1.0.

Introduction

Modernization theory refers to a body of theory that became prominent in the 1950s and

1960s in relation to understanding issues of economic and social development and in creating

policies that would assist economic and social transitions in poorer countries. Modernization is

the view of historical progression as a series of stages, reflecting intellectual, technological,

economic, and political development. It views progress in terms of a particular path of transition.

In the evolutionary perspective, modernization refers to the transition from primitive to a

traditional form of industrialized society to super industrialized form religious to secular

ideology, from particularism to ascription, diffuseness, self-orientation to universalism. Modern

society has been identified as a society characterized by the application of technology and by

extensive social interdependence.

In this paper, we are going to discuss the history of modernization theory looking at the

historical events that favored the inception of this theory, like the rise of the USA as the

superpower, the spread of communist movements, and the disintegration of colonial powers. An

in-depth investigation will be made on the major tenents of modernization theory, looking at the

strengths and weaknesses of this theory, the criticism of this theory will also be discussed before

analyzing Rostow’s stages of development.

1.1 The history of Modernization theory

Modernization theory like the industrial revolution is said to have started in Western

Europe and has spread to other parts of the world. (Acemoglu, et al. 2005). Thus,

industrialization, Urbanization, education and media participation are the various aspects of

modernization. It, therefore, refers to change in political culture and political institutions as a

result of the process of modernization

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 Modernization theory originated from the ideas of German sociologist Max Weber. In the

1950s and early 1960s, Modernization theory was developed by a number of social scientists and

particularly American scholars like Talcott persons. Barro (1999) argues that there are three main

and historical elements that were favorable to the inception of the modernization theory of

development after the Second World War. First, there was the rise of the United States as a

superpower. While other Western nations, such as Great Britain, France, and Germany, were

weakened by World War II, the United States emerged from the war strengthened and became a

world leader with the implementation of the Marshall Plan to reconstruct war-torn Western

Europe.

The second was the spread of a united world communist movement. The Former Soviet

Union extended its influence not only to Eastern Europe but also to China and Korea. Third,

there was the disintegration of European colonial empires in Asia, Africa, and Latin America,

giving birth to many new nation-states in the Third World. (Dornbusch, 1993). These nascent

nation-states were in search of a model of development to promote their economy and enhance

their political independence.

2.0. The major Tenents of Modernization theory

Modernization theory casts development as a uniform evolutionary route that all societies

follow, from agricultural, rural, and traditional societies to post-industrial, urban, and modern

forms. In other words, all societies, once engaged in the modernization process, follow a

predetermined sequence of developmental stages: traditional economies, transition to takeoff,

takeoff itself, drive to maturity, age of high consumption, and postindustrial society.

Modernization theory emphasizes internal forces and sources of socio-economic

development such as formal education, market-based economy, and democratic and secular

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political structures (Durlauf,1996). Although modernization theory does not rule out external

forces and sources of social change and economic development, it focuses less on foreign

influences. Societies can be fast-tracked to modernization by ‘importing’ Western technical

capital, forms of organization, and science and technology to developing countries.

Modernization implies the breakdown of traditional society, it refers to the development

of a new social order based on advanced technology and the spirit of science, a rational view of

life, a rational approach to social relations, achieving justice in public affairs, and above all else

on the acceptance in the political realm of the belief that the prime unit of public policy should

be the nation-state (Eeckhout, et al. 2002).

3.0. The strength of Modernization theory

In a political sense, there are three main features of modern societies: differentiation of

political structure, Secularization of political culture -with the ethos of equality, which Enhances

the capacity of a society’s political system. The major assumptions of the modernization theory

of development basically are: Modernization is a phased process; it is a homogenizing process

since it produces tendencies toward convergence among societies. Modernization is a

Europeanization or Americanization process; in the modernization literature, there is an attitude

of complacency toward Western Europe and the United States. These nations are viewed as

having unmatched economic prosperity and democratic stability. In addition, modernization is an

irreversible process, once started modernization cannot be stopped. In other words, once third-

world countries come into contact with the West, they will not be able to resist the impetus

toward modernization.

