Classical Modernization: Culture and Democracy

Culture and Democracy
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Culture and Democracy
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Inglehart and Welzel (2009) suggest that classical modernization theory needs several corrections. The first revision is based on the notion that modernization is not a linear process. Instead, it has inflection points whereby each phase has unique changes in an individual’s worldview. For instance, industrialization results in other changes, including secularization, centralization of authority, and a change from the traditional to secular-rational perspective. Furthermore, modernization can be reversed. For example, the Great Depression was a major event that resulted in a reversal of modernization in countries such as Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany (Inglehart & Welzel, 2009). Another change that the authors suggest is that cultural and social changes tend to be predictable and are path-dependent. For example, economic change is expected to influence changes in people’s worldwide and society’s heritage. A third change is that modernization cannot be compared to westernization, which differs from the theory’s ethnocentric view. Other countries cannot be compared with the United States as a model of global cultural changes. In this regard, current evidence suggests that modernization is occurring in East Asia (Inglehart & Welzel, 2009). The fourth change is that there should not be an assumption that modernization directly leads to the formation of a democracy (Inglehart & Welzel, 2010). High economic growth does not always lead to democratization, like in...