Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Modernization theory case study
Differing theories of development and how these theories have influenced current practice
Impact of globalization on poverty
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Modernization theory case study
Theories of development have been motivated by the need to explain mass poverty. Interest in development issues is of rather recent origin, dating back not much earlier than the nineteen fifties and early sixties. As represented by their more influential proponents, the development schools of thought reflect roughly the following chronological order of appearan
Modernisation Theory 1950s-1960s
Modernisation emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s; it was constructed from a newly profound position that was taken by America in terms of its international hegemony based on the concern to eradicate social problems faced by poor countries. However in the late 1960s there was an involvement of the US in Vietnam due to modernisation programs that failed. This led to the emergence of a Marxist dependency school that aimed to challenge modernisation school. The battle between dependency and modernisation theory emerged and it later became subside.
This left the development of the third world to be less emotional and ideological. However the main focus of modernisation is attributed from the...
In chapter three Isbister explains that social scientists wrestled to justify conditions in the third world, as a result, a mixture of indefinite theories developed. A point often overlooked, by social scientists is that the struggle and growth of Asia, Africa, and Latin America cannot be measured “in statistics, nor in treatises of social scientists and historians.” After reading the chapter, an obvious conclusion stood out poverty is tangible for most of the world’s people and nations. Why is this and who is to blame? Are the poor people to be blamed for their own poverty? The answers are arranged into three different groups: mod¬ernization, dependency, and Marxism.
In the article “An Alternative Modernity,” the author François-Xavier Guerra sets out to define and explain the evolution of modernity, in the context of the eighteenth century and Latin America, as an umbrella term for a group of “multiple transformations in the field of ideas, the imaginary, and values and behavior.” In the simplest of terms, modernity can be defined as, according to Guerra, “the invention’ of the individual” (1). Guerra continues on to state that for modernity to evolve it was necessary then for “the creation of new forms of sociability and of its societal practices” (8). To put Guerra’s words in layman’s terms: modern thought and...
This is a difficult question to answer because there is not a right answer. The research of abnormal behavior supports both the universal and the cultural relativist approach.
Yapa, Lakshman. "What causes Poverty? A post-modern view." Annals of the Association of American Geographers Dec. 1996.
It was a beautiful Saturday evening when I decided to walk the neighborhood known as the melting pot of many diverse cultures and social groups. South Street, located in the city of Philadelphia, is home of over 400 different small shops, restaurants, and galleries. Unlike other neighborhoods, South Street isn’t spread over numerous blocks, instead, it takes up one long street that is miles long. This lively and vibrant neighborhood sure does have a personality of its own and examples of modernity are shown throughout this Philadelphia neighborhood in very distinct ways.
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, transport, and technology had a profound effect in North America. The industrial revolution marked a major turning point in history because it changed every aspect of life in America and the country as a whole. People started replacing ploughs and other tools for machines that could do twice the work. While others moved to large cities and started working in factories and other businesses. Huge industries such as the textile, steel, and coal industry came out and had a profound effect on the industrial revolution but, they would not have been extremely successful if it was not for railroads. The railroads played a vital role in the development and success of other industries. The railroads triggered the biggest leap in transportation in history. Through technological and entrepreneurial innovations and the creation of steam-powered locomotives, the development of trains as public carriers of passengers and freight, brought forth the railroad. The railroad industry changed the nature of production because it became an important energy source that replaced human and animal power. Due to the important role of the railroads, workers became more productive, items were being shipped more quickly, and resources were becoming available to everyone including the working and middle class and not only the wealthy. The railroads became to be known as one of the biggest leaps of transportation in history. This is because it set up the next fifty years of America’s prosperity. The railroads became extremely popular and useful during the 1800’s to millions of people and other large companies. Although there were many indu...
The next theory is the modernization theory, which is the basis for the rest of the essay. The modernization theory is that since the West led the push to modernization, many components of Western culture are embedded in modern society. “As the first civilization to modernize, the West is the first to have fully acquired the culture of modernity.” This theory also heavily relies on the idea that in order to modernize, the country must Westernize and lose its traditional culture. It is then proposed that although in present day many societies are modern, it does not mean they are all the same.
