Chapter Three
Modernization Theory
Modernization as Development
During the few decades after the end of World War II, the
theory of modernization, which originated in the United
States, had tremendous influence in the social sciences
throughout the world.
The theory was one of the most discussed and influential
theory in the area of development studies, political and
global processes.
This chapter will deal with the discussions of modernization
approach as development .
1
Introduction: Background
The modernization school of thought was the first
attempt to articulate the problem of development in
terms of the need to transform the backward
"traditional" nature of third world economies into
“modern” economies.
2
Drawing from the historical experience of the Western
Europe, it advocated the need for accelerated
economic growth through an import substitution form
of industrialization, a process seen to entail securing
the right quantity and mix of saving investment and
foreign aid.
3
Given the relatively low levels of new capital formation
in most third world countries, one obvious policy
implication was the need for massive capital
investment through foreign aid.
There is wide range of agreement that economic
development based on modernization theories failed
to bring about the much hoped for rapid growth,
dynamic industrial sectors, the expansion of modern
wage economy and the alleviation of the impoverished
rural subsistence sectors.
4
The modernization approach emerged in the context of:
the post second world war global system
The USA hegemony
Decolonization and political independence
The rise of National liberation movement
This context provided fertile condition for the
emergence of an intellectual movement, mainly in
USA.
This intellectual movement combined both scholarly
and ideological components.
5
It was not only the result of academic effort. But, it was also
heavily involved in the political and ideological problems
of the period.
The approach is multidimensional and influenced by a
number of social sciences including economics, political
science, anthropology, psychology.
6
But, sociology is the dominant field in the
approach providing the theoretical and conceptual
framework for the whole Modernization approach
because it has a rich Classical heritage regarding
the study of social change.
Modernization approach was a famous approach which
had dominated development planning and practice in
the 1960s and 1970s.
7
The Conceptual Foundation of Modernization Approach
Modernization approach has a number of broad conceptual
frameworks. But, the most important framework is “dualism”.
What does dualism imply?
Dualism can be defined as an abstract conceptual map in
which societies can be viewed as consisting of two separate
and more or less independent entities/ units.
In the case of modernization approach, the units are
‘traditional’ and ‘modern’.
Most importantly, the modernization approach operates on the
basis of what we can call ‘double dualism’.
8
Double Dualism
1. Global Dualism: Modern vs tradional which refers
to Western and Non western dichotomy .
2. Regional Dualism: urban vs Rural dichotomy ,
which is the division of people in urban and rural
environmental settings.
9
The first dichotomy involves the distinction between
modern versus traditional societies.
The “West” are by definition assumed to be “modern”
And the so called developing non-western societies
are defined as “ traditional”.
The second dichotomy is within developing/non-
western societies between the so called rural, peasant,
agricultural sectors which is defined as ‘traditional’,
‘backward’, and ‘resistant to change’; and the urban
industrial sector which is defined as ‘modern’ and
‘dynamic’.
10
What is modernization itself?
Modernization can be defined differently by different scholars.
However, the definitions provided by modernization theorists
are highly influenced by the major foundations of the approach.
Let us take the following two definitions of modernization
provided by two modernization theorists, Shmuel
Eisenstaedt( Israeli) and Wilbert Moore( American)
respectively:
11
1. Shmuel Eisenstaedt( Israeli Sociologist, 1923-
2010)
“Historically, modernization is the process of change
towards those types of social, economic and political
systems that have developed in the west and have then
spread to the other parts of world”.
12
2. Wilbert Moore ( American Sociologist, 1924_
1987)
“Modernization is a total transformation of pre-
modern societies in to the types of technology and
associated organization that characterize the
advanced, economically prosperous and relatively
politically stable nations of the western world”.
13
There are two main points from the above definitions:
1. The modernization approach is originally based on
historically specific western experiences of
modernization.
These experiences include economic, political, and
socio-cultural transformation associated with the
rise of industrial capitalism.
14
2. The central argument of modernization approach is
that, development occurs through the diffusion or
spread of western technological, economic, political
and socio-cultural values and institutions in to
developing countries.
