Modernization theory

About: Modernization theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 14641 publications have been published within this topic receiving 232469 citations.

Southeast Asia: The Human Landscape of Modernization and Development

Abstract: The growth economies of Southeast Asia are presented by the World Bank and others as exemplars of development - 'miracle' economies to be emulated. How did the region attain such status? Are the 'other' countries of Southeast Asia able to achieve such a rapid growth? This book charts the development of Southeast Asia, examining the economies of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma alongside the established Asian market economies. Drawing on case studies from across the region, the author assesses poverty and ways in which the poor are identified and viewed. Process and change in the rural and urban 'worlds' are examined in detail, focusing on the strengthening rural-urban interaction as 'farmers' make a living in the urban-industrial sector and factories relocate into agricultural areas. Giving prominence to indigenous notions of development, based on Buddhism, Islam and the so-called 'Asian Way', the author critically assesses the conceptual foundations of development, ideas of post-developmentalism, and the 'miracle' thesis. In the light of the experience of one of the most vibrant regions in the world, the book places emphasis on the process of modernization within wider debates of development and challenges the notion that development has been a mirage for many and a tragedy for some.

For harmony and strength: Japanese white-collar organization in anthropological perspective

Abstract: "Rohten has demonstrated that traditional anthropological method and theory can be adjusted to the analysis of complex organizations. The book provides a holistic perspective of a Japanese bank and its more than 3,000 employees. Methodologically, Rohlen analyzed this bank in much the same fashion as he would have carried out the study of a small community. Eleven months of participant observation within the bank and among its employees after work provided the major source of data...Possibly the most important finding of the study is that despite surface similarities with banks throughout the world, the Japanese have evolved an institution which is radically different. This bank, like many modern Japanese businesses, is organized to secure a common livelihood and way of life for its employees ...more than the best cultural analysis of a Japanese business, for the book also contributes to the fields of Japanese cultural change and modernization process essential reading." (American Anthropologist). "The account is adorned with an unusually rich selection of illustration from the speeches of firm officers, company records and documents, and of course extensive observations from employees ...As a case study of a single Japanese organization, For Harmony and Strength is a superb effort that penetrates deeper than any other book in the English language." (Contemporary Sociology). "A first-rate contribution to the literature in applied anthropology and comparative and cross-cultural management for the insights it provides on management of white-collar employees in Japan." (Industrial and Labor Relations Review). "A well-written, thoroughly researched study of the internal life of a single Japanese organization. Unlike most previous writers, Aohlen deals with the separate recruitment, work, and leisure patterns of the bank's women employees. As an anthropologist he has particular sensitivity to the ritual meanings of bank songs, ceremonies, and extensive training activities ...one of the best analyses to date of how Japanese organization works." (Library Journal). "What emerges from Rohlen's convincing and penetrating analysis is a picture of a thoroughly 'Japanese' business organization deeply imbued with Japanese cultural values ...in its sensitivity to cultural meanings and in its analytical coherence in the presentation of data, this book is a model of scholarship matched by few ethnographies. It will be consulted by those specializing in Japan, those interested in organizational behavior, and those interested in seeing 'the meanings of fundamental matters, ' for a long time to come." (Journal of Asian Studies).

