Lecture 4 - Jan. 14th, 2019
Modernization and Dependency: Competing Theories
Lecture Notes
*last class: role of the state, states’ formations/trajectories
Western scholarship sought to understand where developing countries would fit into the
global economy.
Dependency theory emerged directly as a response and as a critique of modernization
theory.
, Modernization Theory
- Modernization theory emerged among Western policymakers and scholars in the
1950s
- Recall: post-WWII was a key period for the emergence of countries in the
‘developing world’
- It was clear they could not compete with the economies of developed
country
- The idea emerged that perhaps there was a way to help the developing
countries “catch up” to the developed ones
- Prescribed a formula for newly-independent countries to modernize.
- Aimed to transform economies as well as societies and value systems
- I.e. facilitate the conditions that would be suitable for the emergence of
democracy
- Modernization theorists tended to view economic development and
democratic evolution as going hand in hand
- Many mainstream assumptions reflected in mass media today are actually
shaped by modernization theory
Elements of Modernization Theory
Traditional Society
- Rural
- Agrarian
- Tended to rely on agriculture as main economic engine/means of
production
- Bound by custom, religion
- This was seen as a hindrance to entering a capitalist market economy
- United by clan ties, extended family
- Little or no upward mobility
- I.e. if you are living in a rural farming area, your horizon tends to be the
same as your parents before you
- Lack of access to education
- Many people were semi-literate or illiterate
- Often was in the context of religious education, not how to succeed in a
market economy, etc
- Economy based on “primary” forms of production
Modernization and Dependency: Competing Theories
Lecture Notes
*last class: role of the state, states’ formations/trajectories
Western scholarship sought to understand where developing countries would fit into the
global economy.
Dependency theory emerged directly as a response and as a critique of modernization
theory.
, Modernization Theory
- Modernization theory emerged among Western policymakers and scholars in the
1950s
- Recall: post-WWII was a key period for the emergence of countries in the
‘developing world’
- It was clear they could not compete with the economies of developed
country
- The idea emerged that perhaps there was a way to help the developing
countries “catch up” to the developed ones
- Prescribed a formula for newly-independent countries to modernize.
- Aimed to transform economies as well as societies and value systems
- I.e. facilitate the conditions that would be suitable for the emergence of
democracy
- Modernization theorists tended to view economic development and
democratic evolution as going hand in hand
- Many mainstream assumptions reflected in mass media today are actually
shaped by modernization theory
Elements of Modernization Theory
Traditional Society
- Rural
- Agrarian
- Tended to rely on agriculture as main economic engine/means of
production
- Bound by custom, religion
- This was seen as a hindrance to entering a capitalist market economy
- United by clan ties, extended family
- Little or no upward mobility
- I.e. if you are living in a rural farming area, your horizon tends to be the
same as your parents before you
- Lack of access to education
- Many people were semi-literate or illiterate
- Often was in the context of religious education, not how to succeed in a
market economy, etc
- Economy based on “primary” forms of production
