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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Modernization Theory

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Modernization Theory

Modernization Theory - Presentation Transcript

  1. Modernization Theory Dr. Christopher S. Rice
  2. Rise of the United States as a Superpower
  3. Spread of a (perceived) united world Communist movement
  4. Disintegration of the European colonial empires
  5. Evolutionary Theory
  6. Features of Classic Evolutionary Theory • Assumed social change is unidirectional • Imposed a value judgment on the evolutionary process • Assumed that the rate of social change is slow, gradual & piecemeal (evolutionary NOT revolutionary)
  7. Functionalist Theory
  8. The Functional Imperatives (AGIL) • Adaptation • Goal attainment • Integration • Latency
  9. Homeostatic Equilibrium
  10. Criticism of Parsons
  11. Parson’s “Pattern Variables” • Affective vs. affective-neutral relationship • Particularistic vs. Universal relationship • Collective orientation vs. self- orientation • Ascription vs. Achievement • Functionally diffused vs. functionally specific relationships
  12. Marion Levy Relatively Modernized Societies
  13. How is Modernization defined?
  14. Why does Modernization occur?
  15. Relatively non-modern societies are characterized by: • Low degree of specialization • High level of self-sufficiency • Cultural norms of tradition, particularism, & functional diffuseness • Relatively little emphasis on money circulation & market • Family norms such as nepotism • One-way flow of goods and services from rural to urban areas
  16. Relatively modern societies are characterized by: • High degree of specialization & interdependency of organizations • Cultural norms of rationality, universalism, & functional specificity • High degree of centralization • Relatively great emphasis on money circulation & market • The need to insulate bureaucracy from other contexts • Two-way flow of goods & services between towns and villages
  17. What if you come late to the party?
  18. Advantages Disadvantages • Knowing where they are • Problems of scale. going • Problems of conversion of • Ability to borrow initial resources, materials, skills, expertise in planning, etc. from one use to capital accumulation, another. skills, & patterns of • Problems of organization without the costs of invention. disappointment. • Able to skip some of the • Many people get hurt in a non-essential stages society’s movement associated with the toward relatively process. modernized patterns.
  19. Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth • “Traditional Society” • Precondition for takeoff growth • Takeoff • Drive to Maturity • High mass-consumption society
  20. PI from banks, capital confiscatory and markets, government bonds, taxation devices & the stock market How do you get the necessary capital for “Takeoff”? PI through direct foreign PI through capital investment foreign trade
  21. Theoretical Assumptions of Modernization Theory
  22. From Functionalist Theory • Modernization is a systematic process • Modernization is a transformative process • Modernization is an immanent process
  23. From Evolutionary Theory • Modernization is a phased process • Modernization is a homogenizing process • Modernization is an Americanization (or Europeanization) process • Modernization is an irreversible process • Modernization is a progressive process • Modernization is a lengthy process
  24. Policy Implications
  25. 4 Criticisms of Modernization Theory
  26. Unidirectional Development
  27. Need to Eliminate Traditional Values
  28. Ideological Critique
  29. “These epistemological sins led to the theoretical errors of belief in incremental and continuous development, the possibility of orderly and stable change, the diffusion of development from the West to the Third World, and the decline of revolutionary ideology and the spread of pragmatic and scientific thinking.” Sydney Almond
  30. 4 Epistemological Sins of MT • Belief in the possibility of an objective social science free of ideology. • Belief in the cumulative quality of knowledge. • Belief in universal laws of social science. • Export of these beliefs to the Third World countries.
  31. Neglect of the Issue of Foreign Domination

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