Showing papers on "Modernization theory published in 1995"

Ecocentric Management for a Risk Society

Abstract: A central feature of postindustrial modernization is the proliferation of technological and environmental risks and crises. These risks and crises emanate from corporate industrial activities. The traditional management paradigm is limited in several ways for responding to demands of the risk society and should be abandoned. I propose an alternative “ecocentric” paradigm for management in the risk society context, which advocates an ecologically centered conception of interorganizational relations and internal management activities. Thus, organizations are viewed as situated within bioregionally sustainable industrial ecosystems, relating to each other through a logic of ecological interdependence. Within this context, ecocentric management seeks to minimize the environmental impact of organizational vision, inputs, throughputs, and outputs. Implications of this paradigm for management practice and research are examined.

Sociology, environment, and modernity: ecological modernization as a theory of social change.

Abstract: To minimize or at least substantially reduce damage to the natural resource sustenance‐base we urgently need institutional reform within modern society. Environmental sociologists have different views as to which institutional traits can be held primarily responsible for the environmental crisis. Examples include its capitalistic or industrial character as well as the complex, highly administrated technological system of modern society. We discuss these matters in the context of the theory of “ecological modernization”; as developed by the German sociologist Joseph Huber, among others. To analyze the institutional reforms required for bringing human interaction with the sustenance‐base under rational ecological control, however, the theory needs to be substantially modified and complemented in several respects. However, restructuring the processes of production and consumption is only half the story. The change to ecologically sound patterns of production and consumption is limited by the dimensi...

Confucianism and Democracy

Abstract: The caning for vandalism last year of American high-school student Michael Fay by the Singaporean authorities underscored the challenge now being put forth by Asian societies to the United States and other Western democracies. The issue was not simply whether Singapore, as a sovereign state, had the right to subject an American expatriate to its laws and legal procedures, but a much more fundamental one. In effect, the Singaporeans used the case of Michael Fay to argue in favor of their brand of authoritarianism, charging that American democracy, with its rampant social problems and general disorder, could not be regarded as a model for an Asian society. This claim forms part of a larger argument that Singaporeans, beginning with former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, have been making for some time now to the effect that Western-style democracy is incompatible with Confucianism, and that the latter constitutes a much more coherent ideological basis for a well-ordered Asian society than Western notions of individual liberty. 1 While Singaporeans have been the most outspoken proponents of this view, many people in other Asian societies, from Thailand to Japan, have come to share their beliefs. The standing of the United States in Asia has already been affected: on the issue of using trade policy to pressure China into bettering its human rights record, Washington had few allies in the region, and it was forced to back down on its threat of withdrawing China's most-favored-nation (MFN) status. Are Confucianism and Western-style democracy fundamentally [End Page 20] incompatible? Will Asia formulate a new kind of political-economic order that is different in principle from Western capitalist democracy? The fact is that there are fewer points of incompatibility between Confucianism and democracy than many people in both Asia and the West believe. The essence of postwar "modernization theory" is correct: Economic development tends to be followed by political liberalization. 2 If the rapid economic development that Asia has experienced in recent years is sustained, the region's democratization will continue as well. In the end, however, the contours of Asian democracy may be very different from those of contemporary American democracy, which has experienced serious problems of its own in reconciling individual rights with the interests of the larger community.

Contending With Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century

Abstract: How did Catholic colleges and universities deal with the modernization of education and the rise of research universities? In this book, Philip Gleason offers the first comprehensive study of Catholic higher education in the twentieth century, tracing the evolution of responses to an increasingly secular educational system. At the beginning of the century, Catholics accepted modernization in the organizational sphere while resisting it ideologically. Convinced of the truth of their religious and intellectual position, the restructured Catholic colleges grew rapidly after World War I, committed to educating for a "Catholic Renaissance." This spirit of militance carried over into the post-World War II era, but new currents were also stirring as Catholics began to look more favorably on modernity in its American form. Meanwhile, their colleges and universities were being transformed by continuing growth and professionalization. By the 1960's, changes in church teaching and cultural upheaval in American society reinforced the internal transformation already under way, creating an "identity crisis" which left Catholic educators uncertain of their purpose. Emphasizing the importance to American culture of the growth of education at all levels, Gleason connects the Catholic story with major national trends and historical events. By situating developments in higher education within the context of American Catholic thought, Contending with Modernity provides the fullest account available of the intellectual development of American Catholicism in the twentieth century.