Modernization is a progressive process that in the long run is not only inevitable but

desirable. According to Coleman, modernized political systems have a higher capacity to deal

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with the function of national identity, legitimacy, penetration, participation, and distribution than

traditional political systems. Finally, modernization is a lengthy process. It is an evolutionary

change, not a revolutionary one. It will take generations or even centuries to complete, and its

profound impact will be felt only through time

According to modernization theory, modern societies are more productive, children are

better educated, and the needy receive more welfare. Modern societies have the particular feature

of social structural differentiation, that is to say, a clear definition of functions and political roles

from national institutions. Feldman et al. (1966) argues that although structural differentiation

has increased the functional capacity of modern organizations, it has also created the problem of

integration, and of coordinating the activities of the various new institutions

4.0. Major Criticism of Modernization theory

Modernization theory is criticized for failing to consider the poor as the centerpiece in

poverty reduction initiatives. By ignoring the involvement and participation of the target

community, modernity achieves the marginalization of their commitment, creativity and support

of the intervention strategies. ESAP Project failed because it was developed with a total

disregard of the cultural social, political and traditional values of the recipient countries. Broadly

expressed, the ESAP was a Eurocentric experiment which failed to pull the continent out of

poverty and underdevelopment.

Modernization theory is ethnocentric because it devalues traditional values and social

institutions and it is not a neutral theory as it suggests or promotes Western capitalist values. It is

actually a way of making the African countries and the developing countries follow the western

way of life. Modernization also impoverished Africa through colonialism and imperialism by the

West and this trend is with us today as the East takes its turn to deplete the continent’s resources

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such as oil and mineral. It was due to the concept of modernization that Africa was actually

regarded as the Dark Continent and has to be colonized. This according to Rodney (1983) is how

Europe underdeveloped Africa as the colonization was to benefit Europe.

Modernization theory is associated with development aid from developed countries. It

places value on externally sources aid without attending to the inhibiting conditionality attached

to such aid. The failure of the theory to attend to such conditionality may demonstrate a hidden

hand behind the metropolitan state’s application of the theory to Africa (Garrett, 1998). The

strings attached to the aid have tended to benefit the metropolitan states more than the recipient

countries which shows that the modernization theory is an enemy to Africa.

Modernization theory is economic-centered since it emphasized the massive development

of infrastructure and it also ignores the aspect of sustainable development. It emphasizes

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their needs. It only benefits those at present.

Modernization theory failed to make the distinction between countries, regions, structural

conditions of specific historical experiences. By emphasizing the Nation’s internal problem

modernization seemed to blame the victims for their poverty. It gives the impression that third-

world countries have the same traditional values. – there is no clear-cut distinction between

traditional values and modern values – they advocate that the third world must abandon their

traditional values and adopt western values. Some traditional values do not oppose modern

values.

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 5.0 Rostow’s Stages of Development

With respect to understanding Development and Underdevelopment Walt Whiteman

Rostow (1956), an American economist identified five stages of social transformation in his

popular book “stages of economic growth: a non-communist manifesto”, which countries must

pass from Underdevelopment to development. According to Rostow (1965) they represent

classic blue print from steady growth, social mobility, education and economic freedom. The

stages are: the traditional society, Pre-condition for take-off, the take of stage, Self-sustaining

growth and Stage of high mass consumption. For the modernization theorists, the problem of the

Third world countries is the problem of how to move these countries from their traditional level

of development to the modern stage (Geddes, 1996). The reason for this is that according to the

modernization theorists, every society undergoes stages of development. They also argue that the

other problem of the Third world countries is that most of them lack: resources, skilled

manpower, slow growth; and suffer from high level of corruption, high level of illiteracy, they

are usually very poor, there is high level of nepotism, usually diseased and above all lack

adequate institutional framework. That because of all these problems, the concern of the

modernization theorists is on how to move them out from this their decadent state of existence to

a modernized or developed state.

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Barro, R. (1999) Determinants of Democracy. Journal of Political Economy 107 (6), 158– 83

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Cambridge: MIT Press.

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Durlauf, S.N. (1996) On the Convergence and Divergence of Growth Rates. Economic Journal

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Eeckhout, J., and Jovanovic, B. (2002) Knowledge Spillovers and Inequality. American

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