When considering what type of communication is required for development, the conventional answer of diffusion of technological innovation for modernization and growth is inadequate. Daniel Lerner and Everett Rogers describe traditional people as the greatest obstacle to development. Paulo Freire perceives communication as an instrument for changing society versus persuasion and extension for the maintenance of the status quo and social control. Andreas Fuglesang attacks the myth of people's ignorance and advocates cross-cultural communication. Third system communication organizes society with a reversal of authority. Development for the rural poor should, while not neglecting the sound economic base, be first and foremost development as if people mattered. Liberation from being passive recipients and toward an active citizenry is the essence of the new content of social development. By deduction, rural social development (RSD) will equally contain both these liberating and positively empowering aspects. Empowerment comes through participation. RSD communication will have to be participatory. Examples of participatory communication are the Kenyan DEP Program, indigenous nongovernmental organizations in West Africa, Organization of Rural Associations for Progress in Zimbabwe, and the Community Educational and Cultural Center in Kenya. (Contains 174 references and a subject index.) (YLB)