Twice the Work of Free Labor: The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South

Abstract: This volume is both a study of penal labour in the Southern United States and a revisionist analysis of the political economy of the South after the Civil War. The book reveals that the economic modernization of the South was largely promoted through the use of forced black labour - penal slavery. The new class of modernizers, it argues, did not hesitate to use these leased convicts, thereby ensuring the continuation of racial domination.

Transport and the world city paradigm

Abstract: Introduction The world city paradigm posits a distinct role for certain cities in articulating regional and national economies in the global system (Friedmann 1986). World cities develop hierarchical relationships that rise and fall over time according to their control and mediary functions in the system. As commanding nodes in the world economy, world cities are defined by dense patterns of interaction between people, goods, and information. A rapidly expanding and sophisticated global network of transport services and infrastructure facilitates this interaction. In turn, the globalization of finance, production, labour, service, cultures, and information has given impetus to, and has helped to shape, extraordinary advances in transport provision. Thus, the role of transport in the evolving world city system is both crucial and fundamental. Although much research has addressed world city formation and the genesis, growth, and change of the world city system, we still do not have a clear appreciation and understanding of either the dynamics or the role of transport in shaping world cities. Few studies have examined theoretically or empirically how, why, or where transport linkages function in the world city system. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the way control and mediary functions of world cities are helping to shape global, regional, and local transport networks and services.

Native Place, City, and Nation: Regional Networks and Identities in Shanghai, 1853–1937

Abstract: This book explores the role of native place associations in the development of modern Chinese urban society and the role of native-place identity in the development of urban nationalism. From the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, sojourners from other provinces dominated the population of Shanghai and other expanding commercial Chinese cities. These immigrants formed native place associations beginning in the imperial period and persisting into the mid-twentieth century. Goodman examines the modernization of these associations and argues that under weak urban government, native place sentiment and organization flourished and had a profound effect on city life, social order and urban and national identity.

Chinese Nationalism and Foreign Policy After Deng

Abstract: As the Deng era approaches its end, concern abroad, particularly in East Asia, focuses on how the People's Republic of China (PRC) will cope with territorial disputes with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and India, and the continued quest for Taiwan. Meanwhile Chinese military modernization steadily increases the People's Liberation Army (PLA) air and sea power projection. The question arises: might a beleaguered post-Deng leadership seek to strengthen its legitimacy through exploitation of Chinese nationalism and if so, how would this manifest itself in foreign relations?

Towards Illiberal Democracy in Pacific Asia

Abstract: This book challenges the view that liberal democracy is the inevitable outcome of economic modernization. Focusing on the stable and prosperous societies of Pacific Asia, it argues that contemporary political arrangements are legitimised by the values of hierarchy, familism and harmony. An arrangement that clearly contrasts with a western understanding of political liberalism and the communicatory democracy it facilitates. Instead of political change resulting from a demand for autonomy by interest groups in civil society, the adoption of democratic practice in Asia ought to be viewed primarily as a state strategy to manage socio-economic change.

