The Modernization Theory Paradigm and Its Discontents: Reviewing the Contribution and Fallings of the Modernization Theory to Social and Political Research

Abstract

This article is an attempt to critically consider the modernization paradigm of the study of social and socio-political processes in a manner that would allow one to clarify the respective paradigm ‘s contribution to understanding and analysing the processes of global social, economic and political development. The article argues that an insufficient objectivity and deterministic nature of the modernization theory should lead one to consider the need for a major revision of the assumptions as to linear and deterministic development of the state and society as adopted from the classical statement of the modernization theory. The author provides both an overview of the unfolding of the modernization theory in its classical version, by paying due attention to interconnections between the socio-economic and the socio-political dimensions of the latter, and a review of major critiques issued against the modernization theory as well as the challenges faced by more contemporary attempts to revive it (e.g., the «end of history» thesis or the post-modernization theory). Overall, the author comes to a conclusion that the modernization theory paradigm should be at the very least majorly revised if the viability of its claims in the contemporary social environment may be upheld in a convincing manner.

Keywords

• modernization theory
• development theory
• post-modernization
• «end of history