing this to meet the hunger for knovrledge; hospi-
tals and doctors to profit from the desire al_l people
have to enjoy good health; and automobj-le manuf actu-
rers to translate locomotion needs to a need for
cars. tt
In a sense this is a rather obvious point, but one worth re-
peating providcd i t can stimuLatc J.maqination in f inding othcr
satisfiers if vie accept the needs. Of course, a critique of
these satisfiers is not the satne as a critique of the needs.

16. See Johan Galtung, "TIte Nevr International trconomic

Ordcr and the Basic Nced Approaches, " paper presentcd at the
Society f or International Dcvelopmcnt North-Sout]-r Round Tablc,
Ronre| 18-20 May 1978.

17. For a good analysis form one Third worfd point of

view, see trirouz Vakil, "Basic Fluman Nccds and Growth proccss:
The Dimension of Conflict, " Aspen-Gajareh Workshop, fran, June
1911.

t6. 'Inrs, of course, is a key point in Marxist analysis;

and o wa n !l rr +_l ^ te reason why Marx had to make use of necd con-
u sP L> .
 ,)3
'19.
This also shows that it may be useful to retain some
of the old means-ends distinction in spite of the heavy critique
of it. Reasoning frorn the satisfiers rather than from the goals,
the needs themselves r,ri11 have conscqucnces f or the redef ini-
tion of the needs. Thus, if the satisfiers are very unifunc-
ti-onal--f ood is just nutr ition, not also an act of sharing, an
csthetic experience--then the need set r.vill probably also be
structurecl is a heap of unrelated nced.s, theieby impor.rerishinq
Iife quality.

80. This is where the obvious linkage with market and

sa I es oromoti on rrnder c:ni ]--aIiSt eCOnCrniC StrUCtUreS
J t/L
v,((v enterS:
satrsfiers can be prornoted, a whole structure exists for that
^ 1^, . +L {L-r I har z nnlr r fg SOld and COnSumed if SOme kind
L/ U! v VJ E t P\J sJ ^^h
uqrl v!LLJ

of need is created for them. That need has to be implanted in

people (see Goul-et quoting Illich in footnote 15 above) In
some cases this may bring to the sttrface later-rt but true needs;
in other cases artificial, false need are created. The experi--
ence of chil-dren with toys is interesting ]rere. There is a need
for something which toys can satisfy--but wl-rat kind of toys?
Children arc fascinatcd by glittering, expensive looking toys,
get theni and get tired of them after one day--because they are
too vrcl I mrLdc, loo proJrammecl , not suI f ic iently f ull of uncx-
plorcd possibilities. The moment they are discarded the child
nav turn to a heap of pebbles, some old brick, etc. But the
markct does not prcss these upo:r her/him, which may mean that
the child still has the capacity to be honest, to be faithful
to true needs rather than to gir.'e in to the forces of the mar-
ket. Socialization into adult consLlmer beha.,ri,:r, then, is so-
cialization into dishonestl, to',,rards one seli --in part.

B1 . This man..gcrial ar:?Iroach j s vcr)/ visibLe in thc

Bariloche noclel: everything is turned into market prices; the
n.ohlem is h o tr i.\ r Y.' n p r ,a fe enott.l h i nr-ome c^ fhaf nannl g C an
vvvtr

buy focd and hor-rsing and thc statc can gct enough revcnue to
nrorride for health and education. It is also found in the ILO
"Blue Book, " a preparatory document for the important 1916 con-
f erence, and in lJopkins/Norbyc, 1918, e.g. r pp. 41f f , in spite
of Hopkins' exccllcnt st.rtemcnts to the contrary (sce footnote
B) . And it is found in a lcss econontically biased way in
Soecl jatnr oko, "irl.rLionaJ- PoIicy Implications of the Basic Ncecls
Mode 1, " PRISl,1A, fnd-onr:sian Journal of Social and trconomic
Affairs, no.9, March 1918, pp.3-25. Truc, the artrcle is
.rbout " the nai-ional policy franework for dcvclopmcnt with the
Basic Needs Model " (p. 4) and also thc international- impl-ica-
tions. But they havc to be }inked to self-reliance at the Io-
cal leveI, as the Chinese experience indicates. There is in-
decd the danger, as the author says, "that after so many de-
tours and comprornises one has lost. one's wny, one' s soul-" (p.
25) . For the point is that self-reliance is not only a stra-
tegy for the implementation of the basic needs "model" (it is
ccrt-ainly not a model, a concept is not a model) ; it is a part
of the BNA. On the otltcr hand, there is al-so the point that
Erich I'romm has sensitized us to in his trscape frcrn Freedom,
 ,j rt