Toronto's Girl Problem: The Perils and Pleasures of the City, 1880-1930

Abstract: With the turn of the century came increased industrialization and urbanization, and in Toronto one of the most visible results of this modernization was the influx of young, single women to the city. They came seeking work, independence, and excitement, but they were not to realize these goals without contention. Carolyn Strange examines the rise of the Toronto 'working girl,' the various agencies that 'discovered' her, the nature of 'the girl problem' from the point of view of moral overseers, the various strategies devised to solve this 'problem,' and lastly, the young women's responses to moral regulation. The 'working girl' seemed a problem to reformers, evangelists, social investigators, police, the courts, and journalists - men, mostly, who saw women's debasement as certain and appointed themselves as protectors of morality. They portrayed single women as victims of potential economic and sexual exploitation and urban immorality. Such characterization drew attention away from the greater problems these women faced: poverty, unemployment, poor housing and nutrition, and low wages. In the course of her investigation, Strange suggests fresh approaches to working-class and urban history. Her sources include the census, court papers, newspaper accounts, philanthropic society reports, and royal commissions, but Strange also employs less conventional sources, such as photographs and popular songs. She approaches the topic from a feminist viewpoint that is equally sensitive to the class and racial dimensions of the 'girl problem,' and compares her findings with the emergence of the working woman in contemporary United States and Great Britain. The overriding observation is that Torontonians projected their fears and hopes about urban industrialization onto the figure of the working girl. Young women were regulated from factories and offices, to streetcars and dancehalls, in an effort to control the deleterious effects of industrial capitalism. By the First World War however, their value as contributors to the expanding economy began to outweigh fear of their moral endangerment. As Torontonians grew accustomed to life in the industrial metropolis, the 'working girl' came to be seen as a valuable resource.

Women, Feminism and Social Change in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, 1890-1940

Abstract: "The publication of this book marks a watershed for Latin American studies." - "Net Book Review". "The combination of an analysis of institutional and legislative reforms with their importance for individuals' lives makes this book requisite and exciting reading for the social and gender history of Latin America, as well as a significant comparative study for scholars of the United States and Europe." - "The Americas". "There is assuredly much for northern feminists (and patriarchs) to learn from this book. Highly recommended." - "Choice". Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay are geographically linked societies in Latin America, and their female citizens have shared many similar social and legal problems. Skilfully drawing on pioneering documentary research, Asuncion Lavrin describes changes in gender relations and the role that feminism has played in the development and modernization of each of the three countries. Asuncion Lavrin is a professor of history at Arizona State University. She edited "Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin America" (Nebraska 1989) and "Latin American Women: Historical Perspectives".

The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan

Abstract: This work provides a historical and comparative analysis of modern Japan's epidemic of tuberculosis. It demonstrates the links between such epidemics and the social changes that accompanied modernization, and examines the responses of states, private organizations and individuals to these epidemics

Kinship and modernization in developing societies: the emergence of instrumentalized kinship.

Abstract: This paper deals with the impact of modernization on kinship structure in developing societies. The data are based on a synthesis of secondary sources and a field study conducted among the Arab population in Israel. Our analysis shows that the kinship structure has survived and in some aspects has even been reinforced in the wake of modernization. However processes connected with individual modernization have changed the nature of kinship organization and the dynamics of the interaction between individuals and their kinship group. They have led to the emergence of `instrumentalized kinship based on pragmatic needs rather than traditional ideological commitments. (SUMMARY IN SPA AND FRE) (EXCERPT)

Psychopathology and personal agency: Modernity, culture change and eating disorders in South Asian societies

Abstract: The cultural contribution to psychopathology may become more salient in situations of social change, but it remains difficult to distinguish individual agency among wider social and economic transitions, such as 'modernization' or simply 'culture change', which carry the potential for recourse to new patterns. Eating disorders, a biosocial pattern once identified exclusively with European societies, do occur among South Asian women including those living in the West. This seems not just a simple appropriation of contemporary Western ideals of female morphology--the 'fear of fatness'-but a reassertion of an instrumental strategy of self-renunciation in situations of experienced constraint.

Gender and Development: Rethinking Modernization and Dependency Theory

Abstract: This provocative critique of both theory and practice goes beyond the women in development approach to explore fundamental reconceptualisations of tradition, modernity, masculinity, femininity, revolution, and development.

