Overurbanization Reconceptualized

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Abstract
After many years of relative neglect, the issue of "overurbanization" in Third World countries has recently received renewed attention in the social science literature. Adopting a political economy of the world-system perspective on urbanization and development, this article critiques the theoretical adequacy of the overurbanization thesis. Conceptualizing a causal relationship between spatio-demographic imbalances (labelled "over-urbanization") and relatively skewed and stagnant economic development is misleading. Both urban patterns and development trajectories are distorted by the international dependency of Third World nations in the world economy. The general argument is illustrated by discussing the role that the so-called "urban surplus labor" of the "informal sector" plays in surplus extraction under peripheral capitalism.

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