Weber focuses on rationalization and substantive rationality. Growing scientific and tech knowledge leads to orientation that nature exists only to be mastered and manipulated by humans which is the society. Formal rationalisation promotes a pervasive logic whereby profit and efficiency lead, sometimes even superseding a sensible choice of goals or alternatives, thus substantive rationality, such as degrading, scarcity, extinction, which are not rational. 

Marx and Engels believed capitalistic practices alienate ordinary people from their jobs and from nature itself. In capitalist agriculture, quick profit is put ahead of the environment and the community. In South Africa, we see this when farmers occupy too much land in which the community foes not even benefit from it. Due to them putting profit first, they degrade land.

Anthropogenic nature of environment problems.

Nature can be seen as the environment within which human beings exist. Environmental problems tend to affect nature in a negative way. The leading environmental problems are ozone depletion which leads to climate change, destruction of natural habitat, adverse effects on marine life, the decline in fresh water. 

The society influences the environment by polluting the air, water and soil, which increases global warming as a result. Over-extraction and usage of natural resources which leads to the depletion of resources. The extinction of species through population growth and also extractivism, pollution and ecosystem disturbances.

The environment influences society in the sustainability of resources due to extractivitis, global warming which comes with sever climatic conditions that threaten the human population, and also pollution that causes health problems.

Participatory development is the kind of development that includes the beneficiaries from the discussion about development to the implementation. It helps the society to build their own capacity and not rely on others but themselves. Participation is used in a manner that it brings the community and stakeholders together and also provide information about the development intervention. Participatory development has its own challenges, such as the centralization of power, limited capacity, inappropriate technologies and limited coordination among the communities. Also, structures which are anti-participatory can also hinder the process of development. We see this in rural areas when there is an initiative to develop the community, most of the times there are no technologies to help with development and also the local people who have resources to help with the initiative do not participate. 

Women in development (WID)

When modernization started in the western countries, men were given higher positions, therefore women were overlooked. They were not benefiting fully and in some cases their status was made worse by development. Women were being treated as lacking opportunities to participate in development. This approach argued for the integration of women in development programs to improve women's position of society. 

 Women and development (WAD)

The main focus of this approach is on the interaction between women and development processes rather than to integrate in development like women in development. Global inequalities made women's made women's situation in development worse because both men and women are not benefiting from the global economic structures due to scarce resources. 

Modernization and Dependency theory

Modernization is a process of social, economic and cultural change in which a country moves from an underdeveloped status to a more developed status by following the prescriptions of the more developed countries. 

A country can be considered modern if:

- There are less rural areas

- There is a widespread access to goods and services which are features of productive economies with high standards of living 

- When people have political, economic and social freedom

- High literacy rates

- Energy to produce food comes from modern sources of energy rather than human and animals.

- Organizations are large scale, they reduce the dependence of family for child care, education and security. 

Dependency theory challenged the basic tenet of modernization theory that countries fail to modernize because they lack the values that first world countries posses which lead to modernization. Dependency theorists argue that third world countries are poor because they have been exploited by the first world countries and this exploitation evolved from colonialism.

1. Growth and structural change

The development of a country is determined through the different economic activity shifts, which are the primary, secondary, and tertiary sector. The primary sector deals with the extraction of raw materials, secondary sector deals with the processing of raw materials, while the tertiary sector provides better technology and improved labor productivity. Since South Africa is classified as a developing country, it means it deals with primary and also secondary sector products because we can extract and also manufacture our own raw materials.

2. Modernization

Modernization is about moving from the old traditional ways to the modern and advanced technological ways. Since we are in the 4th industrial revolution, most of the things are done technologically around the world. South Africa can be seen as modernized because in most industries we use machines to process products. 

3. Rural to urban migration 

In rural-urban migration we see people moving from the rural areas to urban areas for job opportunities or to get better education. The main reason for migrating from rural areas to urban areas is for improved life conditions, and this means better standard of living and it improves the economy of the country. In South Africa we see people moving from provinces such as Limpopo to Gauteng for job opportunities and also tertiary education, hence the population of Gauteng is very high because there are a lot of opportunities there.

4. Improvements in education and health 

A country's educational and health system plays a huge role in determining if ever the country is progressing or not. These two factors have been identified as measures of human capital development that ensure longer life and accelerate economic growth. Good education means that chances are high to get proper job and that leads to affordability of good health care. 

Poverty according to experts can be defined according to the standards of a particular society at a given time, seeing that the society in question determines people's needs, what foodstuff are available. A person or a family in a society can be said to be in poverty if they lack resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in activities, and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged or approved in the society they belong to (Townsend, 1979). 

Townsend's deprivation index states that a family can be said to be in relative poverty when they haven't had a week's holiday away from home in the last 12 months, haven't had a children's party during the last birthday, does not have fresh meat as many as 4 days a week, has no refrigerator, and many other aspects which a household cannot meet according to the standards of the society.

The government in South Africa recognizes the poor and also they sympathize with them. The government through the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), provides grants that help to take care the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and recently people who are unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic get social relief grants. These are some of the benefits that poor people get from the government. In rural areas and in townships, the government gives the people clean water for free so that they can use the water for everyday activities such as drinking, bathing, cooking, and also for sanitation. 

The government also offers free education in public schools, whereby pupils do not pay any form of school fees and they also get food from schools through feeding schemes. They go on to help students who are in university and who's parents are earning below the threshold through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to pay for their fees and everything so that they can have better jobs in life.

CONFLICT ORIENTATION.

Since the society, as a whole, faces issues of inequality, it means that there will be many conflicts. These inequalities are seen in many factors such as gender, race, social class, health, and many others. These inequalities are there because of the natural resources that have been distributed unevenly across the world. This means that only people in a higher social setting will benefit from those resources. We see this in the phrase "the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer". So those who do not benefit from this resources fight their way into getting them, and they often fight for the resources in a manner in which is against the morals and values of the society, and this contributes to social problems. After all we all have to benefit from this resources but whenever there is greed there is crime. 

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST ORIENTATION 

As we grow up, we learn our place in the society and we get to associate ourselves with different roles that the society has constructed for us. We also get to associate ourselves with different individuals in our lives and we look up to them and learn. Sometimes the experiences might build us into good people or make us contribute to the social problems, because everything that we do, whether good or bad, we have seen it from the people we tend to associate ourselves with. This applies mostly on people who are involved in crime, they saw people people doing it and got rewarded for it, so they thought hat was right and they did it.

1. Depression- It is a social problem in a sense that it blocks people from reaching their full potential because of all the negative thoughts they have about their lives or what their going through. Many people suffering from depression they sooner or later commit suicide.

2. Smash and grab- It is a social problem because it falls under crime and the society does not condone criminal activities.

3. Rape- It is a social problem because it falls under crime and in most instances it lives the victims depressed. In most instances the victims get killed. Rape changes the victims'life for the worst and it is hard to come back from that trauma.

4. Fast food- This is also a social problem because most people who eat fast foods later in life they become obese and obesity is a sickness because if not taken into consideration it can cause many diseases such as heart attacks and many more.

5. HIV/AIDS- This is a major social problem because it is affecting mostly the youth. People do not practice safe sex while they do not know each others statuses. HIV kills the dreams of many people because most people tend to get depressed and they give up on their dreams.