Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. What is modernization
2. Modernization Theory
3. History of Modernization in India
4. Sanskritization and Westernization
5. Little and Great Traditions
6. Structural Changes in India
7. Urbanization, Industrialization and Modernization
8. Advanced Communication
9. Nationalism and Modernization
10. Modernization in Education
11. Critiques of Modernization Theory

Summary

References
 Sociology of India

Module: Modernization of Tradition

(Word count- 5202)
1. Introduction

This module attempts to bring out the ways in which scholars have looked at the
process of modernization and its influence on the so-called traditions in the Indian
society. It focuses on the key arguments related to modernization theory, traces the
history of modernization as a process, and looks at the different arguments put forth
by scholars like Redfield, Srinivas, and others. The module also tries to understand
the different changes that took place in the social structures in India, both at the micro
and the macro level. The module then focuses on urbanization, industrialization,
advanced communication, changes in the educational sector, etc as a result of
modernization. The module also traces the linkages of the nationalist spirit with
modernization. Finally, it ends with a critique of the modernization theory.
2. What is Modernization?

The term ‘modernization’ generally refers to the process of transition between a

‘traditional’ agrarian society and the kind of ‘modern’ society that is based on trade
and industry (Charlton and Andras 2003). Thus, it should be thought of as a
continuous dynamic process, rather than a single ‘state’. However, as a singular
concept, it is difficult to precisely define modernization. According to Horowitz,
‘every attempt to define modernization in terms of an operational set of variables
results in a new set of ideas which have relatively little to do with the original
concept’. (I.R. Horowitz: 1966: 306 c.f. Singh 1978) However, some of the important
features that modernization comprises of can be viewed as 1)the psychological, 2)the
normative, 3)the structural and 4)the technological (Singh 1978). The psychological
conceptualization of modernization views individuals in the modernization process as
being oriented towards mobility and innovation. According to the normative
conceptualization, norms and values prevail over the individual psyche, thereby
linking modernization to the existing cultural traditions of the West. The structural
conceptualization revolves around external structures such as bureacracy, democracy,
economy, etc. According to theorists such as Parsons, modern society is defined by
these features (ibid). Lastly, the technological conceptualization views this process
purely in terms of material progress and advanced infrastructure.
Finally, what is the relationship between modernity and tradition? The most common
approach is to view modernity and tradition as two antithetical elements. Society,
social institutions and the actors in them are either traditional or modern, and
modernization is viewed as the inevitable process of social change from tradition to
modernity. But is it really as simplistic as that? Did the advent of modernization
radically alter the traditional social structure of India and make it completely
‘modern’ or do both tradition and modernity coexist in Indian society? The following
account will attempt to look at this relationship more closely.
Modernization Theory
Modernization theory is an umbrella term used for a range of perspectives that sought
to explain the processes of social change in the Third World during the 1950s and
1960s. Although the early classical theorists such as Comte, Weber, Marx and
Durkhiem were interested in the modernization of the West, the present
‘modernization theory’ is primarily concerned with the modernization of the
developing ‘non- modern’ nations (Deshpande 2004). After the Second World War,
which hastened the process of decolonization, there were many newly formed nation-
states whose main agenda was the modernization of their societies. They aimed to
achieve material progress through the principles of science and rationality. This was
occuring at the peak of the Cold War, when the United States spent a lot of resources
on initiating modernization studies in these newly developing nations (ibid).
Daniel Lerner carried out one of the most famous of early modernization studies in
his book called The Passing of Traditional Society (1958). Lerner examined the
modernization process in Middle Eastern countries. He carried out a sample survey in
underdeveloped countries & observed village society. He concluded that
modernization is a global process. According to him, traditional society is
disappearing and urbanization is on the increase. He gave particular importance to the
role of the mass media, which he believed to be associated with other features of
development such as urbanization and education. For Lerner, modernity is possible
not only through changes in institutions, but also in individuals. He identified three
types of people in the newly independent societies or the Third World- traditional,
transitional and modern. According to him, modern individuals were happier, better
informed and relatively young. People in the transitional stage were found in
societies that were caught between tradition and modernity and tended to be more
prone to extremisms due to their unstable social situation.
Another important theory that sought to explain modernization and Development was
given by Walt Whitman Rostow, who suggested that all societies can be placed in
one of five categories or stages of economic growth. The first stage is characterized
by traditional society, wherein the majority of the people are engaged in subsistence
agriculture and more investments are channelled in services or activities such as
military and religion. In this stage, people have no access to science and technology
(Harrison 1988).The second stage identified by Rostow is called the pre condition
for takeoff where the economy undergoes a transition for building up of conditions
for growth and takes off. New ideas which support economic progress arise along
with education, business, better transportation and communication. However, in spite
of the development of some types of modern manufacturing, traditional social
structures and production techniques continue to co-exist, forming a kind of dual
society (ibid).
The third stage is called the take off stage of economic growth. It is characterized by
active economic growth due to economic, political and technological changes. There
is a rapid increase in investments, industries, business enterprises and
commercialization of agriculture (ibid). There is an overall increase in productivity in
this stage. The fourth stage is called the drive to maturity where the main focus is on
the extension of modern technology over other sectors of the economy, especially
heavy industry. In this stage, between ten to twenty per cent of the national income is
invested. Production now is more a matter of choice and luxury, than necessity. The
final stage is called the age of high consumption in which the leading sectors in the
society shift towards producing durable consumer goods and services. By this point,
almost all basic needs are satisfied and there is a focus on welfare oriented activities
and issues of equality and security.
3. History of Modernization in India