"v,/ho fe a r s that most people p re f e r t o h a v e t h e j-r n e e d s p a t e rn a -

r i stica r ly met by others so t h a t t h e y c a n e x c a p e f ro m f re e d o m"
t/^ rrn f a .l f vam
!!vlLt Cnr r'l
Uvqlsu, o{ . nn
vP.Ur ni
L., I n IR \) .
\Y u vu g u y.

82. For one effort to interpret some of the research in

this fieldr see Johan Galtung, "Culture, Structure and MentaI
Disorder, " Papers, No. 42, CCPR, Universitlz of Osl-o, 1976.

83. For a minj-rnum easily becomes a maximum, or at least

1 n'l:.r-rn
yruLrvlrrr
rm ^
v!
qor - i a' l and nol i t i c a l rest.
Irr

84. It should be noted that the Maslow hierarchy is good

for not only a more continuous stratified social order, but
also for the more dichotomous social order implicit in the idea
of a class society because of the clear difference between the
lower two and the higher two (three) levels.

85. I shall never forqet the pl:ecise answer f got i-n a

wedding party in Southern India, with six hundred guests, tents,
tables, and the most delectable food beautifully laid out when
I made some compliments on the whol-e setting: "This is not f or
common people, this is for people high up. "

86. This also applies to what one might call the social
market, the market places of social interaction: the closed
political, social, religious group, not alI of them keeping
the masses out (some also keep thc elites out, in practice) ,
but very r..re11mirroring social- class f orm:tion.

Bl . See Sicihski, "C oncepr-s of Need and Value " and f oot-
note 19, above.

BB. Excellei-rt in this connection is the famous chapter

on the mcdical system in 'falcott Parsons, The Social System
(Glcncoe: Free Press, 195'l ) madc use of by f Ilich in hrs
Ug!lr_c_41_Np4eaf_s: Thc E{p_L_opaiqt_1,o! oq seej_lh (New york: Harper,
197 4) .

89. And this goes beyond needs for freedom and idcntity.
As the Norwegian author Finn Carling, hjmself handicapped, in
his many ev-cellent book-s on the handicappcd poinls out: most
"sick" peoplc or "handicappcd" peoplc arc only partially sick
or handicapped, most of them is healthy and reprcsents capa-
cities. Thcre is a need to Lrse and de.,zelop f urther capacities,
also vrhen a part of the person is sick.

90- rn the christian tradition, according to the Gospels,

somatic and mentar deficits scemed to be regardcd in the same
rrAnd ..,h
rw. 7arj \. ' . ntru r yr rrd lg
L UVe
yg r I th
L l.L
e ife r l riIlnC
*-..---
SS and nai n 6r
v!
.i F fh-rr WC f C pOS -
LJqrrr, -.^-J
sessed by dcrnons, or were insane or pararyzed--he heared them
all" (trIatthew, 4:24).

91 . rt is already thcre: t}-rc wclfarc state as the con-

tinuation of thc Good samaritan tradition, secularized and
 tt I

bureaucratized, with the sick giving up whatever healing power

they themselves might have, abdicating to the non-sick. 'Ihus,
the Good Samaritan could not do without this type of verticali-
ty in society, nor can the welfare state without its clients.

92. This is a point of departure for a dj-scussion of the

n h e n 1 - . m c n a) n nf n - ma1l . A S ati S f j -o- m:rz r^rnrl - nasi ti V el w
^ - ' o r Ao r za l t/vrrurverJ
up to a certain point, aft e r t h a t t h e re a re d imin is h in g re -
tur n s, then it becomes eve n c o u n t e rp ro d u c t iv e . See Johan Ga1-
tu n g a nd Monica W emegah, " O v e rd e v e lo p me n t a n d A lt e : : n a t iv e Way s
of Life in the Rich Count rie s , " p a p e r f o r t h e A lt e rn a t iv e Wa y s
of Life subproject, GP ID p ro je c t , Geneva 1978.

