Prepared by- Anup Aacharya, Priya Shrestha, Rakesh Maharjan and Upasana Gurung
Date: 13th March, 2015
Development theories have been changing over the years with changes in the events in the history. Although, there was some form of development before the term ‘development’ was coined, it became eminent after the Second World War in 70s. Since then development theories have changed from Modernization to Dependent theory to several others. In this summary, our group has tried to focus particularly on Modernization theory as part of group assignment based on the narration of Giovanni E. Reyes. This summary deals in short with background of Modernization theory, its major ideas, strength and critics.
Date: 13th March, 2015
Development theories have been changing over the years with changes in the events in the history. Although, there was some form of development before the term ‘development’ was coined, it became eminent after the Second World War in 70s. Since then development theories have changed from Modernization to Dependent theory to several others. In this summary, our group has tried to focus particularly on Modernization theory as part of group assignment based on the narration of Giovanni E. Reyes. This summary deals in short with background of Modernization theory, its major ideas, strength and critics.
Background:
Three
major events played a vital role in giving way to the theory of modernization,
according to Alvin. Firstly, US and Great Britain rose up as world power with
the decline of German and France after World War II. Secondly, on the other
side, former USSR was extending communism in Korea, China and some parts of
Eastern Europe. Thirdly, since Europe was decolonizing new nations were formed
and they needed some structure and policy for their economic and social
development. Hence, these new nations and the old ones devastated by the war
were sandwiched between two powers, capitalism upheld by the US and communism
held by USSR.
Major
Ideas and concept of Modernization:
1.
Modernization
theory regards the system of First world to be superior. According to this theory, modern societies
are more productive and seek the welfare of all in their society. Hence, third
world countries need to adapt their system to achieve similar success.
2.
Development
takes place in stages, it never happens at once. Hence, modernization theory
supports gradual unilinear development rather than development through
revolution. For this Rostow has proposed 5 stages of development.
I.
Traditional
stage: In this stage, people depend on subsistence economy rather than aiming
for saving and investment.
II.
Pre-condition
for Take-off stage: In this stage, people start saving and invest on productive
sector.
III.
Take-off
stage: People now focus on production and distribution in this stage.
IV.
Maturity
stage: Production takes place within the boundary of a country in this stage.
Consumption, production and distribution of products are high in this stage.
V.
Mass
consumption stage: Production is so high for a country at this stage that it is
distributed beyond its boundary, thus increasing a nations wealth.
Rostow
has proposed that third world countries need to follow the same path of
economic development for economic prosperity like that of First world
countries. Hence he further argues that if third world countries do not have
enough expertise and capital for productivity, the first world countries should
provide aid in the form of capital, technology and expertise.
Since it
is a slow and gradual process, it might take even centuries for the third world
countries to achieve success like that of the first.
3.
Modernization
is a homogenizing process. When every country follows the same process of
modernization, they will reach to a point where every one of them will have the
same level of progress, technology and expertise thus converging the societies
into one.
4.
Modernization
embraces evolutionary theory and structural theory to elaborate their social
development. Evolutionary theory regards the British culture to be supreme
disregarding the values and tradition of underdeveloped countries. Aligning
with this, modernization theory claims that a country should give up all sort
of tradition and adopt new technology and structure to be developed.
Strengths of modernization theory:
1.
Modernization
theory has been adopted by wide range of researches. From psychologist to
religious sociologists to political sociologists.
2.
Modernization
theory is based on abstraction and comparison of the first world with the
third. Such abstraction and comparison needs a strong analytical framework for
which this theory is well appreciated.
Critiques:
1.
Modernization
favors the development process of the US, which was unidirectional. But
development can be multidirectional. Revolution can also lead to change.
Despite of South Korea and China having authoritarian regime, they developed in
a short period of time.
2.
Tradition
of third world countries not always hinders development. China is the best
example for this. China developed drastically in spite of abiding to
traditional philosophy of Confucianism.
Improvements
in the neo-classical modernization theory:
The aforementioned points were based on
classical modernization theory. New modernization theory emerged making changes
on some of the aspects of classical modernization theory focusing on Third
world development. The new theory studies a nation in terms of internal
factors, cultural values and social institutions that was neglected before.
Secondly, the new theory adds tradition as a catalyst to development rather
than hindrance. Thirdly, it focuses more on study of a nation’s historical
context rather than abstraction to come up with policies for development.
Finally, the new theory also gives importance to external factors and conflict,
which the neo-classical theory had ignored.
Conclusion
and Reflection:
Our country is sandwiched between the concept of
modernization and traditional values. In terms of technology, the whole country
is dependent on First world and emerging nations like China. Our young
generation speaks English language better than Nepali language, fashion trend
popular in the US and Korea gets it market here in Nepal. There are several
examples as these. Modernization has created dependency on foreign aid,
technology and expertise paralyzing our innovation and economy. There are
certain traits of the First world countries, which are exemplary, yet
modernization theory itself is not the means to achieve the end. 