MODERNIZATION THEORY

Modernization theory is a theory used to explain the process of

modernization that a nation goes through as it transitions from a
traditional society to a modern one. The theory has not been
attributed to any one person; instead, its development has been
linked to American social scientists in the 1950s. Modernization
theorists study the social, political, and cultural consequences of
economic growth and the conditions that are important for
industrialization

and

economic

growth

to

occur.

In

general, modernization theorists are concerned with economic

growth within societies as indicated, for example, by measures of
gross national product. Mechanization or industrialization is
ingredients

in

the

process

of

economic

growth.

Also,

modernization theories of development do not necessarily bear

any relationship to more recent philosophical concepts of
modernity and postmodernity. Modernity in philosophical and
epistemological discussions refers to the perspective that there is
one true descriptive and explanatory model that reflects the
actual world. Postmodernity is the stance that no single true
description and explanation of reality exists but rather that
knowledge, ideology, and science itself are based on subjective
understandings of an entirely relational nature. While their
philosophical underpinnings place most modernization theories of
development into the modern rather than the postmodern

context, these separate uses of the term modernity should not be

confused. Development (like industrialization) implies economic
growth, but not necessarily through transformation from the
predominance of primary production to manufacturing, and not
necessarily

as

characterized

by

modernization

theory.

For

example, while modernization theorists may define development

mainly in terms of economic output per capita, other theorists
may be more concerned about development of autonomous
productive capacity, equitable distribution of wealth, or meeting
basic human needs
History and Orientation
Historically, modernization is the process of change towards those
types of social, economic, and political systems that have
developed in Western Europe and North America from the
seventeenth century to the nineteenth and have then spread to
other European countries and in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries to the South American, Asian, and African continents. A
macro-theory

with

historical

and

sociological

inspiration.

Developed in large-scale historical research investigating the

effects of the modernization process on human communication.
Modernization means the appearance of modes of social life or
organization

which

emerged

in

Europe

from

about

the

seventeenth century onwards and which subsequently became

more or less worldwide in their influence. Another early
influence on modernization theory was Webers work on the

Protestant ethic. This work stressed the influence of cultural

values on the entrepreneurial behavior of individuals and the rise
of capitalism. Contemporary theorists in the Weberian tradition
include Lerner, McClelland, Inkeles, and Rostow. Lerners (1958)
empirical studies in several Middle Eastern societies identified
empathy, the capacity to take the perspective of others, as a
product of media, literacy, and urbanization and as a vital
ingredient in producing rational individual behavior conducive to
societal development. McClelland (1961) felt that prevalence of
individuals with the psychological trait of high need for
achievement was the key to entrepreneurial activity and
modernization of society. In a similar vein, Inkeles and Smith
(1974) used interview data from six societies to generate a set of
personality traits by which they defined modern man. They felt
that the prevalence of individual modernity in society was
determined by such factors as education and factory experience
and that individual modernity contributed to the modernization of
society. Finally, Rostows (1960) well-known theory of the stages
of economic growth, which he derived from studying Western
economic development, emphasized the importance of new
values

and

ideas

favoring

economic

progress

along

with

education, entrepreneurship, and certain other institutions as

conditions for societies to take off into self-sustained economic
growth.
Core Assumptions and Statements

Modernization theory has evolved in three waves. The first wave

appeared in the 1950s and 1960s. One made the attempt to
explain the diffusion of Western styles of living, technological
innovations and individualist types of communication (highly
selective, addressing only particular persons) as the superiority of
secular,

materialist,

Western,

individualist

culture

and

of

individual motivation and achievement. The sociological concept

of modernization does not refer simply to becoming current or up
to date but rather specifies particular contents and processes of
societal changes in the course of national development.
This first wave of theory produced three variants. There are many
different versions of modernization theory. This lesson will discuss
the opposing views of the Marxist and capitalist versions, a
Western version, and a present-day version of modernization
theory.
1. Economic development: mass media promote the global
diffusion of many technical and social innovations that are
essential to modernization (Rogers, 1962).
2. Literacy and cultural development: mass media can teach
literacy and other essential skills and techniques. They
encourage a state of mind favorable to modernity, e.g. the
imagination of an alternative way of life beyond the
traditional way.
3. National identity development: mass media could support
national identities in new nations (colonies) and support
attention to democratic policies (elections).

Most of these theories have been discredited because of their proWestern bias.
The second wave of modernization theory is a part of the critical
theory that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. It does not
support but criticize the influence of Western modernization. This
is held to be a case of Western cultural and economic imperialism
or

dominance.

Since

the

1960s, many

critiques

of

modernization theory and the emergence of competing theories

of development have eroded support for modernization theory.
Foremost among these are dependency, world systems, and neoMarxist theories, all of which criticize the ethnocentricity of the
modernization concept and the bias in favor of dominant capitalist
interests. The focus of these theories is on explaining the
contemporary underdevelopment of Third World countries or
regions of the world

in

terms of colonization,

imperialist

interference, and neocolonial exploitation of developing countries

since

their

gaining

of

independence.

In

these

counter

perspectives, both development and underdevelopment are

viewed as part of the same process by which certain center
countries or regions become economically advanced and powerful
at the expense of other periphery areas. Rather than explaining
development and underdevelopment by the presence or absence
of certain internal institutions or personalities, these alternative
theories argue that both result from unequal exchange relations
and coalitions of interests associated with the structural position

of societies in the global economy. Rather than interpreting

underdeveloped

societies

as

traditional

or

archaic,

both

underdeveloped and developed societies are contemporary but

asymmetrically linked parts of capitalist expansion. Both are
relatively modern phenomena.
The third wave of modernization theory rising in the 1990s is the
theory of late-, high- or post modernity. It tries to be more neutral,
being not in favor or against Western modernization. Rather it
attempts to unearth the contradictions in the modernization
process and to explain the consequences of modernity for
individuals in contemporary society. Traditional society is based
on direct interaction between people living close to each other.
Modern societies stretch further and further across space and
time using mass media and interactive media. Disembedding
mechanisms

such

as money,

symbolic

means,

English

as

the lingua franca and the Internet help to lift out and activities in
an abstract or online form that were once embedded in particular
material
Because

goods
modernisation

and
theories

in
have viewed

places.
the

total

transformation, that is westernisation, of developing countries to

be an inescapable outcome of successful diffusion of the Western
economic/technological complex, by methodological reversal it is
argued that a reorganization of existing social and cultural as well
as political patterns in anticipation of their compatibility with the
diffused Western economic/technological complex may in fact
facilitate the very process of this diffusion itself. This monumental

theoretical errorwhich to be fair was not always committed by

the theorists themselveshas in fact been made and continues to
be made by modernisation policy-makers such as those employed
by Western government, U.N. organizations, the World Bank, and
so forth. Thus, various indicators of social, political, and cultural
development (such as degree of urbanization, high literacy rates,
political democracy, free enterprise, secularization, birth control,
etc.)

have

frequently

been

promoted

as

conditions

for

development.
Interestingly, as modern structures and institutions have spread
around the world and created economic, political, social, and
cultural linkages, an awareness of global interdependence and of
the ecological consequences of industrial development and
modern lifestyles has grown. It is now clear that finite natural
resources and the nature of the global ecosystem could not
sustain worldwide modern conditions and practices of European
and North American societies even if modernization theory
assumptions of evolutionary national development were correct.
Thus, new visions and interpretations of national and global
development

have

modernization theory.

already

begun

to

replace

classical