9 3. S ee P itirim S oro k j-n , -S o c ia l & Cu I t u ra I Drr' n a mic s

( Boston : P or ter S argent, 1 9 5 1), .2,
p p . 2C--39.

94. The hermit tradition in India is legendary. Maybe it

has its para11el in the West in the Robinson Crusoe idea. the
person who proves his capacity not only for self-reliance but
for complete self-sufficiency under adverse conditions? But
note the difference: the Indian hermit seeks the transcendental
and is admired if he comes closer,' Robinson Crusoe is a spiri-
tual- dwarf, but a material hero--generations of children have
admired his ability to eke out a material Iiving under such
circumstances.

95. This is dealt with in some detail in Johan Galtung,

rrrfl-ra rtr r nam i nc t' PeaCe
Of Rank CO n f liCt, and SOCial StrUCtUre,
Essays in Peace Research, 5 vols. (Copenhagen: EjIers, 1978),
zi lot- t Yo-

95. The medical opinion on this seems to oscillate:

sometimes eating is s'.tpposed to be concentrated on meals, at
regular hours; sometimes the idea is that a Iittle eating
spread over the day is better (vrhich seerns to be the way ani-
mals do it when left to themselves) . Iledical opinion is prob-
ably to some extent dictated by social norms, and shoutd not
be seen as based on physi ological pre.'nises on1y. It is like
the admonition to "fasten your seat belts," presumably for t he
safety of passengers in case of a crash, in practice to leave
the corridors open for the personnel.

91. "--without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd

or critic" finishes this famous quotation from Marx (from The
German Ideology, here taken from Marx and EnqeIs, Basic Writ-

i,?;,l'll'i,f l"'u""cras-
.____ _____=-___
_:___
#h++**fr**:+*:ffi:%;"53;,'
98. The drugs should be god examples here; it would be
interesting to know to what extent peopre start inferring dis-
eases from the existence of drugs rather tl-ran asking for drugs
because they are ill. As there are very many drugs, this shoulcl
upErt qr r r r n {-
vq r u rr d flg OI Cll- SeaS eS .
 l ',"

99. One is reminded of meals in the Antiguitv--an indica-

tion is given in Plato's Svmposion--a very rich-co*Li"ration of
material and non-material satisfiers indeed! How important was a
slave economy in making this possibl-e? And what about sex: ear-
lior .'onorafiOns and Other CUltures
vr r v+ Seem tO link Sexual toqeth-
ernesi to peaks of social
-
experience, not as group sex, but as
a culmination of "tribal" dances, etc., with the couples drift-
ing into the woods and f ields . T]-rc so-c alled relaxation of sex-
ual taboos in the 1 96Os and 1 97Os should perhaps be seen more
as a way of recapturing pattcrns that got lost at some point.

1OO. Thus, a basic point for those vrho argue in favor of

new liFe sJ-wles is not to ask the auLhorifins for anw haln- 1rv r
!/,
arrurusrrvu,
irian-o q fouuur
n r jn n nf rha .i
Y r rrrY DfOC eS S __al l thev
el1vf w anf s tO dO it
themselves, and the major task of the authorities will be not
to stay i-n the way.

101. Thus, there is agreement, hw and laroc with the

points made by cilbert Rist (see his article in the present
volume) if they are seen as directed aqainst a special inter-
'l
nr o l L- Ls : fulv r-ri n n nf F ,\]A \ ,
u!\r n n J- Ri{ A i n cronr-r:r
I/r

1O2. And then there is Jesus feeding the masses, Nlark

6 : 37 -44 3n6l l{ark B :2-g .

