Modernising the World

Modernising the World

1. Intro

   • Explains the process of modernisation in societies

2. Background

   • Post WW2
     • Countries remained poor despite exposure to capitalism
     • Such instability seen by US economists

3. Aims

   • Explain why poorer countries haven't developed
     • Provide a solution to poverty
       • Introduce western values

4. Rostow

   • Development - evolutionary process to climb ladder
     • Stage 1 - Traditional Societies
     • Stage 2 - Preconditions for Take Off
     • Stage 3 - Take Off
     • Stage 4 - Drive to Maturity
     • Stage 5 - Age of High Mass Consumption

5. Parsons

   • Traditional values act as barrier
   • Need to adopt values like meritocracy
   • Leads to emergence of 'entrepreneurial spirit'

6. Motors

   • Hoselitz (1960) - meritocratic education
     • Speed up spread of Western Values
   • Inkeles (1969) - mass media
     • Diffuse ideas of need to be geographically mobile

7. Criticisms

   • Ethnocentric
     • Degrades developing countries
     • Ignores the crisis of modernism, e.g. Wales
     • Excludes sociologists in developing world
   • Ecological Limits
     • Cannot be extended to all societies - planet is limited