6. After Modernization Theory: Historical Sociology and the bellicose Constitution of Western Modernity

2012 ◽  
pp. 194-216
Keyword(s):  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
Western Modernity

scholarly journals Uneven Development and Non-Western Modernities: A Historical Sociology Guide to the New Turkey

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oğuzhan Göksel
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Free Market Capitalism ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Western Experience

The term “New Turkey” refers to the ongoing formation of a new socio-political system by the incumbent AKP (Justice and Development Party) administration. A neglected issue within the existing literature is the study of New Turkey in the broad context of social theory beyond Turkish studies. Deterministic narratives of globalization have long presented Turkey as a “beacon of hope” in the Muslim world, a westernizing society that would supposedly combine liberal democracy, Islamic values, secularism and free-market capitalism. In contrast to these expectations, today the New Turkey constitutes an illiberal polity, a neoliberal economy based on clientelism and an increasingly Islamized social environment. How and why the Turkish modernization experience has gradually culminated in an authoritarian non-Western variant of modernity?  This article utilizes a historical sociology approach based on the Uneven and Combined Development Theory (U&CD) to locate the origins of the unexpected rise of New Turkey in our age. It is argued that complex interactions between elements of Western modernity (e.g. secularization and democratization), various social engineering programs launched since the late Ottoman era and Turkey’s own path dependent trajectory have gradually produced a socio-economic and political model that radically diverges from the Western experience.     

After Modernization Theory

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Joas ◽  
Wolfgang Knöbl
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
Underdeveloped Countries ◽  
Great Relevance ◽  
Anglo American

This chapter explores the connections between war and modernity as well as developments in Anglo-American historical sociology and its emphasis on war. Within American sociology, the turn to “war” was directly connected with the debate on modernization theory. This paradigm had not only forecast that the “underdeveloped countries” would come to resemble the United States and Western Europe both structurally and culturally: that they would become Westernized. Outside of Britain and the United States, historical sociology never managed to play much of a role. As far as Germany and France (as well as other European countries) are concerned, sociologists there either never really took a historical approach (Germany) or adopted a historical perspective molded by the dominant figure of Michel Foucault. This was evident in the debate on the “democratic peace” that took off in the 1980s and early 1990s, a debate of great relevance to social theory.

scholarly journals Max Weber in America: On the History of His St. Louis’s Paper

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-45
Author(s):  
Timofey Dmitriev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Historical Sociology ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
The Third ◽  
Direct Acquaintance ◽  
History Of

The paper highlights the context and the main points of the speech given by Max Weber at the International Congress of Arts and Science in St. Louis in September, 1904. It analyzes Weber’s views on the dynamics of social change as presented by the German classic in the shape of the comparative historical sociology of the European and American versions of modernity. The first part of the article covers the background and the most significant episodes of the trip to the United States undertaken by Max Weber and his wife Marianne. The second part of the article elucidates the main points of Weber’s speech in St. Louis. The third part examines the observations and conclusions of the specifics of American modernity made by Weber through his direct acquaintance with life in the United States. In conclusion, the paper proposes a brief analysis of Weber’s contribution to the development of historical sociology’s ideas about the nature and pathways of Western modernity.

Modernity and diversity: reflections on the controversy between modernization theory and multiple modernists

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker H. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
East Asian ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
The West ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Multiple Modernities ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Special Weight ◽  
Theoretical Frame ◽  
Developed World

The article revisits modernization theory’s convergence claim, which has been strongly criticized by multiple modernists, who maintain that emerging realities have not borne out its underlying premises. Based on a thorough reading of classical texts, the article reconstructs the term’s meaning within a modernization-theoretical frame of reference and then considers the evidence that multiple modernists hold against it. It finds that none of the observations cited by leading multiple modernists are able to challenge modernization theory, which can easily accommodate the kinds of difference invoked by its critics. East-Asian modernity in particular, to which both sides assign special weight for any test of modernization theory, appears remarkably similar to Western modernity when viewed through the lenses of this theory. At the same time, the literature on multiple modernities, despite pleading to take difference seriously, is silent about differences that large parts of the less-developed world exhibit vis-a-vis the West and East Asia in social-structural and cultural respects, indicating different degrees of modernization. The article concludes with a brief note on the differential weight of different kinds of diversity for different reference problems and a suggestion for a constructive resolution of the conflict between the two approaches.

Modernization, Globalization, Trends, and Convergence in Health Expenditure in Latin America and the Caribbean

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Noy ◽  
Patricia A. McManus
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Health Care Financing ◽  
Health Spending ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Public Private Mix

Are health care systems converging in developing nations? We use the case of health care financing in Latin America between 1995 and 2009 to assess the predictions of modernization theory, competing strands of globalization theory, and accounts of persistent cross-national differences. As predicted by modernization theory, we find convergence in overall health spending. The public share of health spending increased over this time period, with no convergence in the public-private mix. The findings indicate robust heterogeneity of national health care systems and suggest that globalization fosters human investment health policies rather than neoliberal, “race to the bottom” cutbacks in public health expenditures.

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