modernization theories
... mass consumption. Modernisation theory is the 'fundamental proposition that people in traditional societies should adopt the characteristics of modern societies in order to modernize their social, political and economic institutions.' In the context of development, it is assumed that the North consists of modern societies, and the South of traditional societies. It should also be noted that theories of this nature typically come from Western thinkers, not the societies in question themselves, and so we should also assume that the South has an aspiration to develop into a modern society. Key points: It is internal – modernization theories concentrate solely on factors internal to the countries they consider, and do not take sufficient note on influences from outside. But once the first country has become developed the conditions for all the others are naturally different It is evolutionist – it sees economic progress as unfolding through a fixed set of stages It is unilinear – all countries must follow the same route, the same set of stages, the same order, none of the stages can be skipped and there are no alternative routes It is recapitulationist – the developed countries show the future to the less-developed countries who are condemned to repeat their route to development Other modernization theories Talcott Parsons and B Hoserlitz both conceptualized modernization theory in a basically fuctionalist way. Parsons identified modernity with society based on achievement and individualism, and he counterposes this with traditional societies based upon ascription (where your place is determined by status at birth). Hoserlitz therefore states that the prerequisites for modernization include such cultural items as educational equal opportunity, the impersonal rule of law and individual freedom. So increasing economic growth will not deliver what is required. The main quality of modernisation theory is that of its simplicity - the objective is already visible in the image of the West, and the path to follow is laid out by the history of Western evolution. All that remains is for the traditional society to recognise what is needed, from examination of other 'take-offs' to modernity, for their own culture to evolve. Having already achieved their goal, the modern societies can assist in the evolution of the traditional society by reference to their own history. As a theoretical model, Rostow's perspective on modernisation is useful in that it is very indiscriminate and simplistic: it requires little change to adapt from one culture to the other. The basis of the theory is that the ultimate goal already exists and can be examined readily, and that this is what the developing country should strive for. Rostow makes no attempt to isolate individual cases and discover different ways to adapt the theory to them, because this is not the purpose of the study - his theory, if not others, supplies the structure and ground rules, rather than the solution....