Modernization can be glimpsed through both structural transformation of Indian

society and cultural changes. It is safe to say that the process began as a result of
colonization, when there was a direct encounter of India’s traditional society with the
modernizing West. Traditionally, the social structure in India was based on the caste
system, which was a closed, hierarchical system based on the notions of purity and
pollution. The colonizers introduced the earliest instruments of modernization-
western education, bureacracy, system of civil rights, and a modern super-structure of
state and economy among other things (Singh 1978). Exposure to these change agents
led to the creation of a new political culture and a sense of nationalism. The
combination of increased technology and western eduction together created a change
in the traditional structure- it resulted in the formation of the middle class, which was
largely absent previously. However, this new class did not completely break away
from the traditional social structure, because most of the people who comprised of it
belonged to the upper castes and thus there remained a class-caste congruency.
In the post-independence period, the modernization process followed the same
pattern set during the colonial era. Since many of the leaders in the national
movement had been educated in the West, there was a recognition of the benefits that
modernization had brought to the West, and therefore the need to bring it to the
Indian nation to become a stronger and more progressive nation. They realized early
on that this meant a radical reorganization of Indian society, along with the
elimination of its many cultural evils. As a result, the Zamindari system, Princely
estates and several other such systems were made illegal (Singh 2012). The main aim
of the modernization project in India was to make India an economically developed
and socially just, and egalitarian republic through advancements in modern
education, science and technology. While the colonial experience made the Indian
leadership conscious of the need to attain a more progressive society through the
advent of modernization, it also made them conscious of the Indian identity, its
tradition and culture which they acclaimed to be of continuing significance.
4. Sanskritization and Westernization

One of the early approaches to social change in India was the concept of
Sanskritization, which was first used by M.N. Srinivas to explain the process of
social mobility within the traditional social structure of India. Srinivas described
Sanskritization as a process where individuals from lower castes adopted certain
customs and rituals of the upper castes while simultaneously giving up some of their
own, in order to elevate their position in the caste hierarchy. For example, they
adopted many upper caste ways of dressing, rules of commensality, and many rites
and rituals. At the same time, they gave up eating meat, consuming alcohol and many
of their own rituals such as animal sacrifice which were looked down upon by the
upper castes, particularly the Brahmin castes. By doing so, they intended to gain
some upward mobility over a generation or two.
Westernization, on the other hand, is described by Srinivas as the changes brought
about in Indian society as a result of colonization, at various levels including
technology, ideology and values (Singh 1986). According to him, the colonial era
brought with it the values of rationalism and humanitarianism, which were
concretized through the new educational, technological and scientific institutions
established then. Although westernization was largely ushered in by the upper castes,
it had an impact on all castes, thereby bringing about radical changes in the Indian
social structure (Deshpande 2004).
5. Little and Great Traditions

