Essay on Taking a Closer Look at the Modernization Theory

Modernization theory is inadequate with Global Inequality, because it is not the answer to why poverty still has a huge effect on the world. This theory deals more with the conflicts between modernity and tradition. Underdeveloped countries are more into their cultures, they believe there are certain things that should not be taken away. Nations have tried to industrialize, yet cultures traditions affect the countries development. The traditions are usually superstitions, ethnocentrism, fatalism, pride, dignity, and modesty; these variables are a

This essay attempts to compare and to contrast the theories of Walt Rostow's stages of social and economic development and Wallerstein's world system theory. The Rostow's five-stage model of economic growth and core-periphery concept of Wallerstein’s three-part world system theory are both used to identify a country's development. Although they have similarities, there are differences between the two models. Rostow's five-stage model emphasizes on the development process of countries. On the other hand, Wallerstein's three- part world theory focuses more on the characteristics of the three parts of the world.

The United States believed that the Soviet Union's expansion threatened the developing nations of the world. So, in 1949 President Truman and Congress approved nearly $400 million for technical development programs in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The goals of this Point Four Program were to modernize and strengthen developing nations and discourage the growth of communism.

Over time some societies become more modern than others creating an unequal balance among other states globally. It is the thought that the modernization theory in some societies, are left behind because of advances in technology and within the economy also (Macionis and Plummer, 2012:p 306). Rostow (1990: p12) suggested that the modernization theory is created by an outside government or corporation to introduce new technologies and build industries to make money. As the four phases of modernization are explained above, it is simple to understand how these societies built upon modernization can create global inequalities and unequal balance within an underdeveloped society. However,

To begin, the United States was ultimately committed to containing communism from spreading country to country around the world. President Johnson was concerned about the impending situation and “was also aware of the high political costs of ‘losing’ another country to communism… Johnson was determined to do everything necessary to carry on the American commitment to South Vietnam” (“Vietnam War” 5). The United States did not want more third world countries to fall to communism and ultimately expand further and further around the globe. In unison, Johnson wanted to help the poor countries by showing and nurturing them to the ways of democracy by protecting them from communist infiltration.

Underdevelopment can also be, and has been, understood as a reflection or product of the economic, social, political and cultural characteristics of said country. Yet with a look at history we see that the underdevelopment of a “satellite” nation can be traced directly back to the past and current economic relations the nation has held with developed “metropoles”. This relationship between a metropolitan and satellite countries pertains back to the process and development of the world capitalist system, which benefits its Western

Modernization of indigenous culture is nothing uncommon and happens on a daily basis. Time is the only variation between subjects. Depending on many factors, a culture can be transformed over a long period of time or just overnight. The modernization of North America and Western Europe occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries and has since spread to many Eastern European and Asian countries (Macionis, 2011). Modernization is a combination of sorts, including industrialization and urbanization and is defined as the transformation of a society or culture from a rural and agrarian condition to a secular, urban, and industrial one (Macionis, 2011). Modernization is not necessarily modern in the general sense or a revolutionary view; it is

The core nations assisted the nations in poverty financially until after the Cold War when responsibility was assumed to be within the poor nation itself. In this Mandelbaum makes an excellent point that while foreign aid alleviated the problem, it did not solve it. He also explains how following the Cold War, the United States took up much responsibility for the wellbeing of the global world. As the U.S. military was stationed for security in multiple international locations, the U.S. also was on alert for the creation of nuclear weapons by warring countries, and was a leading nation economically. The U.S. began to tire of being a world leader until after the aerial attacks on September 11, 2001.

Modernization theory is a hypothesis used to clarify the procedure of modernization that a country experiences as it moves from a simple society to a modern one. Dependency theory is the idea that assets spill out of a fringe of poor and immature states to a centre of rich states, enhancing the latter to the detriment of the former. These two theories contrast in that modernization theory clarifies how created states work and develop, whereas dependency theory outline how work and develop are restricted. Modernization theory clarifies the advancement and improvement of innovation in more steady regions of the world (Culp, 2014). Dependency theory looks at the impacts that modernization in one district has on different parts of the world. Dependency theory is more comprehensive than modernization theory. Modernization theory emphasises that instruction, innovation and broad communications are noteworthy reasons why created districts pull ahead from others. Be that as it may, modernization theory does not operate on a worldwide scale where the assets, work and power originate to make this advancement conceivable. In modernization theory, the majority of the advancements that local areas or states make originate from an aggregate interior exertion.

Most of the developing countries are mired deeply in economical obstacles, which prevent them from development significantly. In order to overcome those embarrassments world’s society struggles to find the efficient solution for poor countries’ economies. Historically, developed countries undertook policy of giving aid to their colonies, afterwards by the end of The Second World War the United States and United Nations embarked the global sponsorship to the developing countries and countries of the Third World due to humanitarian considerations. Since then many other countries have joined in the effort to provide financial aid to lesser developed or poverty ridden countries. But none of those countries that received an aid had experienced a prosperity phase and rapid economic growth.

Modernisation is the “process of change towards those types of social, economic, and political systems that have developed in Western Europe and North America” (Eisenstadt 1966, p. 1). Modernisation theory is utilised to elucidate the process by which modernisation occurs within societies. Modernisation theory emanated in the 1950s from the ideas of Max Weber, which proffered the basis for the modernisation paradigm inaugurated by Talcott Parsons, and intended to illustrate the layered development of industrial societies. The theory asserts that societies develop in formulaic stages, that can be easily discerned, which entail increased complexity further down the societal progression.

Development is defined as “the process of change operating over time- the process by which countries and societies advance and become richer’’. The modern 20th century defines development as” the process of change which allows all the basic needs of a region to be met, thereby achieving greater social justice and quality of life and encouraging people to fulfill their potential’’. Todaro defines development as “the process of improving the quality of all human lives through raising people’s living standards, their incomes, consumption levels of food, medical services, education, raising people’s self-esteem through the establishment of social, political and economic systems and institutions that promote dignity and respect and increasing people’s

Lack of development in countries in the so-called `Third World' has many political and economical reasons. Historians explain the inadequacy of developing countries with the early imperialism and the resulting colonization of the South. Exploitation of mineral resources, deforestation, slavery, and the adaptation of foreign policies shaped the picture of today's suffering and struggling civilizations and natural rich continents. The omission of concessions and equal negotiations between dependency and supremacy give rise to the contrast of enormous resources and immense poverty in developing countries is. In the last years the outcry of justice and the emancipation of the Third World became louder throughout developing and industrialized

While there are merits to both modernization and dependency theory, which one in your opinion aptly explains Pakistan’s current socio economic woes?

Modernization theory sprouts from modernization analysis. It is a theory that is used to explain the process of modernization that a nation goes through as it transitions from a traditional society to a modern one. The development of the theory, in the 1950s, is attributed to several American social scientist. Among them was W. W. Roskow. Many modernization analysts subscribed to Roskow’s thought that developing nations followed five stages of development.: traditional, pre-conditions for take-off, take-off, maturation, and finally, mass production or consumption. This paper will examine the first three stages.