Final answer:
Development is a transformative process aiming to improve the societal structure, standards of living, and cultural and institutional frameworks. It includes economic development marked by rising incomes and improvements relative to population growth, and it is a crucial aspect of modernization.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term development in the context of progress and forward movement towards a better state refers to the transformative process that alters the core aspects of a nation or society, aiming to achieve a progressive change and improve living standards. This encompasses not just an increase in per capita real GDP, but also significant advances in institutional, cultural, and social dimensions. Inherently, development is a broad term that may include economic development, which focuses on sustained and widely shared gains in income and the economy, as well as other dimensions of development like psychological, cognitive, or physical aspects, each following patterns that can be either continuous or discontinuous.
As a process, development entails a series of structural changes, moving from lower levels of industrialization and technological advancement to higher ones, a process often described as modernization. It necessitates deleveraging socio-economic disparities and requires both technological innovations and institutional reforms. Modernization is a key component of development, denoting the transition of societies towards more specialized and differentiated structures, often reflected in increased technological sophistication.