1 modernization theory of development

Farhan Ahmad faiz 1

Modernizing Theory

Farhan Ahmad faiz 2

Historical background to modernization theory

1 Post world war two’s deepening poverty in some countries

2 Ideological competition from communism

3 Increasing unrest in some countries

4 The above posed a threat to capitalism, and especially the USA

5 This led to the development of modernisation theory (mainly by US economists and policy makers)

Farhan Ahmad faiz 3

• In the 1950s and early 1960s modernization theory was developed by a number of social scientists, particularly a group of American scholars the most prominent of whom was Talcott Parsons. Much of this interest in modernization was prompted by the decline of the old colonial empires. Modernization theory is a grand theory encompassing many different disciplines as it seeks to explain how society progresses, what variables affect that progress, and how societies can react to that progress. Modernization theory focuses specifically on a type of modernization thought to have originated in Europe during the 17th century, which brought social mores and technological achievements into a new epoch.

Farhan Ahmad faiz 4

Modernization theory

• For a country to seen as modern, modernization theorists it has to under go an evolutionary advance in science and technology which in turn would lead to an increased standard for all.

Farhan Ahmad faiz 5

• The modernization theorists aima) explain why poorer countries failed to evolve into modern societiesb) Reduce the spread of communism by presenting capitalist values as the

solution to poverty

• The Third World became a focus of attention by politicians who were keen to show countries pushing for independence that sustained development was possible under the western wing (rather. than that of the Soviet Union). Academics reflected this interest by examining the socio-economic conditions conducive to modernization.

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Rostow’s evolutionary ladder of development (economic factors)

1 Traditional society: poverty, primary production and traditional values

2 Pre-conditions for take-off: the West assists development through aid and industrial investment

3 Take-off: high economic growth and investment in infrastructure begins

4 The drive to maturity: economic and cultural factors lead to increasing prosperity for all

5 The age of high Mass consumption

Rostow's Stages of Growth

Walt Rostow wrote in the late 50's and early 60's in response to the many seemingly successful Marxist theories of economic development Marxist writers had developed a number of stages through which a country had to pass, Rostow came up with a similar list.

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Farhan Ahmad faiz 88

Rostow - Stages of Growth• The work of American Walt

W. Rostow• Rostow is an economic

historian• Countries can be placed in

one of five categories in terms of its stage of growth:

•A child in Sierra Leone making breakfast. Which stage would a country like Sierra Leone fit in?

Stage One: Traditional Society

“A traditional society is one whose structure is developed within limited production functions.

• Low productivity agriculture is a large % of the economy

• Political power dominates economic power• Low rates of investment ( < 5% of GDP) • Inefficient property rights

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Rostow - Stages of Growth1. Traditional Society• Characterised by

• subsistence economy – output not traded or recorded

• existence of barter • high levels of agriculture

and labour intensive agriculture

•Village in Lesotho. 86% of the resident workforce in Lesotho is engaged in subsistence agriculture.

Stage Two: Preconditions for Take Off

• Conditions: • Transfer resources from agriculture to

manufacturing • Shift from regional to national/international focus • Must shift away from having children • People must be rewarded not for their

“connections” but their economic abilities

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Rostow - Stages of Growth2. Pre-conditions:

• Development of mining industries

• Increase in capital use in agriculture

• Necessity of external funding

• Some growth in savings and investment

•The use of some capital equipment can help increase productivity and generate small surpluses which can be traded.

Stage Three: Take-off

• Short period (20-30 years) of intensive growth • In this short period we get • increase in investment: “[I] regard as a necessary but not

sufficient condition for the take-off the fact that the net investment rise from 5% to over 10%…”

• development of a leading sector • emergence of new institutions• “The take-off is the interval when the old blocks and

resistances to steady growth are finally overcome. The forces making for economic progress, which yielded limited bursts and enclaves of modern activity, expand and come to dominate the society. Growth becomes its normal condition.



Rostow - Stages of Growth3. Take off:

• Increasing industrialisation

• Further growth in savings and investment

• Some regional growth• Number employed in

agriculture declines•At this stage, industrial growth may be linked to primary industries. The level of technology required will be low.

Stage Four: Drive to maturity

• “…for these purposes we define it as the period when a society has effectively applied the range of (then) modern technology to the bulk of its resources.”

• Occurs roughly 60 years after take-off--- • Increase in investment (10% to 20%) • Development of modern capitalist economy and self-

sustained growth Pass to Stage Five: High Mass Consumption



Rostow - Stages of Growth4. Drive to Maturity:

• Growth becomes self-sustaining – wealth generation enables further investment in value adding industry and development

• Industry more diversified• Increase in levels of

technology utilised•As the economy matures, technology plays an increasing role in developing high value added products.