103. See the important bool< by Agnes HeIIer, Theorie der

Bediirf nisse bei l4ar>r (Berlin-l,Vest: VSA, 197 6) . In the very be-
tJlnning tlre author states that 14arx's innorrations consisted aborre
all in the idea that r,vhat the r,vorkcrs sell to the capitalist
is not labor but labor-force, the idea of surplus, and the idea
of use value--and adds: "Untersucht man nun die drei Entdeckun-
9n, die Iularx sich sclber zuschreibt, ist es nicht schwer nach-
zuwej-sen, daB alle drci auf irgendcine VJeise auf dcn Begriff
Bed'i.irf nis aufqebaut sind" (p . 23). The entire f irst chapter,
Vorbemerkungen: Uber den l4arxschen Bedurfnis-Begriff (pp. 23-
42) ser\/es as an excellent introd'"rction, and shows al-so how
modern l{arx is in terms of needs thinking--for the theory of
needs has not developed inside the Marxist tradition that tends
to be more sccptical (for reasons, among others, explored in
scction 6, particularly the f irst ob jection t-o needs theory) .

1O4. "The hungry people of thc world wanted bread and they
were given statistics No research was needcd to find out
that half the people in the world lacked suffi-cient food for
health. " Very clearly basic needs-orientecl are the words of
Article 25 (1) of thc Univei:saI Decl-aration of lluman lrights, of
Decembcr 1O, 19482
"Everyonc has thc riqht to a standard of living adcquatc
for the hcalth and wcll-bcincJ of hirnsclf and of his farnily,
including food, clothing, housing and mcdical care and ne-
cessary social serviccs, ancl thc ricll'it to security in the
evcnl_- of uncmploymcnt, sick-ncss, cTisabiLitl', widowhood,
old age or othcr lacks of livclil-rood in circumstances be-
yond his control. "
 -)

And then ther:e is the important repcrt on "International Defi-

nition and Measurement of Standards and Levels of Living, "
United Nations, 1954, listing categories of material needs, add-
ing at the end "human freedoms. " Thus, the idea has been wj-tir
the UN from the very beginninq, but in different terminology.
The debate within the UN about the proper position of basic
needs in development strategy, not to mention the selection of
devclopmcnt strategies to meeL basic needs, is terribly impor-
r-* ! +LlIe
r ^^ ^! ^, -^ t ^- - , ^- ^ ^1-^.-r.] !!U- ^ al-od- nnt
Ld.Il L, --r
d.1ila > LCiJ) IU! wilu JllUuJu - *r 1 r o r -\JU!auUul
oLJ}Jr i IIU belittlCd.
At the same time as many watchful eyes are necded--there are
strong forces at work.

105. The whole idea of "constructive work" and "positive

action, " so essential as part of a dialectic where "non-cooper-
ation" and "civit disobedience" constituted the other part, was
alming exactly at basic needs f or the most needy.

106. "In India the very first five year plan, commencing
in 1951, took explicit notice of the need for broaden-
ing income distribution and meeting the special needs
of the poor. The present exponents of the basic
human needs strategies in general differ from the
second and third fj-r'e years plans in fndia, not in
the vray they meet basic needs, but only in leavi-ng
out the heavy inCustr-y erphasis vrhich came into the
second and third plans. It. is no wonder that many
developing count-ries think that a concern for basic
human needs springs from a desire to see to it that
developing countries do not become modern, and hence,
able to compete effectively in international povrer
politics " (John ltlellor, Int-ernational Foocl PoIicy
Research Institute, "Basic lluman Needs - A Develop-
Perspective, " r:resented at the International De-
-ont
velopment Confcrencc, I{ashington, Fcbruary 1918, pp.
2_4) .
B. S. Minhas in "Gror^rth, Povertv and Basic i'leeds: The Current
Development Debate, " prepared for a Rothko ChapeI conference,
Houston, Texas, February 1911t \lrites that a paper prepared in
1952 ("Perspective for Development - 1961-1976: Implications of
Planning for a Minimum Level of Living," rcprinted in T. N.
Srinivasan and P. K. Bardhan, eds., Poverty and Income Distri-
bution in India, Statistical Publishing Society ICalcutta, 1914]),
was pocrt.y receivea from acadernic economists ( "I remember a large
number of visj-ting cxperts--I fa j I to remcnibcr anybody who shotved
any intercst in iL"). In 1912 and 1973, basic needsr Slf-re-
liancc, and participation vrcre givcn a bcttcr hcaring, but
"Unfortunately, thc final document of the Fifth Fj-ve
Year Plan, which appeared two and a half years too
Iatc in Scptcmber 1916 underthe Emergcncy regimc,
is almost silent on removal of poverty and the basic
rnin inum nccds s Lra tegy " (pp. 7 -B ) .
Of coul:sc, thc Tndira Gandlti rc.Jirnc was a typi cal dcve Lopmen-
t:list rcgime, givinl rclaLivcly frcc hand t<,.r thc capitalists,
tying thr: hands of the two forces that can rcstrain them--the
 ,h,S

