"Discuss Whether The Concept Of The 'Third World' Still Has Any Validity". Assignment. Essay A: Firstly, in order to address this title, the term 'Third World' must first be defined in terms of it's origin and meaning. The industrial revolution in the nineteenth century led to Western-Europe and the United States becoming increasingly technological, industrialised and urbanised. This brought rise to the concept of a divided world; those nations that were developed and those that were more 'primitive'. The emergence of this concept of development led way for theories (which were generally accepted at the time) such a