Rostow - Stages of Growth5. High mass consumption

• High output levels• Mass consumption of

consumer durables• High proportion of

employment in service sector

•Service industry dominates the economy – banking, insurance, finance, marketing, entertainment, leisure and so on.


Criticism:• Too simplistic• Necessity of a financial infrastructure to channel any savings that are

made into investment• Will such investment yield growth? Not necessarily• Need for other infrastructure – human resources (education), roads,

rail, communications networks• Efficiency of use of investment – in palaces or productive activities?• Rostow argued economies would learn from one another and reduce

the time taken to develop – has this happened?


• Development then depends on ‘traditional’, ‘primitive’ values being displaced by modern ones.

In a traditional society, three crucial features are noted:

(a) The value of traditionalism itself is dominant: that is, people are oriented to the past and they lack the cultural ability to adjust to new circumstances;

(b) The kinship system is the decisive reference point for all social practices, being the primary means through which economic, political and legal relationships arc controlled. One's position in' the kinship system and, hence in the society is ascribed, not achieved - that is, is a reflection of the status or standing of the family, clan or tribe into which one is born; one's position only changes as one moves up the family hierarchy. Status is then, not earned or achieved, but conferred by virtue of kin relationships;

(c) Members of the traditional society have an emotional, superstitious and fatalistic approach to the world: 'what will be will be; 'things have always been this way'.

Tradition versus Modernity


In contrast, 'modern' society is made up of completely opposite characteristics:

(a) People may still have traditions but they are not slaves to them and will challenge any that seem unnecessary or get in the way of continued cultural progress (that is they do not suffer from 'traditionalism');

(b) Kinship has a very much less important role in all areas of society (even within the family) because of the need for geographical and social mobility which weakens family ties; moreover, one's position in the economy, polity etc" is earned through hard work and high achievement - motivation and not determined by kinship;

(c) Members of -the modern society are not fatalistic but forward-looking and innovative, ready to overcome the obstacles they find in their way, particularly in business affairs, reflecting a strong entrepreneurial spirit and rational, scientific approach to the world.


• a) there is a clear mixture of sociological, psychological and economic features to modernization theory including, for example, reference to value systems, individual motivations, and capital accumulation;

MODERNISATION THEORY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS


• (b) most accounts give greatest priority to the role played by the values, norms and beliefs of people in determining the sort of society - traditional or modern - that they create, and thus value changes are the most important conditions for social change;


• (c) the history of the development of industrialization in the West is no longer regarded as something unique as Weber thought, but as the blueprint for development throughout the world.

As one of the contributors to modernisation theory, Eisenstadt claimed: 'Historically, modernisation is the process of change towards those types of social, economic and political systems that have developed in Western Europe and North America from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.'


• (d) the evolution of societies occurs as traditional behaviour patterns give way under the pressures of modernisation. While these pressures built up gradually within Western societies, the 'developing' countries of the Third World can be exposed to· them from outside. That is, they can he helped along the road to modernity with the assistance of the developed countries whose ideas and technologies can be introduced and diffused throughout these poorer countries;


• (e) this process of 'modernization by diffusion' should encour age the development of a number of features in the Third World, including urbanization based on. nuclear family households, educational growth for literacy and training, the development of mass media to disseminate ideas and: encourage increased awareness about society, heightened political awareness and participation in a democratic system, increased business opportunities through providing capital for investment, the replacement of patterns of authority based on traditional loyalties (for example monar chies, local chiefdoms) with a rational system of law coupled with representative national government;


• (f) different societies are at different stages of development because they have been more or less successful in introducing the features of modernity highlighted above in the previous slide.


1. It is ethnocentric because

(a) it devalues traditional values and social institutions e.g. extended families (b) it ignores increasing inequality within and between countries(c) it is not a neutral theory as it suggests (it promotes western capitalist values)

2 Education in the developing world mainly benefits small local elites( those at the top)

Criticism


3 They assume unidirectional path of development.There is no, one single way to advancement and historical context is also important.

4 The cultures of developing countries e.g the importance of the family, may be a response to economic insecurity and low levels of material well-being not the cause of it. (Inglehart and Baker 2000)

Criticism


In conclusion two general remarks can be madeFirst, modernization theory is clearly an oversimplified model of development that lacks two essential ingredients: an adequate historical input and a structural perspective.

1. Historically, it ignores a wealth of evidence, which indicates that the process of economic growth cannot be encapsulated in simplistic notion about the. displacement of 'traditional values systems and institutions by 'modern' ones.

2. Structurally, the theory is insensitive to the specific ways in which factors for economic growth such as the introduction of new technology or markets may be interpreted, or modified or accommodated within existing social relationships. In addition, the, inequalities of power and social class that structure these relationships are virtually ignored.

Conclusion

1 modernization theory of development

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