Future_of_Modernization

Modernization is the process of social change begun by industrialization, and is a theory in the subject of social sciences that refers to process in which society goes through industrialization, urbanization, and other social changes that completely transform the lives of the individuals. Social change has been, and probably will continue to be, a complex process that reflects the priorities we set for this nation as well as our will to achieve them. Society will continue to change as new technology is developed and new ideas are explored. Without modernization, we would still be suffering from many illnesses which we now consider minor. Modernization usually results in more efficient use of our time. Modern communication alerts us to possible dangers so quickly that loss of life due to flooding, storms, excreta is now newsworthy, rather than back in the day when it wasn’t. The downside of it is, without tradition, we may not recognize a new presentation of an old problem. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. "Are humans and human society always going to explore, learn, adapt, grow and change'", yes, with occasional morbid regressions backwards such as burning the Library of Alexandria down, Dark Ages of ignorance and "traditionalism", tyrannies of subjective magical-thinking, religious fanaticism, and economic collapses. But, humans eternally rise above the savage. Some may look at the changes with women rights and see the freedom a woman has to work; a job, vote, excreta while others may view the change as something that has caused families to have two full time workers in order to support the finances and the negative impacts such as daycare and time spent away from family can bring. Other things such as the changes in transportation have brought about an idea and challenge on how far a person can travel and the speed there of. Others may view this change as polluting the atmosphere even more and using up valuable fossil fuels. Changes in healthcare in modern societies allow people to live longer lives than many years ago. Yet many times the lifespan of such a person is spent with a considerable amount of time in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice care at the end of their life. Religion also becomes more diverse so those who practice one way may be compelled to practice beliefs of other sorts. The consequences of modernization, as with beauty, are in the eye of the beholder. Finding out if modernization will continue to thrive in the US is what many sociologists try to reckon with when looking at the theories of Weber, Marx, and such. Modernity comes from the Latin root meaning “lately”. With the simplest point of modernity, being what has happened lately, viewpoints will very likely change as time progresses. When the wheel was invented or the first coin for example, the society involved could have claimed they were more modern with their position. For Max Weber, modernity meant replacing a traditional worldview with a rational way of thinking. In preindustrial societies, tradition acts as a constant brake on social change. To traditional people truth is roughly the same as “what has always been”. To modern people, by contrast, truth is the result of sane calculation. Because they value efficiency and have little reverence for the past, modern people will adopt whatever social patterns allow them to achieve their goals. Modernization will help boost the economy with new things. And the living conditions of people become better as a long term affect, but usually modernization also means industrialization, which in turn means the harmful pollutants being produced from factories which will negatively affect the atmosphere. Modernization shows no slow in the United States or globally. Based on the dependency theory, rich nations achieved modernization but at the cost of developing countries creating global inequality. The differences between modernized societies such as the United States and China are obvious in the values being reflected in television advertising. Both the United States and China use the youth and modernity appeal in commercials to reveal the westernization and modernization of their countries. Some of the differences between United States advertising and China’s are that the United States emphasizes the person-nature relationship between its consumers and product. Examples of Modernization: We cook food in 3 minutes instead of slaving all day in a hot kitchen for one meal. We have more free time, and labor less, than any generation in mankind's history. We wear more durable man made fibers than natural ones. You are interacting and communicating with potentially millions of people over a relatively low-cost machine in your own home without even much thought about the complexity of an impractical task only a generation ago. Is modernization a world-wide trend' A trend can be defined as the change in a series of data over a period of years. The data we are looking for in this case is modernization, the process of a general social change brought about by the transition from an agrarian to an industrial mode of production. Is the entire world trying to become more industrialized' Third world countries such as Ethiopia are not focusing on modernization, but more on the general welfare of its citizens. However, excluding third world countries, everyone else is attempting to modernize. Negative consequences are that it lessens the requirement for labor creating job cuts. At one point in time, modernization became the problem of the environment, pollution. The widespread occurrence of terrorism is a consequence. You can list a lot of negative consequences. On the positive, it reduced cost, improved quality of goods, delivery of goods was faster, and efficiency level was higher and so on. With modernization in an area, comes the resistance of traditional people. Change is an uncomfortable thing for the older generations. Some people see against modernization in a bad way, because they feel that it has destroyed our traditional values. They might feel that the modern way of life, has affected our rules and our principles, and that is the problem. Technology as they see it could possibly destroy human relationships. The personal computer and internet have replaced the post cards and even the human conversations. Text messaging has replaced the human voice. I believe that you can preserve all the traditions you want, but when the rest of the world is moving forward how can there be a balance' The term modernization is connected to technology, which does not affect cultural traditions exactly. Cell phones, for example, are not used in churches or temples, often a place of tradition. The amount of information technology can bring however, will influence traditional thinking. Knowledge and information is a commodity and some marginalized cultures may not have the means to preserve their traditions. I believe both modernization and preserving traditions are very important and essential for a country. And yes, modernization does affect cultures and traditions negatively, yet it is necessary if the country desires to be included in the economic development and advancements that are occurring around us called modernization. Many Asian countries are becoming more westernized and yet still continue ancient traditions (such as Japan or some areas of China) but there are many American and European influences merged into their society. You can go to almost any country in the world and go to McDonalds which is purely American. Many believe that all countries will eventually become homogeneous but this is not true because there will always be certain traditions and beliefs that people will follow based on what is passed down from generation to generation and what is taught to individuals in these areas. There will always be differences between one country and another. And many traditions will be lost like the caste system in India and Japan or a number of inhumane customs that occur in many countries. For example, in India widows are expected to throw themselves into a burning fire at their husband funeral. Traditions like these are changed to further the society as a whole and give people more freedoms and better lives so there isn't discrimination or violations of human rights. Modernization simply means that the technology, economy, health, education and connections between these nations will increase. This is simply a way for others to understand, acknowledge, study and experience other cultures, increase innovation, improve health and decrease war. It is believed that when there are business connections or a dependency between two countries, and then these two countries do not wage war among one another. So with time and 'globalization' maybe we can move toward a peaceful world. Which theorist best reflects my perceptions of modernization' Well, all of them are interesting in their own criteria but if I had to choose it would be a toss up between Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber, but then again, Lenski makes a good point about technological development. We take it for granted and whenever electricity goes down we freak. We need to realize that technology, like human kind, is imperfect and doesn't always work. We need to be able to survive without it.