The concept of Little Traditions and Great Traditions was given by anthropologist
Robert Redfield, and was used by Milton Singer and Mckim Marriot to analyse the
process of social change in India. The main ideas used in this approach to study
social change are ‘civilization’ and ‘social organization of tradition’ which comprises
of both cultural and social structures (Singh 1986). This approach takes the
evolutionary approach that the structure of tradition grows in two stages. The first
stage is orthogenetic or indigenous evolution, in other words evolution through
internal elements. The second stage is through heterogenetic eveolution, i.e., through
encounters with external cultures and civilizations. According to this approach, any
civilization consists of two kinds of traditions, and the constant interactions between
the two.
Great tradition is related to the literate, social elite, the minority who are capable of
understanding, analyzing and interpreting social reality. Little traditions, on the other
hand, is associated with the so called illiterate, rural peasants and ‘common folk’ of
the civilization. Great traditions comprise of a body of collective heritage and
knowledge, while Little traditions consist of localized, indigenous heritage and
knowledge. The two traditions are not independent of each other. Rather, they each
influence and affect the other. The concepts of universalization and
parochialization are related to this. Universalization refers to the proccesses through
which Little traditions become Great traditions; and parochialization refers to the
downward spread of knowledge from Great Traditions to Little Traditions, where
universalized ideas trickle down and influence local level practices.
6. Structural changes in India

The processes of modernization lead to certain changes in the already present

structures of a society at both micro and macro level. These transformations lead to a
reorganization of the whole fabric of social relationships. It also leads to the ‘growth
and institutionalization of new roles and group structures’ (Singh 1986). An example
of this structural differentiation can be the shift from joint to nuclear families in India.
The earlier joint families performed the role of procreation and rearing of new
members for a given society, along with performing various roles in other spheres
like education, leisure, occupation, etc. On the contrary, nuclear families in industrial
societies, which are differentiated from earlier joint or extended families, perform
more specialized roles. The functioning of modernization at the macro and the micro
levels of society is explained henceforth.
6.1. Changes in the macro level

Modernization led to structural changes in social, economic, political as well as