the trade unions and the ministries. The present author remem-
bers a party in Madras in January 1976 with business pcople:
enthusiasm for rndira Gandhi (also expressed in the fulr-page
ads, "Thank you, Indira!"). It shoulC also be mentioned that
there is in Ind.ia a trend of mobilizing scientists for basic
needs-oriented research, as in the famous ASTRA (Application of
Science and Technology to Rural Areas) cell at the Indian Insti-
tute of Science, Bangalore-*see B. IU. Udgaonkar, "Research and
Basic Hr.rnan Needs--Closinqr the Widening G-p, " paper prepared
for the UNESCO Seminar on Research and Basic Human Needs, Venice,
December 1975, p. 13.

1O7. In one of the intellectually most primitive of the

many declara-'ions of recent ycars, the Houston Declaration of
June 1911, very much below the sophisticated level of the re-
port the participants wcre asscmbled to disc:ss (Jorn and }lagda
IlcHale, Basi c Human Needs: A Framework for Action, 197 7)--and
presented ts ahe "fiFst neClaration on tnrs.sub;ect to enanate
from a meeting in the industrialized worId"-- it is vrritten like
a discovery:
"The satisfaction of human needs is indeed the vrhole
purpose of grovith, Lr ade and investment, development
assistance, the world food system, population policiz,
energy planning, commodity stab:-Lr.zation, occan man-
agement, environment protection, monetary reform--and
of arms control. "
As if this has not been said for aqes. The point is to go be1'onc1
and at least suggest hovz this position is translated into poli-
tical practice. Instead, the Declaration lir,its icseif enl-ire17
to material- needs, ending, \,,rLth decp insr-ghr'-, wj-tn tl-re sentence
"l{idc acceptance of responsrbrL:.:7 for meeLing "hur:rn nccds" wiII
enable industrial and dcveloping nations to get beyor-rc1 "dialogue "
to a practical start on a new intcrnational econonic order. "
Prr:cilely, f.or thc markcting of matcrial satisf i,:rs.

1 OB . Nor tl-rat they do not at times coirrc ide--as statistics

on mental disorder shovr.

109. That means lower priorities to eljte non-basic

needs--hence not so stranqe if they are scept_ical or outright
against BNA. But a rziew of basic necds as leading to a zero-
sunt garne betvreen elites and masses overlooks the possibility
of generating ncw satisfiers througl'r self -reliance. Thus, it is
hard to believe that the sarvodaya villages in Sri Lanka, based
on much volunteerism and harcl work, are competitive witl-r elite
rnterests. To many this vroul-d bc an ar:gument aqainst thein.

110. The history of the last generation or tv;o of the

rich developed countries under controrlcd, welfare state capi-
talism is about this. Is it possible f or thc whole world? i"{y or{n
view is yes. What capitafism prcsup[roscs is not miscry or
poverty at thc bottom, but inequalit-y, j_ntcrnationally, j-ntra-
nat-i-ona11-y, to rcvrarcl the cntrcprcncurs, to have v.rst cliffcrcn-
t-i a ls lLv
. n nl
1, t q:.,J r r n^n nr mnF v a ti o n,
.,,--i and abovc al l to be abl -e to
f ind nev / m a rk e ts fo r o rc l p rc d u cts w hcn they h.rve to cater to
 ,j

)1
cld markets lvith new Products.

