What is the basic content of modernization theory?

Modernization theory, including modern political, economic, social, behavioral and comparative research theories, can also be divided into structural school, process school, behavioral school, empirical school, comprehensive school and futuristic school, which is colorful and worthy of our in-depth study.

Structural school

Structural school is characterized by the modernization theory of structural functionalism. They believe in social evolution and believe that modernization is the transformation from traditional society to modern society. The fundamental differences between modern society and traditional society are structural differentiation, functional specialization and social integration. They pay more attention to the comparison and transformation between modernity and tradition, that is, they pay attention to the result of transformation rather than the process of transformation, and try to distinguish and explain different types or models of society from different angles such as society, economy, politics, culture and knowledge. Representative figures are Parsons, Levi and Moore.

In On Social Action and Modern Social System, Parsons followed Durkheim's binary classification of traditional society and modern society, and regarded the process of social development as the gradual differentiation of social structure and the specialization of social functions. The degree of structural differentiation and functional maturity represents the level of social development. The basic characteristics of modern society and traditional society, including politics, economy, society, knowledge and culture, constitute modernity and tradition respectively. The transformation from the tradition of traditional society to the modernity of modern society involves a series of fundamental changes in social structure and function and social integration.

Politically, simple and natural rural power system and feudal autocracy gave way to democratic system, including universal suffrage, political party system and bureaucracy. Freedom of belief has replaced religious rule. Social changes include structural differentiation and stratification, functional specialization and professionalization, social mobility, family changes, knowledge popularization and social secularization. Social integration is the balance of destruction, conflict, imbalance and tension brought about by social differentiation. A highly differentiated, bureaucratic, highly integrated and powerful society is a more modern society.

Levi analyzed the characteristics of modernization in modernization and social structure. He summed up the characteristics and differences in social structure between modern society and non-modern society as follows: (1) Political organizations, economic organizations, educational organizations and other units in modern society have a high degree of specialization, while non-modern society has a low degree of specialization. (2) In modern society, due to high specialization, all units are interdependent and their functions are not self-sufficient; However, in non-modern society, the consanguineous group and the neighborhood are self-sufficient and lack of functional differentiation. (3) In modern society, ethics has the nature of universalism; In non-modern society, the social relationship between family and relatives is relatively close, and ethics is individual. (4) The state power in modern society is centralized but not autocratic; The state power in non-modern society is the same as the feudal system, even if the power is decentralized, it is still autocratic in essence. (5) The social relations in modern society are rationalism, universalism, limited functions and emotional neutrality, while those in modern society are traditional, individual, unlimited functions and emotional neutrality. (6) Modern society has developed exchange media and markets, while non-modern society is underdeveloped. (7) In modern society, there are highly developed bureaucratic organizations, while in non-modern society, even if there are bureaucratic organizations, they are based on individual relationships. (8) The family in modern society is developing in the direction of miniaturization, and its functions are also shrinking. In non-modern society, family structure is diversified and family functions are diversified.

Moore believes that modernization is an overall transition from a traditional society to a society with economic prosperity and political stability. He believes that industrialization is the initial cause of modernization. In his view, the main characteristics of modern society are: high-level technology and highly trained experts, broad market and organizational structure of mutual storage; Firstly, the population explosion caused by the decline of mortality in the early stage of industrialization, secondly, the popularization of family planning and population control in the mature stage of industrialization, and the transition to the low birth-low death-old population structure; The shrinking and disintegration of kinship groups and family functions, the further strengthening of individualism, the improvement of women's status and the weakening of social control. The need to realize industrialization: in terms of values, from relatives first (cronyism) to performance first (meritocracy); Institutionally, establish a labor market system and a commodity exchange system that can mobilize land and capital for economic development and make labor flow freely; Organizationally, establish a professional, pyramid-like bureaucratic organization and a suitable national financial organization; In personal motivation, cultivate creative personality, expressive ambition, upward enthusiasm, desire for education and enthusiasm for activities.