They Died with Their Boots On: The Boot Camp and the Limits of Modern Penality

Abstract: Introduction: Are We Postmodern? A number of scholars have begun to suggest that a significant rupture has occurred or is occurring in our practices of punishment and social control (Cohen, 1994; Feeley and Simon, 1992, 1994; Simon, 1993a; Brodeur, 1994; Garland, 1994; Nelken, 1994; Dumm, 1994).(2) At their broadest, these analyses amount to the claim that modernity in punishment, which has been predominant since the end of the 18th century (and has traces going back centuries further), is coming to an end. The term "postmodern" is deliberately tentative. It suggests that something is over, but does not describe what has begun.(3) As Jean-Paul Brodeur (1994: 3) points out, the question of postmodernity is really two questions. The first question is historical and it relates to fact: is the situation now or that shortly will be prevailing in the field of penal practice discontinuous with what we have been experiencing for the last two centuries or is it the consolidation of a program that was expressed over the last two centuries and is now becoming self-conscious and self-critical? The second question is theoretical. Is the sociology of modernity an adequate framework in which to consider the present developments in penology? Most of those engaged in the discussion of these questions share the sense that they cannot be resolved at the abstract level of theory. Terms like modern and postmodern are at best gross homogenizations of complex and contextually specific processes. They are useful primarily as "grids" that we use to make historical sense of practices and discourses that surround us.(4) To some, no doubt, this entire debate is rather peripheral. It does not help us answer the pressing questions of policy formation. Nor does it develop (yet, at any rate) novel purposes or approaches to exercising or abolishing the power to punish, which has been so central to state formation in Western societies. For the moment, the question of whether current forms of punishment are postmodern turns on evidence of longer-term historical change. The specific tendencies of contemporary punishment may not provide a clear indication.(5) For example, the rapid growth of imprisonment over the last two decades in the United States and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom neither confirms nor denies the thesis that modern punishment is being fundamentally changed. Indeed, the growth of the system may indicate either the vigor of modern penal strategies or the dangerous distending of a system that is no longer functionally regulated by its internal processes or external environment. In short, we need to develop much richer middle-range accounts of penal strategies and practices before we can really answer questions about the fate of modern punishment. Still, awareness of these larger questions seems relevant for two reasons. First, our major ways of thinking and talking about punishment and social control are modern. Hence our ability to recognize change, and ultimately to discuss even conjunctural events, is to some extent dependent on the continued validity of this modern understanding. Second, students of punishment and modernity (Foucault, 1977; Elias, 1978; Garland, 1990) have seen punishment as a leading sector of the modernization process in society as a whole. The break-up of modern penal strategies and understandings, if it is indeed occurring, may be significant for the self-understanding of these societies more generally. The present article offers more grist for this mill by examining a new and remarkably popular penal innovation in the United States that offers hints to the robustness of penal modernity.(6) Penal "boot camps," also known as "shock incarceration programs," have proliferated rapidly since they were first introduced in Georgia and Oklahoma in 1983 (Osier, 1991: 35). As of 1993, programs of various specifications approximating the boot-camp model had been set up by 30 states, 10 local jurisdictions, and the federal government (MacKenzie, 1993). …

Damaged Life: The Crisis of the Modern Psyche

Abstract: This text presents an analysis of modernity's impact on the psyche Modernization has brought many material benefits, yet we are constantly told how unhappy we are: crime, divorce, suicide, depression and anxiety are rampant How can this contradiction be reconciled? Tod Sloan develops an integrated theory of the self in society by combining perspectives on personality development and sociohistorical processes to explore our complex response to modernization He discusses the implications of postmodern theory for psychology and proposes concrete responses to address the issue of mass emotional suffering His book is aimed at those working within psychology and related disciplines such as sociology and social policy, as well as anyone seeking enlightenment about the predicament of the self in contemporary society

African Feminism: Toward a New Politics of Representation

Abstract: I am convinced that I am observing the birth of feminism on the African continent-a feminism that is political, pragmatic, reflexive, and group oriented.' These observations have grown out of my work in various parts of West Africa, in the 1970s and 1980s, and in South Africa, in 1992; out of my dialogues with women from Kenya and other parts of the continent; and most recently out of workshops on women and legal change that I conducted in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria during May 1994. My research and involvement with Africa goes back to the early 1970s, when the charismatic energy of nationalist leaders like Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere had faded, the disillusionment with modernization and the capitalist economy was strong, and a rash of military coups marked the emergence of a new crisis orientation. In the nationalist phase, women had played crucial roles, but their importance in politics had waned by 1971 when I began research on cocoa farmers in Ghana and visited many West African countries. I have watched the episodic rise of women's movements during the United Nations Decade of Women (1975-1985) and during the difficult economic crises and structural adjustment program experiments of the 1980s, but I see the peaking of a new feminism now as African states reinvent themselves in the 1990s. This recognition of an emerging African feminism has been met with unanticipated enthusiasm by some of my Japanese, female, African studies colleagues who pursue autonomy within their own unique cultural environment, with ambivalence by some colleagues who work in Africa, and with amused tolerance on the part of many Western feminists who saw it as a