On Church and Sect

Abstract: The three kinds of studies here suggested are capable of extension in many directions. For example, the distinction between the medieval political community, the modern nation-state and the crisis of transition is applicable principally to the countries of Western Europe, and one should explore the limits of this applicability. But one may also apply an analogous approach to other areas of the world which differ from the Western European pattern, to be sure, but which nonetheless possess common structural characteristics of their own.20 With regard to these characteristics it should be possible to formulate models of the pre-modern social structure, of the transition which followed, and of the modern social structure which has developed to date.2' These are only a few positive illustrations of comparative sociological studies aiming at propositions that are true of more than one but less than all societies. This essay will have served its purpose if it directs attention to a type of inquiry whichat the macro-sociological level-seeks to hold a balance between grand theory and the descriptive accounts of area-studies. contained in R. Bendix and Stein Rokkan, "The Extension of National Citizenship to the Lower Classes: A Comparative Perspective," Paper submitted to the Fifth World Congress of Sociology, Washington 1962. 20 Examples are the Latin American countries which have in common the Spanish colonial heritage, European frontier-settlements like the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand which have the British legacy in common, and others. Such groupings are not always that simple and there are countries, like Japan, which probably are in a category of their own. Such historical clustering of social structures may then be analyzed with the aid of sociological universals; but I confess to considerable scepticism concerning the use of such universals without regard to such clusters, or in the absence of an attempt to spell out in what respects two or more social structures are alike or different. I have made such an attempt in a comparison of German and Japanese modernization. See Reinhard Bendix, "Pre-conditions of Development: A Comparison of Germany and Japan," Conference on Modern Japan, Bermuda, 1962. 21 In an effort to articulate the distinguishing features of Western European societies, I have attempted to formulate such models for Russia from her autocratic rule in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to her totalitarian structure of the postrevolutionary period. See my Work and Authority in Industry, New York: John Wiley, 1956, Chapters 3 and 6 and "The Cultural and Political Setting of Economic Rationality in Western and Eastern Europe," in Gregory Grossman (ed.), Value and Plan, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960, pp. 245-70.

Urban Planning and the Post-Colonial State in Africa: A Research Overview

Abstract: Rapid urbanization has been perhaps the most dramatic of the social phenomena that marked the end of the colonial era in Africa. From a situation in 1950 in which the total urban population was no more than 28 million, the figure had by 1984 jumped to well over 125 million, representing a sharply increasing proportion of the total population (World Bank, 1986a). Yet, after an initial period when urbanization was welcomed as a positive tendency in the modernization of the continent (Friedmann, 1961) there is today some ambivalence as to the contributions of urban centers to the overall development of the continent. There are those (Santos, 1971; Bardinet, 1977) who argue that urban centers have failed to serve as a major force in the economic transformation of African countries but have, instead, highlighted their economic dependency and the negative social consequences that go with this. Others (Collier and Lai, 1980; Mabogunje, 1983) argue that much of the limited development that has been achieved in these countries has been due in no small measure to non-farm activities of these urban centers. Cities and towns are therefore apprehended not as the cause but only as the scene of social and economic problems, their role being to draw attention to endemic poverty and social degradation which otherwise remain buried and unobtrusive in the rural areas. When it comes to the role of urban planning and policies in resolving these problems, the pervading impression is of the failure of governments in most African countries to make any appreciable impact on the situation, a fact which has in turn provoked serious debates as to the nature of the post-colonial state in Africa (Hyden, 1983).

Democracy and Economic Development: Modernization Theory Revisited

Abstract: Interest in the relationships between society and politics is as old as written history. Ecological theories, suggesting a relation between the geographic location of homelands and the personalities of the residents and their governments, were advanced by scholars such as Aristotle, Cicero, Ibn Khaldun, and Montesquieu and may be viewed as efforts to explain the contextual determinants of political systems. Such literature in the modern era, however, has focused on the conditions of democracy. Historical studies suggest that modem democracies can occur only under certain conditions of capitalist industrialization. Karl Marx identified the bourgeoisie as the major force behind the emergence of democracy. He argued that the capitalist class used parliamentary systems and democratic mechanisms to capture the control of the state from the traditional elite. Similarly, Moore, in his study of major western democracies, and Soboul, in his analysis of the French Revolution, stressed the role of the middle class and urban bourgeoisie in the transformation of political systems into democracies.' Max Weber marked the importance of Protestantism in the development of western democracies. He considered individualism and a sense of individual responsibility, inherent in the Protestant ethic, as the major conditions for the development of burgher classes and a democratic political culture. Contemporary writers, following Weber's lead, have searched for cultural requisites and the elements of a "democratic personality." A "civic culture" in Almond and Verba and a "modern" personality in Lerner have been identified as essentials of a participant (democratic) society.2 Tocqueville, in his study of American institutions, pointed out the virtue of voluntary associations as the basis of social pluralism, which in turn nurtures democracy. However, the sociology of knowledge, which emphasizes the influence of structure and organizational setting on the development of attitudes and behaviors, compels us to direct our attention to the structural basis of developing such a culture or personality. In this regard, aspects of modernization appear to be the common explanatory factors used in the analysis of democracy.