What Is The Difference Between Modernization Theory And Dependency Theory

Rostow's suggests that development is seen as an evolutionary process that countries progress up a ladder, his five-stage model;

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,

The Americas, now known as Latin America, has gone through many changes in its history, from being conquered by Spain and Portugal, to the people fighting for its independence and finally, making a living as newly independent countries. From the years 1850 to the end of the 19th century, each region had influences, specifically those that dealt with the after effects colonial rule had on the land. Nations that made up Latin America began modifying different portions in their government in attempts to benefit the majority of the people. More or so, they accomplished this goal, each with their own challenges. Evidently, changes within the social, political and economic systems were focused on external factors.

In most cases U.S. citizens who are in poverty are in relative poverty in relation to the rest of the U.S. population; whereas in the world as a whole a greater number of people are in absolute poverty and are barely able to survive on their income, or wages and earnings, and they have very little to no wealth since it is impossible to save any of their money. Ethnocentrism makes it difficult to obtain a clear picture of the conditions of poverty and inequality in other nations and cultures. There are many theories concerning the causes and solution for poverty in the global economy. The two major theories are the modernization theory which explains inequality in terms of technological and cultural difference between nations, and the dependency theory which explains poverty in terms of the historical exploitation of poor, or low-income, nations by rich, or high-income, nations. This theory has manifest itself in a new way in today’s world in the form of neocolonialism; economic exploitation by multinational corporations.

Rostow identifies five stages of economic development. The traditional society is characterized by the dominance of agriculture, which is largely at the subsistence level, and the non-realization of potential resources. In the second stage, economic growth begins to speed up. There is an expansion of trade, perhaps an increase in external influences, and an introduction of modern methods of production, which are used along the more traditional techniques. The take off stage occurs when old traditions are finally overcome, and modern industrialized society is born. Investment rates rise from five percent of national income to ten percent, one or more major manufacturers emerge, political and social institutions are

It is a common criticism of the theory because many see it as not concerning itself enough with Latin American countries. An example of this would be how the writers of The Empire Writes Back identified countries who were seen as postcolonial when they wrote, “So the literatures of African countries, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Caribbean countries, India, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Pacific Island countries, and Sri Lanka are all postcolonial literatures.” (Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin 2). Only the mention of Caribbean countries signify the inclusion of Latin America to the theory, and even then the countries are far outnumbered by the rest. There was also a tendency of these authors to focus on former colonies of the British empire (Walden 61). However, because this theory consists of such factors as “trade and conquest” and these former colonies’ reactions to them there is a place for Latin America as a whole in the context of this theory. Countries such as Cuba and Mexico, are still experiencing the effects of their history with colonialism and have used writing as a way to obtain agency. This is seen through the discourse of revolutionaries like Castro and Che, and later on from Subcommander Marcos. They use their respective country's’ history to further their arguments and to justify

The colonization of Latin America was a massive turning point in the region’s history; two worlds previously unknown to one another collided, resulting in the genocide of millions of indigenous Latin Americans, conquest at the hands of the Europeans and the formation of an entirely new, racially-mixed culture of people. In the aftermath of this encounter, Latin America continued to struggle with social inequality and economic disparity, and though they eventually freed themselves from European rule, many aspects of Latin American life remained difficult. Latin America’s entire modern history inexplicably stems from conquest and colonization, and many of the issues plaguing nations in the area today can be traced back to age-old institutions

The two theories which shall be compared are the modernisation theory and Neo Liberalism. The modernisation theory is a market oriented development theory which states that low income countries can develop economically if they give up their traditional ways which often can be dated back centuries and take on more modern economic principles, technologies and cultural values which comprise of an emphasis on productive investment and savings.

This is clearly seen in the centering of the Eurocentric theory of modernization. Modernization theory explains that all countries are on a trajectory towards modernization that consists of the same stages with the end goal of taking a "traditional" society and making it "modern". Modern in this context is understood to be Western and modernization theory according to Greenhalgh is actually westernization, which does not fundamentally provide modernization. Moreover, Greenhalgh and political economy of reproduction challenge if modernization is inherently a positive transformation, especially when linked to westernization (Greenhalgh 1995:16). However, according to demographic theorists women's status, and therefore their fertility narratives, are improved by modernization, implicitly stating that westernization is essentially better for women (Greenhalgh 1995: 10). Moreover, demography theory constructs low-fertility as explicitly better and "progressive", a factor political economy of reproduction disputes though its analysis of the negative effects of conflating westernization with modernization (Greenhalgh 1995: 16). Greenhalgh states, "What is good is culturally conditioned", a factor that demographic theories overlook and therefore do not account for the ways low

All three theories are in common in as they tend to lean toward industrialized economy. As Modernization theory is based on the

The term modernization refers to the transformation or change of a society from a rural and agrarian position to a more urban, secular and industrial position. Modernization developed rapidly after the age of revolution and changed the society. The idea of modernization is derived from the notion of an evolutionary society. This involves the transition of society from barbarism to a developed and

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.

Modernization means to go from a known tradition over to newer modern society like newer trade and industry methods and importing. A modern society is more cohesive since more people are involved in the process like politics, schoools, police and the army.

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

He pointed out that different economic levels have their own requirements and they may not follow the same process of industrialization. Moreover, he raised the most influential theory related to late industrialization that the economically backward states may have rapider growth rate as they are late comers, and the national development process relied on the degree of economic backwardness. That is to say the more backward a country, the faster it will advance (ibid).