1. 11
The Bible has a clear formulation of maximurn or ceil-
ing in the aCmonition not to gather treasures on earth (Mat-
the',v, 6:1 9-24, 33). The reason given, however, is strange:
because they can be destroyed or stolen (a challenge to the
manufacturers of safety vaults?) It should be noted that the
r,.rhole i-dea of minimum satisfaction of basic needs, once the
satisfaction has been obtained at a minimum level, may be used
as a carte blanche to go ahead more energetically than ever with
the exoloitation of man and nature--"but thc needs are satisfied,
what do you complain about nov/? "

112. Thus, a welfare state should eliminate as much as

possi ble any tests of rvhe t.her people really are needy, and let
the availability of free milk at schcol luncheon be as auto-
matic as the vrater in a creek in the l.lorweqian mountains at
sunlrrer time.

1 1 3. The closest we have found to this list, developed

fh
Llr l
rnrra h
v u9I l uvurru!vJJ
pqq a; r es enf at iO n S
yrvJurrus' and djSCUSSj-OnS Wi t h all kindS
- ^r r nl- ' l
of groups, is the list given in David Krech, Richard S. Crutch-
field, and Norman Livson, Elements of Psychology (New York:
Knopf, 1969), p. 498 (see Lederer in this
volume) Ti-rere is a distinction between "def iciency motives "
and "abundancy motives, " and between motives "per:taini-ng to t he
body, " "pcrtaJning to rel-ai-ions '.'ljtlr cn'liron,nent, " "pertaining
to relaticns .;rith other people, " ancl "pertarning to self ; " eigh"
comb!nati ons all together. The authors use "motives" rather t han
"neecls " lor reasc:ls explaincd by Lcde:cr--I pref er the sense of
prior i-ty conveyed by tl-re term "need. " ivlore f amous r or inf amous
'
in tl-rc history of the conccpt of needs (or related concepts) is
the 1rst of "ps;'chogcnic nccds" (as distinguished from viscero-
gcnLc, or phizsi oLogical ones) devclol-'cd by ECward J. Mttrray in
Iulotirration and @qt19n (here taken from Hilgard, Atkinson, Intro-
auctio@
_:,____-,___=_;_l_
atn ed., 1961). The 28 needs read ril<e a-
c;ui11e to US/capitalist socicty:
1 need to gain possession
ll
and property
3 need to be tidy
tl
and cleant to bc precise
4 nccd to hoard,
!l
to bc frugal, economical and miserly
5 neecl to organize
ll
and build
, , (6 nced to excel
" (7 need to excrcise power, to strive
tl
(E) need to excite praise and commendation
tl
(14) need to influence or control others
tl
(15)need to admire and vrillingly f oIlow a SUper ror
il
' ',^,t
The
l,rL list
rrJu ."a=.
u.ruJr i^"i e""aoil.,
l-lIUIL1UllLcfffy, WILIr ti O i',.nif ication f or intellec-
^ JU5L
lrr: I q r t n s- d r - i ct- s /,,r o fo ssr ir s :
t ' () P\ n fL v n nri n F r n.l i on
\4Ul r r sF
L \6
a 'rl a l lu
dnmnnqf-r,r
u L r r r v!r JU !u L e , l -n. J-n
Lv cri rro i nf ormaf -
l]J!Irtu Yr v!

explaiir-r, i,nterpret, Iecture. "

114. StiIl vrorse, pursuin.y thcnr f urthcr may even be counter:-

';rcd r-t(tti'.'Lr.
 a\
t '1

115. See Johan Ga1tung, "On Dialogue as an Approach: Some

T\ r ^f 6e r r nenar n r a n =r a . l
V efV
v9 !j Pfelimjn a? \ '
!!utll\lar lql] , I- gI- U - t / ! U t / g rU u
fOf the Thifd GPID Net-
r.rnr]r Ma a t.i
I r uu ur r lY
nn /lanar
vurrv
ra v s,
f) n+ nhgy 191 B.
,