The approach argues that the western model of
modernization has components and sequences which
have global/Universal relevance and are replicable
in the non-western developing countries of the world.
15
The approach views that development is similar with
modernization which means the transformation to
westernization.
Modernization approach theorists assume that all
societies pass through the same direction of
evolutionary process and arrive at the same level of
development.
16
Dimensions of Modernization
Modernization theorists identify at least three broad
dimensions of modernization:
1. Technological- economic dimensions
2. Socio-cultural dimensions
3. Political dimensions
17
1. The Technological- Economic Dimensions
The assumption is that introduction of western
technological and economic systems will bring about
‘concomitant’ social, cultural and political process of
change and transformation.
There are two important scholars in this area.
1. Economic modernization I: by Neil Smelser
2. Economic modernization II : by W. Rostow
18
Modernization I :
Smelser( American Sociologist) identified the
following interrelated technological, economic and
ecological process as consisting of modernization.
I. In the Area of Technology: the change from simple
and transitional technologies towards complex and
sophisticated technologies.
19
II. In the Area of Agriculture: change from a subsistence
farming towards commercial production and
mechanized farming.
III. In the Area of Industry: transition from the use of
human and animal power towards machine based/
power driven production.
IV. In ecological terms: transition from farm and village
settlement towards large scale urban settlement.
20
Economic Modernization II: By W. Rostow
The historian Walt W. Rostow( American Economist)
has indicated that there are five major stages of
economic development.
In his book ‘The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-
Communist Manifesto’ (1960), he clearly proposed as
an alternative to Karl Marx’s theory of history.
Rostow (1916–2003) argued that, in their economic
dimensions, all societies lay within one of five
historical categories:
21
The five stages: Rostow
1. The traditional societies
2. The pre conditions for take -off
3. The take- off stage
4. The drive to maturity
5. High mass consumption
22
Stages of Economic growth: W. Rostow
23
Five stages of Growth
1. Traditional Societies:
This type of society uses traditional technology.
The economy has little potential for surplus.
It is characterized by large subsistence production.
There is undeveloped market. This had limited
“production functions”
24
2 . Pre-conditions for take-off
This constitutes the second universal historical stage.
These societies are characterized by the presence of wide
spread psychological desire for modernization,
increased mass literacy,
centralized government, and
the development of infrastructures such as
transportation, health educational facilities, finance
institutions, etc
25
3 . The Take-off Stage:
According to Rostow, this stage is characterized by:
the growth of industrial technology.
This stage is the decisive /critical/ watershed in the
modernization process.
This is the “great watershed in the life of modern
societies,” when blockages and resistance to steady
growth were finally overcome.
26
4 . The drive toward maturity
This stage is characterized by the application of
advanced technology across many sectors of the
economy.
This occurs over a protracted period of time as modern
technology spread over the whole spectrum of a
country’s economic activity.
27
About 60 years after take-off a society usually attains
“maturity”- that is, a state in which there were
sufficient entrepreneurial and technical skills to
produce anything the society needed, whether it be
machine tools, chemicals, or electrical equipment.
28
5 . High mass consumption
This is the stage of matured industrial economy
characterized by the abundance of production and mass
consumption of goods and services.
This is the highest stage of economic modernization; for
instance, the USA after 1960s and 1970s.
29
This is the final stage where the leading industrial sectors
produce durable consumer goods and services (for
example, automobiles), real income rose to a level
permitting a large number of people to consume at levels
far in excess of needs, and the structure of the work force
changed toward the urban-skilled and office types of
employment.
30
For Rostow, these are ‘universal’ stages of growth, true for
all societies moving from traditional to modern, from
backward to advanced, from undeveloped to developed.
The basic force propelling a society along the historical
path through the stages is technological development in
the context of social, cultural, and political conditions
suited to modernization.
31
The policy implications of Rostow’s stage theory were
clear: traditional societies wishing to develop had to copy
the already proven example of the West.
“Backward and traditional” societies should
encourage the diffusion of innovation from the
advanced modern societies, should adopt freer markets
as the mode of economic integration, and should
welcome U.S. aid, investment, and corporate
involvement.
