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Modernization theory or modernisation theory holds that as ... Proponents of modernization typically view only Western society as being truly modern and argue that ...
Proponents of the modernisation theory can be split into two groups; optimists and pessimists. The optimist view describes that what some see as a setback for the theory (events such as the Iranian Revolution or the persistence of instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo) are invariably temporary setbacks on the road to progress. [10]
The theory looks at which aspects of countries are beneficial and which constitute obstacles for economic development. The idea is that development assistance targeted at those particular aspects can lead to modernization of 'traditional' or 'backward' societies. Scientists from various research disciplines have contributed to modernization theory.
Modernization theory is the predominant explanation for the emergence of nationalism among scholars of nationalism. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Prominent modernization scholars, such as Benedict Anderson , Ernest Gellner and Eric Hobsbawm , say nationalism arose with modernization during the late 18th century. [ 4 ]
Modernization theory held that the underdeveloped world was impoverished because its failure to follow Europe in advancing along a series of distinct stages of development (based on the model provided above all by France and Britain), which were assumed to be uniformly applicable to all societies.
The theory looks at the internal factors of a country while assuming that with assistance, "traditional" countries can be brought to development in the same manner more developed countries have been. Modernization theory was a dominant paradigm in the social sciences in the 1950s and 1960s, then went into a deep eclipse.
Both the Soviet Union and the United States viewed the modernization of the developing world as a way to expand their respective spheres of influence and create new economic markets; however, it was the Soviet Union and other autocratic regimes during this period that adopted high modernism as the optimal vision to bring about modernization.
Seymour Martin Lipset (/ ˈ l ɪ p s ɪ t / LIP-sit; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist.His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and the sociology of intellectual life.