Summary
Contents
Subject index
The last decade has witnessed a revival of interest in the problems of modernity and modernization. In particular, three major processes have emerged as objects of debate: " The transformations of capitalism manifested in globalization and the unfolding of post-industrial society " The rapid and strong economic development of countries outside the West " The political and economic transformations in the post-Soviet countries of Eastern Europe
Chapter 3: Critiques of the Classic Theory of Modernization and Alternative Approaches
Critiques of the Classic Theory of Modernization and Alternative Approaches
The classic theory of modernization – even though more interested in constructing ideal types and identifying abstract mechanisms of change than in working out comparative studies on actual processes of modernization – formulates, like every theory, a series of empirically verifiable hypotheses and predictions and suggests in a more or less explicit way suitable strategies for overcoming underdevelopment.
The empirical tests of its predictions of rapid development were limited or at least contradictory. Notwithstanding the fact that the gross national product of the so-called Third World grew in the third quarter of the twentieth century to an annual average of 3.4 percent, which is higher than the ...
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