Social theorists arguing that economic development is a process of modernization claim that traditional societies will follow the patterns of transformation already followed by modern societies, and that literacy can help instill the necessary values. An alternative theory, developed primarily in Latin America, argues that the relationships of economic dependency existing between developed and underdeveloped segments of society have created an international situation entirely different from that faced by the first developing nations. Writers like Freire, Gramsci, Sunkel, Fuenzalida, and Habermas have provided the theoretical basis for empirical study of the role of literacy from this alternative viewpoint. In differing ways, all these writers argue that the dominated segments of society, whether within a state or within the transnational economic complex, are controlled through the permeation of civil society by a system of values, beliefs, knowledge, and morality that in one way or another supports the established order. In this view educational programs are political strategies allowing the dominant to impose their conceptions of the world on the dominated. The author suggests using content analysis to study the impact of literacy in light of dependency theory, and provides models and guidelines to help determine the direction of research. (PGD)