32
2. Socio-Cultural Dimensions
Modernization analysts argue that the socio-cultural
attitudes of traditional and modern societies differ.
Talcott Parsons, for example, identified the following
major pattern variables:
33
Talcot Parsons: Pattern Variables
1. Criteria of recruitment: Particularism versus
Universalism
The idea is that social relationships based on loyalty to
particular persons and groups such as those based on
kinship, clan, tribe and so forth have to be replaced by
social relationships based on more universal standards
and principles; for example, meritocracy (allocating
people based on their merits), putting the right
person in the right position etc.
34
2. Bases of status: Ascription versus Achievement
The source of status in society has to be changed from that
based on some physical and social characteristics of
individuals and groups to that based on performance.
3. Articulation of social structures: ‘functionally
diffused’ versus ‘functionally specific’
Wide social relationships in traditional societies tend to be
functionally diffused.
It involves broad, multi-stranded commitments and
obligations.
35
Modernization brings about more segmented,
single stranded and impersonal kinds of
relationships.
In modern societies people have more specific rights
and obligations.
The assertion of modernization theory was that,
development and modernization depends on
traditional cultural and social variables being
replaced by modern pattern variables.
36
In general, modernization theory identifies a number of
crucial characteristics of traditional society supposed
to be obstacles to economic growth and
modernization. Lets look the following examples:
1. The value of traditionalism itself
People in traditional societies are oriented to the past
and they lack the social and cultural ability to adjust to
new circumstances.
37
2. Adherence to primordial attachments
They have an inherent tendency to attach themselves to
old affiliations; for example, the kinship system.
Kinship and other forms of communal systems tend to
be decisive reference points for everything, especially
old economic political and legal relationships.
38
3. Fatalistic attitude towards the world
Modernization theorists believe that members of
traditional societies have an apparently emotional,
superstitious and fatalistic approach to the world.
They have a deterministic attitude to occurrences; “what
will be, will be”.
4. Lack of ‘Achievement Motivation’
Modernization theorists emphasize achievement
motivation and entrepreneurship as critical for economic
modernization and those are lacking with traditional
societies.
39
However, these notions led to huge criticism and raised few
questions.
Are pattern variables mutually exclusive? they can not
coexist?
Are all traditional socio-cultural institutions and values
obstacles for development?
Most importantly, how can a society which loses its socio-
cultural rules, values and institutions be creative, innovative,
and self confident?
It would rather become culturally uprooted, alienated and
dependent.
40
3. Political Modernization
According to the modernization approach political
modernization involves the process of nation state
building.
On the basis of the western model (western historical
experiences), nation state building implies the
integration of diverse (heterogeneous) ethnic,
linguistic, religious, and tribal groups in to
homogeneous nations and administrative structures.
41
Generally speaking, this idea of the modernization
process is expected to bring homogeneity.
The logic of political modernization is that modern
economic system requires advanced political system
and institutions.
And this was assumed to be “liberal democracy”.
42
The approach puts a great deal of emphasis on the elites
of third world countries.
The approach assigned the leading role to these elites
constituting the political, business, intellectual, and
other privileged groups in society in the process of
political modernization.
Therefore, we can say that modernization approach
is a kind of elitists approach.
In the high days of the approach, the idea of political
modernization and nation state building were very
popular and fashionable.
43
Modernization approach is a kind of optimistic
approach which assumes for the smooth evolution of
change.
It declares that heterogeneity will gradually disappear
and homogeneity prevails.
The approach did not consider the possibility that the
modernization itself can produce ( unintended)
consequences such as conflict, disagreement,
resistance, and so forth.
44
The Theoretical and Policy Implications of the
Modernization Approach
There are a number of implications of modernization
approach
1. Underdevelopment as an ‘Original Condition’
The modernization theory views that underdevelopment
is an original, a kind of natural condition prior to
development.
It is an original condition through which all societies
including today’s developed nations have experienced.
45
But, what if underdevelopment is a created condition?
As we are going to find out from the following chapter, the
dependency approach, for instance, assumes that
underdevelopment is a created condition resulted from the
long history of penetration and exploitation of the
countries.