116. Paul A. Baran, in his -r" Political Economv of Growth

(Londoni'petfxan Books, 1g7'al,
four types of pot-ential economic surplus (defined as the dif-
f ercnce beti.;een tl-re output that coulcl be procluced and what
rurgr,c '^^
min)-,F
De regardcd as esscntial consumption, p. 133):
"society's excess consumption (predoriinantly on the
part of the upper income grouos, but in scme coun-
tries. such as the United States also on the part of
the so-called middle classes), output lost to so-
ciety through the existence of unproductive workers,
output lost because of the irrational and wasteful
organization of the existing productive apparatus,
and the output foregone owing to the existence of
unemployment caused primarily by the anarchy of
production and the deficiencv of effec-
^^pitalist
tive demand" (p. 134).
In situations of crisis this potential surplus is channeled in-
to the war effort, all four types of the society are weII orga-
niz cd. Most important here is type 1: this shows that this typc
of surplus is not used to satisfy really basic needs but goes
to non-basic needs. Thus there is an intimate link between
+l
naojq J.h o n rrr
r ano
--; surPrus
- r r r nlr r c tneory.

111. Dorothy D. Lee writes in trreedom and Cultule: "I

know of no culture where hu-nan p-rysicaf srrr-Jivai has becn shown,
rather than unqucstioning ly assu::rcd by social scientists, to be
the ultimate goaI. "

118. Thus, there is the usual trade-off known from the

general methodology of dat.a c olfection in the social sciences:
what one (tains in validity one usually l-oses in reliability,
and vice versa.

119. It should be noted that this excludes needs that

for logical reasons cannot be satisfied for aIl, such as a
postulatecl neecl to dominate. It docs not exclucle contracliction
: rri j nac
q !JacirrY n c rf v!
or omltI,!L
gr nir i n:l
IUqI r n:qr
L uG> ' lnq
vr r J, lv-LU
r r r -uqJ
;tttqp
L vn{:
r Je^i
U (ruc i ur fu-ryr anr
ql r u'1 uuuI,r
^Ar r nl r l l Y J

betvreen needs and need-subjects. Thus, satisfaction of one neecl may

very easily be at the el{pcnse of sorne other need-satisfaction;
for oncsclf, for others todey, for oLhers toniorrow; along the
same necd-dimension or some other ne ed-d jmcnsion. This yj-eIds
a total of six combinations, also important in connection with
tlie theory of ovcrdcvelopment. One is very c1ear, Lf I have
li,nited resourccs, e.cJ., of tirne, shall f use i-t to gct a job
done or to relax--an intra-pcrsonal dilcmma. But ab the othcr
ex tr eme is the trade-of f with f uturc gcnerations, not even here
to plead their case.

120. See above, scction 5 (1 ), orr universalism in needs

th ink inq .
 ),
i
J'

121 . The book on transcendent-al meditation by Bloomfield

et al., TIl Discovering, shows an astounding mass of data indi-
cating t}lat T)'1 rnay frave a positive impact on a variety of fielcls
(metabolic rate, breath rate, skin resistance, blood lactate
concentration, brain wave synchrony, galvanic skin responses,
heart rate, blood pressure, "personal orientation inventory,"
anxiety leve1, "psychological health," self-actualization, per-
n o n i r r :Luar
'l :h i
q!!ar l i 1u'y,
-r z raar. l-Lrul1
i nn lL!tlist
-i ma ror': I I ehi
qurrf I 'i frr rrqp rr5 i ..''-^
u=u rc:a\. ! Evqrr LJ t uJs v! \r]- u!J I

use of alcohol and cigarettes, acadcnic performance (!), pro-

rl'nf i r-r, -inlr nerf orm,ancr, I see charts 1-2] at the end of the
'i
uuuLr \ r uJ t )vp ys!!

bookl ) .

122. If it is possible to train soldiers to storm onto the

battlef j -eld vrith very poor odds in their favor, much should be
possible in human affairs.

123. And that is, of course, a major reason why it is re-

jected by those who have a vested academic, intellectual, poli-
tical interest in some other theory: it becomes disturbing when
developxnent as defined by these theories may turn out to be not
onl.z a-human, but anti-human.

124. Dorothy D. Lee, Freedom and Culttlre: ] L I5 \'O.IUVJ,

h ^ {-
IIV U a series of needs, which is at the basis of human behavior
altg main difference betvreen the two lies in the nnnnonf i nn r:f

the good which underlies them. "

125. Kinhide l4ushakoji, "Scientif ic Re..'olution and Inter-

Paracrigma l-ic Dialogues, " paper preparcd ior thc GPID project
meeting, Gencva, 2-B Cctober 1914.