cultural spheres of society. The colonial rule in India contributed to the establishment
and growth of the modern bureaucratic structure, following a ‘basic rational
framework’, to employ Civil Servants into different ranks. However, during the
initial stage of the British rule, there seemed to be a blur between clerical posts and
posts requiring greater responsibilities in terms of the pay the post holders used to
get. However, by the mid of eighteenth century, greater level of professionalism
tended to grow in civil service sectors. Appointments began to take place on the basis
of merit rather than on the basis of patronage as practiced during earlier times. There
also happened a slow Indianization of the bureaucracy as greater numbers of Indian
elites proliferated into the administrative sector. In the post independence period,
however, the social background of the new recruits in bureaucracy had changed.
Earlier, the recruited ones were mostly from higher income, elite families. But since
independence, the class and caste composition has become a little more
heterogeneous, though studies have shown that recruits from lower class or caste
positions are still few in numbers.
Nevertheless, since independence, there occurred a transfer of power from the hands
of English educated, upper class, elite bureaucrats to the ‘regional- populistic type of
political elite’ from middle and lower classes, and castes, hailing from rural areas.
These newer types of political elites tend to represent indigenous cultures and often
lack university education, which most of the bureaucratic elite have.
Consolidation of British rule in India had also led to the formation of the new
business elite who were exposed to the technological and scientific advancements, as
well as the surge of economic growth, happening in Britain due to the industrial
revolution happening over there. Though India, in the past, had flourishing trade
linkages with countries of Africa, Middle East, eastern Asian countries (like Malaya,
Indonesia, etc), growing contact with the colonizers in fact led to a historic shift from
past traditions to a newer kind of capitalist economic growth. Post 1900s, Indian
industrial elites started catching up with the British. These business elites who came
mostly from mercantile castes, played an important role in the modernization process,
and they became active in the nationalist movement also. Thus, their rise did not lead
to a radical rupture in the Indian traditional economic scenario. Rather, these business
elites seemed to blend the constituents of modernity and tradition. However,
gradually, they started resembling the Western industrial elite, and now have major
command over the ongoing Indian political situation and exercise control over
pressure groups.
With industrialization, there emerged new factories which pulled migrant labour
force from rural areas to the cities, which gave rise to the new industrial working
class. On one hand, this led to a gradual wearing away of traditional ties, while on the
other, this forged newer patterns of social relationships. For example trade unions,
which have organizational linkages with each other on a national level, play a major
integrative role among workers.
Modernization also established a democratic, populist political structure after
Independence. One can see growing participation of the masses by means of caste
associations, tribal groups, ethnic communities, etc in the democratic political
scenario. There are different pressure groups competing with each other to gain
access to power positions. ‘Briefly, the political trends in India since Independence
have largely been a series of reconciliations with demands articulated by regional
interest groups’. Thus, on one hand, one can see modernist ideas being reflected in
terms of practising of ideals like democracy, secularism, etc by the state; at the same
time, this political modernization also led to the growing consolidation of traditional
institutions like caste associations, ethnic communities, etc in terms of articulating
their demands (Singh 1986).
6.2. Changes in the micro level
Right from the early years of sociology, the family and community have been central
areas of analysis in the discipline. The family is the primary unit around which
society is structured. In Indian society, the importance of the family cannot be
overemphasized. Just as other structures have undergone change, so too has the
family, in the face of modernizing elements. In traditional society, the family carried
out economic, religious, educational and protective functions. In modern society, it’s
importance seems to be waning as most of these functions have been taken over as a
result of the increased involvement of government, economic enterprises, and
education (Hutter 2007). In India, as in many other parts of the world, one of the most
visible changes in family structure brought on by modernization is the shift from
‘joint’ or extended families to smaller, nulcear familes.
Traditional agrarian societies across the globe were generally characterized by
extended families. These families more often than not were patrifocal and patriarchal,
as a result of which the female members of the family had a subordinate position in
the family hierarchy (Singh 1986). The head of the family tended to be the eldest
male, who was the decision maker. The Marriage in such families was considered a
matter of family concern, rather than a personal relationship. Notions of
individualism and personal freedom were not present in such societies, as collective
interests were given more importance than individual interests. Knowledge was
passed on from one generation to another orally, due to which age was an important
factor in deciding social status (ibid).
The political, economic and social changes brought on by modernization inevitably
led to a change in this traditional family structure. Industralization and urbanization
forced the former peasant folk to leave their traditional homes and enter the cities,
resulting in the breakdown of the extended family and the formation of the conjugal,
nuclear family. Kinship ties became weaker within this form of family, and there was
an increased sense of personal freedom. One of the most significant changes brought
along with this is the role of women in the families. In the traditional extended family
set up, women had almost no autonomy, younger women were controlled by older
women and the men of the household. Women’s roles were limited to household
labour and caretaking. With the advent of modernization, traditional roles for women,
especially with regard to paid labour, are slowly changing as we see women
increasingly joining the work force.
The Indian village is a central category in the popular imagining of India, by the
Western rulers and the native middle class alike. Infact it is often considered a
microcosm reflecting the macrocosm of the Indian nation. One of the salient features
of the village in the Indian imagination is the village-identity, the strong sense of
cohesion and solidarity amongst members. The traditional power balance always lay
with the upper caste, landholding groups. However, since independence, due to the
state’s modernization project, the village began to go through a variety of changes,
especially in respect to economic institutions. One of the biggest factors of social
change in the village has been land reform. Land reforms included redistribution of
land, inclusion of land ceilings, and abolishment of intermediaries (Singh 1986).
Although these reforms did not drastically change the traditional social structure,
since ownership of land still largely remained with the traditional elites, there was a
marked change in power relations. While political power was previously closely tied
to ownership of land, the new democratic and legal rights of previously downtrodden
groups enabled them to move up the political hierarchy (Singh 1986).
7. Urbanization, Industrialization and Modernization

Modernization is often linked with urbanization and industrialization. Various works