Modernity started with industrial revolution and Enlightenment in the 18th century in Europe, it encouraged the move from rural to urban and from agrarian to industrial. Before modernisation 'the group' was more important - but then the individual become more important as society advanced. Industrialisation is also linked with progress, if you don't move forward then you move backwards which is regressing to the 'primitive'. Ethnocentrism becomes more important, your ethnicity is at the centre and everyone else's ethnicity must follow yours. But quite often development can breed discontent, and people were unhappy with modernisation, as a result colonisation started. Colonisation was a political and economic phenomena where by various nations send settlers to explore, conquer and settle. This had a big influence on art. African art is classified according to pre and post colonialism, but African art also spread to Europe where it influenced movements such as Impressionism. (William, 1985:212)
In international parlance, development encompasses the need and the means by which to provide better life for people in poor countries and it includes not only economic growth, although that is crucial, but also human development like...
The issue is whether the changes in the world since that time are modest and continuous with those associated with modernity, or are so dramatic and discontinuous that the contemporary world is better described by a new term – postmodern. Our guess is that in most of the parts of world, modernity is still a continuing process. Habermas, the German modernist, argues that the project of modernity, which started after enlightenment, is still an incomplete
Rodney’s argument is broken down into six chapters each consisting of several subdivisions and case studies supporting his principle argument. The first chapter works towards defining the terms of development and underdevelopment and argues the comparative nature of these terms; a country is only ‘underdeveloped’ by European standards. This chapter begins by tracing European development from its early stages of communalism through feudalism and finally capitalism. Then, he works towards developing an understanding of the term ‘underdevelopment’ and through an analysis of a variety of development indices what it constitutes in present day society: “In Niger, one doctor must do for 56, 140 people; in Tunisia one doctor for every 8,320 Tunisians”(18). The Marxist concept of inherent inequalities within the international capitalist system un...
When talking about the concept of modernity, most people will probably think such concept is related to the contemporary era they live in where many advanced technology present in everyday life. In this so-called modern era, people from different regions and cultural backgrounds share many similar characteristics, such as their daily technology or civilization, general knowledge and science, and even the way they dressed. In fact, many characteristics or values that are different with those shared contemporary characteristics or values are often labelled as “traditional” or “alternative”. Some people believed that the beginning of modernity was marked by the age of Enlightenment where rationalism prevailed. Nevertheless, others believe that the seed of modernity had been planted even before such era. Using Stuart Hall’s work, The West and the Rest: Discourse of Power (1995) as primary reference, this essay will try to explore the root of modernity which dated back to the European exploration and colonialism era. In this essay, the concept of modernity will be mainly viewed as a cultural phenomenon caused by the domination of European values over other cultures throughout the world which results in the universality of the modern societies.
Throughout the chapter the text exerts more emphasis on the economical evaluation of a country's development rather than the alternative method. It begins to branch off quickly into the classification of countries deriving new topics all relating back to the economical approach. Beginning this discussion is the topic of underdevelopment.
...ney, natural resources and causing more problems than providing solutions but globalization didn’t only reach the world in an economic approach but also a cultural one.
Modernization is the term used for the transition from the traditional society of the past to modern society as it is found today in the West. Modernization theory refers to a variety of non-Marxist perspectives which have been put forward to explain the development or underdevelopment of countries. Modernization theory is a model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of differing levels of technological development among societies. Modernization theory presents the idea that by introducing modern methods in "technology, agricultural production for trade, and industrialization dependent on a mobile labour force," the underdeveloped countries will experience a strengthening in their economies. Modernization theory offers an account of the common features of the process of development drawing on the analysis of Durkheim and Weber. Development implies the bridging of these gaps by an imitative process, occurring in stages, such that traditional sectors and/or countries gradually assume the qualities of the 'modern' western countries. There are many proponents of Modernization Theory, such as, Walter Rostow, W.A. Lewis, Talcott Parsons, and Daniel Lerner, however the theory has it's roots in the ideas of Durkheim and Weber. The proponents of the modernization theory all felt that the rest of the world needed to look to the Western model of modernity and pattern their society like the West in order to progress. Modernization theory was developed as an alternative to the Marxist account of social development. Modernization Theory Divides the World into two kinds of societies: "modern" and "traditional." Traditional societies are backward looking : Dominated by religious a...