Easton's political system describes the continuous pattern of political modernization, that is, the traditional society moves towards the modern society through self-diffusion. Almond pointed out in Politics in Developing Areas that the developed political system is the characteristic of modern society, while the underdeveloped political system is the characteristic of traditional society. All political systems are culturally mixed, blending traditional and modern elements, such as welfare, social class mobility, secularization of religion, popularization of education, scientific knowledge, information dissemination and population control. Structure-function analysis was very popular in the early stage of modernization research, and had a great influence on the later modernization research.

polytechnic

Paying attention to the process of modernization rather than the result of modernization is the main feature of the modernization theory of process school. Modernization is a process from agricultural society to industrial society, including a series of development stages, and modernization theory is the expression of this process. They study the development stages of modernization, the characteristics of different stages and the laws of modernization development, with Rostow as the representative. 1960, rostow published the stage of economic development: declaration of non-productive political parties, pointing out that all social development can be divided into five stages according to economic indicators, namely: traditional social stage; The stage of creating a premise for take-off; The take-off stage; Mature stage; High mass consumption stage. 1975, he added another stage, that is, the stage of pursuing quality of life. He believes that in the preparatory stage, agricultural productivity has been rapidly improved, social infrastructure has been established more effectively, new spirit has developed in society, and a new entrepreneurial class has emerged; The take-off stage is the key, and it will take a long time to eliminate the obstacles to economic development before industrialization and the establishment of industrial departments can be realized; After the technology spreads from the industrial sector, the economy and society will mature and then transition to the consumer society. Obviously, the modernization of Rostow is a model of sustainable development. He emphasized the role of economic development and industrialization, and at the same time noticed the role of spirit, which continued Weber's thought.

In Social System, Parsons divides modernization into three stages from the perspective of world history: the first stage is dominated by the northwest corner of Europe (Britain, France and the Netherlands), and its representatives are the British industrial revolution and the French political revolution; The second stage is dominated by the rapid industrialization in the northeast corner of Europe (Germany), and political democratization lags behind economic industrialization, leading to Nazi fascist disaster; The leader of the third stage is the United States, and the democratic revolution and industrial revolution in the United States are better combined.

Blake's thought that modernization is a process is reflected in his works. In his book Motivation of Modernization published in 1966, he divided modernization into four stages: first, the challenge of modernity, the emergence of modern concepts and systems, and the emergence of modernization advocates, all of which made society encounter initial confrontation within the scope of traditional knowledge; Second, the stability of modern leadership, the transfer of power from traditional leaders to modern leaders, in this process, the sharp revolutionary struggle can usually last for several generations; Third, economic and social transformation, economic growth and social changes have reached this level: society has changed from a lifestyle dominated by rural areas and agriculture to a lifestyle dominated by cities and industries; Fourth, social integration, economic and social transformation lead to the reorganization of the basic structure of the whole society. In Comparative Modernization from 65438 to 0979, Blake divided the modernization process into four stages: preparation period, transition period, advanced modernization period and international integration period.

Huntington summed up nine characteristics of the modernization process. (1) Modernization is a revolutionary process, which is directly based on the comparison between modern society and traditional society. (2) Modernization is a complicated process, and the modernization process cannot be simply summarized as a certain factor or a certain range; (3) Modernization is a systematic process, and the change of one factor will contact and influence the change of other factors; (4) Modernization is a global process, which originated in Europe in15th century and16th century, but now it has become a worldwide phenomenon; (5) Modernization is a long-term process, and the whole change involved in modernization needs time to solve; (6) Modernization is a phased process, and it is possible to distinguish different levels and stages in the process of modernization in all societies; (7) Modernization is a process of homogenization. There are many different types of traditional society, but modern society is basically similar. Modernization is an irreversible process. Although there may be temporary setbacks and occasional setbacks in some aspects of the modernization process, on the whole, modernization is a long-term trend. (9) Modernization is a progressive process, with great influence and profound changes, and great cost and pain. However, in the long run, modernization has increased the cultural and material happiness of all mankind.