in sociology construct binaries such as rural and urban, mechanical and organic
solidarity, etc which not simply assumes a kind of transition of society from one
phase to another, but also the development of newer forms of moral as well as
cultural patterns. In the case of each binary, the former part is associated with
tradition, while the latter with modernization.
Modernization in India should be understood in the light of historical factors. The
very construction of cities according to caste based hierarchies and thereby
determining which site should be allotted to which family was the traditional form of
urbanization in pre-colonized India. In this scheme, the king or the priests were
allotted the most favourable locality, while the untouchables were restricted to the
city’s periphery, far off from the upper castes. Therefore, in the pre-industrial India, it
is hardly possible to equate modernization with urbanization. However, when those
hierarchical forms of urbanization did start breaking down, the question which arose
was , did industrialization actually contribute to the modernization of urbanization?
Studies show that there is no stark tradition-modernity dichotomy, or rural-urban
binary, existing in Indian cities. According to Singh, there is a ‘persistence of the
traditional patterns in the cities’. On one hand, urbanization in India has a
modernizing effect on the cultures in India, and at the same time, it is also inclined
towards reinforcing the traditions.
A major population has migrated to the cities in India, since independence. Though,
according to Singh, the rate of urbanization is slow, the rate of cultural modernization
has not been reduced nevertheless. Urbanization has resulted in increased number of
heavy industries, increased capital investment, rising significance of mass media, etc,
though, the rate of industrial growth has been less in post independent India. This is
why, the relation between urbanization and industrialization has to be carefully
scrutinized in the context of modernization. If the term urbanization is used to denote
the loss of traditional socio-economic and cultural structures ‘then industrialization
does not always contribute to urbanization’1 in India (Singh 1986). Colonized India
started expanding with greater heterogeneity of ethnicities, and blurring boundaries of
caste based neighbourhoods of the earlier times. With modern means of
transportation, monetary transactions, banking, medicine, political culture, etc, the
foundation of cultural modernization was established.
8. Communication and Cultural Modernization

According to Yogendra Singh, western contact had also enhanced the medium of
communication throughout India by means of which, greater levels of cultural
diffusion and modernization started taking place. Introduction of the printing press,
telegraph, postal service, railways, etc by the British enhanced the whole transport
and communication system, which ultimately increased the pace of modernization in
India.
Circulation of newspapers and periodicals in both regional languages as well as
English can be observed from different reports during the British rule in India.
Growth in postal service system, expansion of roadways, railways, waterways and
airways led to the improved contact between regions. This also challenged the
foundation of the hierarchy of castes based on purity-pollution norm, since people
belonging to different castes had to travel by the same train or bus. However,
technological development did not simply bring about modernizing impacts in the
Indian scenario, but also, in some cases, aided in reinforcing tradition. For example,
better transportation or growing postal services did not simply lead to increased
communication among people belonging to different regions, but also aided
mobilization of caste associations or activities of other traditional groups. Thus, a
newer kind of consciousness started building up among individuals as they tried to
identify themselves with these traditional institutions. Thus, in the Indian context,
modernization came with a baggage of reiterating traditions (Singh, 1986).
9. Nationalism and Modernization

Nationalism is the awareness of a single nationhood and associated consciousness of

a certain political identity. The sociological manifestation of such a consciousness
would be the idea of nation-state (ibid).
In the context of the British rule in India, and the modernizing impact it was carrying
with it, the political aspect of nationalism is crucial to analyze. Nationalism, in this
light, was considered to be essential for any political organization to thrive, for the
development of consciousness and the process of bringing about change. Nationalism
1
c. f. Hoselitz, Cf. Bert F. Sociological Aspects of Economic Growth. Illinois, 1960. As cited in Singh, Yogendra.
Modernization of Indian Tradition (A Systemic Study of Social Change). Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1986.
defined, inspired and justified the means and ends of social change while maintaining
cohesiveness among people on a national level. It also aided rapid political
mobilization of the masses. The Indian National Congress was primarily leading the
nationalist movement, and from its inception it took a secular stand. Led by Nehru, it
advocated the idea of India as a secular and democratic nation.
Nationalism in India resulted from various economic transformations, as well as the
rise of the middle class. However, one of the major grounds on which it was based
was to resist colonial rule in the native land. In the process, the nationalist forces
identified the need to revive indigenous cultures rooted in traditions. But these
indigenous cultures were essentially Hindu cultures, which created increasing
communal tensions between Hindu nationalists and Muslims, and ultimately resulted
in the partition. The partition had somewhat reversed the process of modernization
due to communal tensions and polarization of the two communities (Mehta 1983).
10. Modernization in Education