[Link] evolutionary, uni -linear–progressive conception of
development
The approach assumes that development is a relatively
straight forward process of efficient social adaptation.
46
As a result there was little consideration of the possibility
of conflicting and contradicting processes like
stagnation, crisis, regression, and recession.
3. Internal orientation and the view of socio-cultural
factors as obstacles for development
The modernization approach is generally,
indigenous/internal/ in its orientation. Devt comes
from inside transformation.
For poor nations it can be stimulated from the outside
through the diffusion of western institutions and values.
47
It is true that it took external factors in to
consideration when explaining how development
could come in third world countries.
However, the modernization approach tended to
explain almost all obstacles to development in terms of
internal factors.
48
It considers the traditional values and institutions of
nonwestern countries as obstacles for development.
Therefore, it argues that these traditional values and
institutions have to be replaced by modern values and
institutions if the countries would like to develop.
49
Critique of the Modernization Approach
Modernization theory expresses an entire system of
European attitudes toward the world.
These are more than academic theories- they are
cultural attitudes displaying the West’s supremacist idea
of itself and its masterful relation to the “rest of the
world.”
The major criticisms of modernization theory are the
following:
50
1. Conceptual and Empirical Limitations
Empirically, any attempt to rigidly classify societies in
such broad terms as traditional and modern is
problematic. It makes the concepts too vague, too
abstract, and unclear.
The traditional and modern are not necessarily
incompatible. The two are not mutually exclusive. The
two can coexist and compete in a given setting.
51
Not all cultural values and institutions of
nonwestern countries are obstacles for
development. Traditional values and institutions
can also be used as an asset/ resource for
development.
o For example, “ekub” in many parts of Ethiopia is
a major mechanism of mobilizing finance in
ways which are not possible in formal financial
institutions without having a mortgage or
interest rate.
52
2. Ethnocentrism/ Euro-centrism
Modernization approach argues that developing countries
have to adopt western values and institutions in order to
develop.
It assumes that all western values and institutions are
modern and all nonwestern values and institutions are
traditional.
It is a major sociological crime to consider some cultures
are superior to another.
It is a hasty generalization to consider that all traditional
values and institutions of nonwestern countries are
obstacles for development.
53
3. Socio-cultural Determinism
The modernization approach theorists paid a one-sided
and excessive focus on internal socio-cultural
obstacles to modernization/ development.
It tends to blame the socio-cultural values and
institutions of third world countries for their poverty
and underdevelopment.
Critics argue that it is not proper to blame the socio-
cultural values and institutions of non western societies
for their poverty and underdevelopment.
54
The modernization approach generally assumes that the
values of traditionalism, conservatism, and fatalism in
nonwestern societies are the main obstacle for
modernization in these countries.
Critics argue that the modernization approach did not
consider the fact that these values might be related to the
objective material conditions of these societies.
The values (such as fatalism and conservatism) may
develop in order to minimize risk and maximize insurance
from failures and disasters.
55
4. Anti- historical nature of the modernization approach
By viewing underdevelopment as a kind of original/ natural
condition, the modernization approach ignored the
longstanding history of interaction/ relationship between
the today’s developed and underdeveloped societies.
Hence, it ignored the effect of conquest, plunder,
colonization, slave trade, imperialism, exploitation of these
societies by the today’s developed nations.
56
Critics argue that there are two major consequences
resulting from the anti-historical nature of
modernization approach.
1. By ignoring the historical significance of colonialism
and imperial domination, and by assuming that the
relationship between the developed and developing
countries is always positive for development, the
approach served as an ideological cover and
justification for western cultural, economical and
political dominance.
57
2. The anti-historical nature of modernization approach
means it is a very weak theory to explain social
change and development.
This is due to the fact that the major problem of
modernization approach is the conception of
development as a smooth, peaceful, harmless, and
evolutionary process.
Notions such as conflict, exploitation, polarization and
the like are absent from the discussion of modernization
approach.
58
As a result, the modernization approach was unable to
explain and predict the complexity and contradictory
nature of the actual process of social change and
modernization in third world countries.
These conditions led to the emergence of alternative
approaches in development, much of them in direct
contradiction to the modernization approach. Such as
dependency theory.
59