Rising Gender Inequality in Vietnam Since Reunification

Abstract: Two general schools of thought offer contrasting visions concerning which kinds of social systems may best ameliorate social inequalities based on class, race, or gender. The modernization perspective holds that development results in the creation of laws, institutions, and opportunities that are conducive to the erosion of such inequalities. The opposing Marxian viewpoint maintains that inequality is rooted in private ownership, the elimination of which requires a complete transformation in the social relations of production. In regard to gender inequality, the latter socialist vision has long been favored by feminists as offering the better agenda for social advancement. Revolutionary socialist movements offered promises of social advances for women and openly sought their support, and the receipt of such support was often pivotal in the establishment of such regimes. Despite some evidence that revolutionary socialist states may have ameliorated social inequality, the current consensus is that gender inequality may be entrenched in various ways that transcend political economy. Recent commentators have noted the unpaid "promissory notes" issued to women by socialist regimes and have analyzed their default under the rubric of "women in the transition to socialism."' However, by the end of the 1980s this political context had changed considerably. After becoming disillusioned with the shared poverty that resulted from the inefficiencies inherent in socialist agricultural and industrial production, many societies in the ex-socialist bloc (including those

Modern Urban Parks

Abstract: In July 1893 the commissioners of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco reported the creation of a field for athletic games in the park. The new recreational "valley" was twenty acres in extent, enclosed by slightly rising grounds and studded with pines on three of its sides. . . . [It will be] a beautiful lawn where foot-ball and base-ball will not only be permitted but encouraged. Benches will be placed under the trees, which furnish an inviting shade for the convenience and comfort of the thousands who go there to witness and engage in these sports (SFBPC 1893, 13). A seemingly commonplace public notice, this statement nevertheless announced a fundamental change in the park. Only a few years prior, a specialized, intentionally enclosed area with distinct uses by specific segments of society would not have been permitted in the park. Social-spatial divisions would have been seen as anathema. The local society, however, was modernizing, and its park spaces were changing along with it. One characteristic of modernizing urban societies has been a tendency toward increasing complexity through segmentation and specialization. Modernity stresses greater complexity through the creation of new social groups and hierarchical divisions for both production and consumption. The source of the trend is the modernist search for increased efficiency, quantifiability, predictability, and control (Ritzer 1993). In concert with the additional social divisions has come a corresponding increase in the number and type of spatial segments (Tuan 1982; Sack 1986). That is, a historical examination of modern social geography, especially urbanization, reveals an expanding diversity of places, regions, territories, and landscapes. But what about the natural world? Do those places treated as natural by the members of modernity have increasingly complex, segmented geographies? Although nature is often positioned as the antithesis of culture, there is no reason to assume that natural places would not be subject to the space-segmenting tendencies of modernity. Numerous scholars from diverse intellectual backgrounds have pointed out the social-cultural constitution of nature (Evernden 1992). Nature is the reification of a bafflingly complex set of geographically diffuse parts and processes. To label this complex is to create a sense of wholeness where none may exist. Because the definition of that whole occurs in a social setting, nature should be socially segmentable, subject to modernizing tendencies. In this article I argue that nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century urban parks such as Central Park in Manhattan, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Forest Park in St. Louis underwent modernization. I examine in detail the process of spatial segmentation and specialization between 1880 and 1920 through the study of a typical example of the period, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Specifically, new spatial segments and social uses replaced earlier ones in the eastern end of that park. The geographical changes were linked to a shift in the beliefs of an influential elite. These ideas and their relationships to parks are detailed in three examples of the segmentation of Golden Gate Park after 1880: the new uses of ornamental plants, the first playground, and the development of athletics. Finally, the persistence of rationalistic notions into the 1990s addresses the significance of modernization in urban parks. PARKS AND SOCIETY From the 1850s through the 1920s the outspoken proponents of parks in San Francisco were an elite of largely middle- to upper-middle-class, native-born, white men. The values and "voice" of that group were the most influential in determining the character of the city's parks. The working classes, foreign born, nonwhites, and women had influence that was less effectual in San Francisco, as was the case elsewhere (Cranz 1982; Rosenzweig and Blackmar 1992). However, the narrow base of this elite did not necessarily preclude its ideas about parks from resonating with many individuals in the larger society. …