In pre independent India, modernization occurred in the realms of education or,

rather, one can argue that West-influenced education became a key harbinger of
modernization. Before the British rule, only the upper castes, especially the ‘twice-
borns’, were supposed to be the receivers of education. The subject matter of
education was limited to being ‘esoteric and metaphysical’. Thus, the education
system was hierarchical, closed and based on ascription of caste status. During the
colonial rule, the content of education was radically changed by the then British
rulers. English as a language was introduced through Macaulay’s Minutes (1835) to
create an educated, English speaking class of people, so that the official work could
be assigned to the native population.
However, with modern Western education, came a more liberal and ‘scientific world
view’. Ideas of equality, liberty, humanism, etc were introduced. A broad structure of
education was set up which could roughly be divided into three major sections:
primary education (in vernacular language, with the exception of missionary
schools), education in secondary schools, and finally – college and university level
education. However, access to this kind of education, especially higher education,
was restricted to only a handful few. Thus, modernization through college education
never happened at a mass scale. However, education still had been one of the major
carriers of modernization in India, which led to the enlightenment process and the
growth of the Indian intelligentsia, who not only led ‘movement for Independence’,
but, at the same time, fought for socio-cultural reformations (Singh 1986).
Traditionally women were denied the right to education, except those hailing from a
privileged background. However, during the end of the nineteenth century, with the
drive towards reformation and modernization, the issue of women’s education came
to the fore. The debate regarding men and women’s differing curriculum should be
scrutinized first. Initially, curricula of women centred only on training them
according to their supposed traditional, domestic role, since women were never
expected to work outside home. This was the view on women’s education shared by
both liberals and social reformers. However, there were differing views also. For
example, Menon (1944) argued that the key purpose of education is to encourage
critical thoughts. But in most cases, women’s education became a matter of concern
only for bringing about reforms in the existing structure, not radically change the
structure itself.
There happened differential spread of education among women because of various
practises like purdah, early marriage of girls, etc, in different parts of India. However,
separate schools for girls came up, women teachers were appointed, and thereby,
more and more girls came under the light of education. The role of Christian
missionaries and social reformers was also crucial in this regard. Thus social reform
and women’s education became two intertwining agendas of the reformers in the
colonial period (Chanana 1996).
11. Critiques of Modernization Theory

Some of the important critiques of modernization are –

First of all, the whole notion of modernization itself promotes a dichotomy between
‘modern’ and ‘traditional’. The first implies the process of social change that was
happening in the Western countries, while the latter indicates social situation in the
‘Third World’. Modernization, therefore, is assumed to be a transition from the latter
stage, to the former, under the influence of the West. Thus, modernization theorists
ignore the fact that Third World countries could not, or still are in difficulty, to
‘modernize’ themselves as per the standards of the West, because of the long years of
exploitation since the era of colonization. The gap between the poor and the rich
countries is ever-increasing, which restricts ‘modernization’ in the decolonized
nations.
Since the conceptualization itself is an import from the West, the colonial rulers
themselves had decided the yardstick of modernization, Indian social scientists have
also succumbed to the West imposed hegemonic ideas and misconceptions about the
Third World reality. As Kamat (1983) argues, this is ‘clearly an instance of present-
day cultural imperialism’. Western indologists tended to ‘prove’ that Indians (and
people of other colonized countries) were ‘inferior’ and somewhat at a ‘lower stage
of growth’ as compared to the West.
Thus, from its inception, modernization theory has faced severe criticisms because of
its lack of historicity, simplistic arguments, lack of criticality and ideological bias.
Even recent approaches to modernization can be considered weak because all it has
done, to some extent, is shed its emphasis on ‘culturological’ aspects, and move
towards a structural-functional approach by looking into historical specificities.
Scholars argue that modernization theory is not universalistic, and in order to pursue
an effective understanding of social change one needs to go beyond the dichotomy of
tradition and modernity scheme or continuum. This understanding can only be
achieved by means of an inductive approach, rather than a deductive, positivist
paradigm (Kamat 1983).
12. Summary

This module began with a discussion of what modernization is, the several
approaches to understanding it and how it is related to the idea of tradition. It then
discussed modernization theory, an umbrella term for various theories and outlooks
which sort to understand social change in the developing world. Next, it discusses the
history of modernization in India, and how this modernization project which was
introduced in the colonial era, was taken forward by the Indian national leaders with
the aim of bringing about progressive social change in the Indian society. The
subsequent section deals with some of the approaches used in analysing social change
in the traditional structures such as Sanskritization, Westernization and Little and
Great traditions. This is followed by a discussion on the impact of these
modernization processes on both macro and micro social structures. Finally, it
considers some critiques of modernization theory, the main criticism being the fact
that it takes for granted a distinct dichotomy between tradition and modernity as two
mutually exclusive categories. It questions whether this current conceptualization of
modernization is adequate or whether we need to go beyond the current binary model
of tradition and modernity in order to better understand the complexities involved in
social change.