Modernisation

4.1 Concept and Theories

Modernisation theory (1950s–60s, American sociologists) holds that all societies pass through a universal trajectory from "traditional" to "modern":

• W.W. Rostow's Stages of Growth (1960): Traditional → Pre-take-off → Take-off → Drive to Maturity → Mass Consumption.
• Talcott Parsons: Modernisation involves shift from ascription (status by birth) to achievement (status by merit); from particularism to universalism; from diffuse to specific roles.
• S.N. Eisenstadt (Modernization: Protest and Change, 1966): Multiple modernities — different societies can achieve modern outcomes through different cultural paths.

4.2 Characteristics of a Modern Society

1. Industrialisation: Mass production, factory system, wage labour.
2. Urbanisation: Majority population in cities.
3. Secularisation: Rational-legal authority replaces religious authority.
4. Democratic governance: Representative institutions, rule of law, civil liberties.
5. Nuclear family: Mobile, small, emotionally intensive.
6. Universal education: Literacy, formal schooling.
7. Science and technology: Dominant epistemology — empirical, testable knowledge.
8. Mass media and communication: Radio, TV, internet create shared public sphere.

4.3 Modernisation and India

India's modernisation trajectory is unique:

• Colonialism created "colonial modernity" — English language, rational administration, railways — but for extraction, not welfare.
• Post-Independence modernisation = Nehruvian model: PSUs, IITs, Five-Year Plans, scientific temper (enshrined in Art. 51A(h) of Constitution).
• Paradox: India modernised institutions while retaining traditional social structures — caste persists, dowry persists, arranged marriage dominates. Sociologists call this selective modernisation or compartmentalisation.
• Yogendra Singh (Modernization of Indian Tradition, 1973): Indian tradition is not a barrier to modernisation but adapts and accommodates.

4.4 Post-Modernism and Critique

Dependency theorists (André Gunder Frank) argued modernisation theory was Western ethnocentrism that disguised neo-colonial relationships. The "developed" world became rich by underdeveloping the "Third World." Post-modernism questions grand narratives of "progress" — multiple valid paths exist; no single definition of the "modern."

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