Modernization in the National Weather Service River and Flood Program

Abstract: Hydrologic forecasting is vital not only to the National Weather Service mission of saying lives and protecting property but also to our nation's water management decision makers. Since its inception, the River and Flood Program has continually endeavored to modernize its tools and techniques. Modernization is an innovative process of research and development that strives to make available the best methods, data, and equipment for hydrologic forecasts. This paper addresses the role of modern technology (e.g., automation, computers, and radar) in hydrologic forecasting and also examines some of the problems of river modeling and forecasting and what modernization tools are available to remedy them. In addition, this paper looks at the increasing importance of training personnel to effectively use these modernized methods, procedures, and equipment in their jobs.

The Novel and the Globalization of Culture

Abstract: This book analyses the emergence of the modern global novel, and the way it mirrors the underlying process of the globalization of culture. It focuses on Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, Conrad's Lord Jim, Achebe's Things Fall Apart and No Longer At Ease, and Vargas Llosa's The War at the end of the World. In these works, a global narrative unfolds, as the forces of modernization tragically clash with the embattled defenders of traditional society.

The Market Tells Them So: The World Bank and Economic Fundamentalism in Africa

Abstract: The fundamentalist theology of the World Bank prelude to "the crisis" - the World Bank and the modernization of Africa rescheduling our debtors the World Bank and the structural adjustment of Africa the deepening crisis export-oriented growth, international trade and structural adjustment structural adjustment and the environment the ambiguous promise of biotechnology African churches and the crisis of structural adjustment structural adjustment and women - the response of the churches.

Making the Majors: The Transformation of Team Sports in America

Abstract: Preface Introduction Pursuing Accomplishment Constraints on Accomplishment Challenges Ahead Laying the Groundwork The Summer Game A Fall College Game An Inner-City Game A Winter Game On the Eve of Major Leagues Getting Established The First Major League Building a Viable League Early Challenges The Early Prototype A Successful Challenge The Landis Years Overview of a Successful Prototype Attachment Failures Out of Canton Into the Midwest Across the Border Failure Reconsidered The Modern Prototype Television and the NFL Problems Facing Rival Leagues Organizational Innovations Persisting Performance Inequality Modernization Reluctant Modernization Late Modernization Persisting Localism Where They Stand Changing Ways Deal Making in the Past The Meaning of Deals Structures of Deal Making The Impact of Deal Making on Performance Pursuing Opportunities Publics and Performance No Place Like Home Game Outcomes Publics and Performance Inequality Publics in Perspective The Accomplishment Facing the Future A Strange New World Appendix: The Major Leagues Appendix: Statistics Brief Appendix: League Statistics Notes References Index

New public infrastructures for small firm industral modernization in the USA

Abstract: There has been increasing concern in the United States about lagging industrial modernization, especially amongst the nation's small and midsized manufacturers with 500 or fewer employees. This has prompted a series of new technological infrastructure initiatives by federal and state governments, academic and industry organizations, and other groups. New legislation, policies and programmes have been established to promote industrial competitiveness and modernization for small and midsized firms. After considering the dimensions of the industrial modernization problem, the paper examines US federal and state technological infrastructural interventions aimed at promoting industrial modernization. These include industry and technology centres, industrial extension and technology deployment proyrammes, industry consortia and networking, and support for conversion from defence to civilian technologies and markets. The paper considers insights and best practices from the US experience with these programmes and...