The viewpoint of process school has great reference value for developing countries to formulate modernization development strategies.

(3) Behavioral school

The process of modernization inevitably involves changes in individual psychology and behavior. Without the change of values, psychological quality and behavioral characteristics from traditional to modern, it will be difficult for people to adapt to the changes of modernization and modernization will not be realized. Psychologists emphasize the importance of psychological and behavioral changes in modernization. The representatives of this school are ingels and Mackler Rand.

Ingels believes that in any society and any era, people are the most basic factor in the process of modernization. Only when people change their psychology and behavior, form a modern personality, and the staff in modern political, economic, scientific, technological, educational and cultural institutions have the modernity of personality, can this society become a modern society. In Towards Modernity, he pointed out: "If the people of a country lack a broad modern psychological foundation that can give vitality to the advanced system, and if the people who master and use the advanced system have not experienced the transformation to modernity in psychology, thought, attitude and behavior, then failure and abnormal development are inevitable." He summed up nine psychological characteristics of modern people. (1) Have the ability to accept experience and have no preconceived ideas about innovation and change; (2) As far as intention is concerned, there are not only a large number of problems arising from the direct environment, but also a large number of problems arising from external forms and holding their own views; (3) Facing the present and the future, rather than infatuating with the past; (4) Take planning and organizational beliefs as a way to cope with life; (5) Mastering the environment is to promote the realization of personal goals and objectives, rather than being completely manipulated by environmental needs; (6) Believe that the world can be relied on, and that others and other institutions can rely on it to fulfill or complete their obligations and responsibilities; (7) Understand the dignity of others and be willing to respect others; (8) Believe in science and technology; (9) Believe in the fairness of distribution and get paid according to social contribution, not according to someone's whimsy or special nature unrelated to this contribution. Among these features, four are the most important. They are: he is a participatory citizen with rich knowledge; He is full of confidence in personal efficacy; Influenced by traditional forces, he has a high degree of independence and autonomy, especially in dealing with personal affairs. He is open-minded and willing to accept new experiences and new ideas.

According to Mackler Rand, a country's economic development is related to its achievement motivation. His achievement motivation value is obtained by calculating the frequency of the theme of enterprising and desire for achievement in books and fairy tales of children and primary school students. He believes that a society with higher achievement motivation will create more dynamic entrepreneurs, and these entrepreneurs will promote faster economic development. The key factor of economic development in advanced industrial countries is entrepreneurship. The theory of behavior adjustment explains how to restrain individual behavior patterns with positive rewards and negative punishments. Values and personality structure determine people's behavior, which in turn changes people's values and personality structure. This is an interactive process. Different stimulation means, or encouraging or inhibiting a certain behavior, lead to the change of behavior, lead to or strengthen the formation of a certain behavior. Social system is an operable system, and everyone belongs to it. Changing some restrictive factors in operation can change people's behavior patterns.

Parsons put forward a social value system in the theory of social action. In his view, any society has a set of "role expectations", which stipulates the social roles that social members expect to play. The society realizes this role expectation through the reward and distribution system, thus forming a social value system, restricting and strengthening the behavior of social members. There are four types of social value systems in social choice: omniscient choice, values are individualism and anti-authoritarianism, individuals can freely choose goals and means, and personal achievements and abilities are the main basis for choice; All-election-pro-election, values are collectivism and authoritarianism, personal social status does not depend on achievements and abilities, personal wishes and achievements are ignored, and the country is regarded as a means to achieve development goals; Special selection-selecting talents, the value concept is the combination of collectivism, authoritarianism and traditionalism, personal rank and kinship are greatly valued, and personal achievements and abilities are also valued; Special selection-pro-selection, the value concept is traditionalism, only paying attention to stability and kinship, regardless of achievement, efficiency and rationality.