MODERNIZATION

THEORY
By: Dr. Qasim Mahmood
Assistant Professor
NUML, Islamabad
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
TO MODERNIZATION THEORY
 Post world war two’s deepening poverty in some countries
 Ideological competition from communism
 Increasing unrest in some countries
 The above posed a threat to capitalism, and especially the USA
 This led to the development of modernisation theory (mainly by US economists and policy
makers)
INTRODUCTION
 Global communication can be used for the development of the Third World.
 Through media, the traditional model of the world can be replaced by modern economic and
political model of the West.
 Mass media would transform the traditional societies into developed and modern ones.
 Daniel Lerner explored the degree of exposure of Middle Eastern countries to international
media especially radio.
 He asserted that media helped the process of transition from traditional to the modern
societies.
MODERNIZATION: A PROCESS
 Exposure to media made traditional societies more mobile and less bound by the traditions.
 This gave them more inspiration to shift to a new way of life.
 The Western model of development was presented as the most effective way to replace the
traditional model.
 Urbanization increases the literacy rate
 Literacy rate tend to increases the media exposure
 Increased media exposure has promoted economic and political participation.
MEDIA AS A BRIDGE
BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND
MODERN WORLD
 Wilber Schramm believed that media was a bridge to the modern world, a vehicle from
transferring new ideas and models from the North to the South, from urban to the rural
societies.

 He asserted that the media is to accelerate the speed of social transformation required for
economic development.

 He believed that the media could raise the inspiration of the people in developing countries.
Individuals must be persuaded to desire a better life and to be willing to work for it.
SHORTCOMINGS IN
MODERNIZATION THEORY
 It focused only GNP and ignored the equal distribution of wealth.
 Media was wrongly assumed to be a neutral force in the process of development.
 Modernization theorists misperceived that modern and tradition life was mutually exclusive
i.e., one must replace the other one.
 They ignored the indigenous cultures altogether and assumed that people desire the modern
life-style, rejecting the traditional one.
 They ignored the importance of religion and race in life and considered them irrelevant in the
process of modernization in the developing countries
SHORTCOMINGS IN
MODERNIZATION THEORY
 Latin American scholars believed that the benefits of the modernization were not for the
traditional and rural poors.
 Benefits were taken by Western media and companies working in Third World countries on the
name of modernization, and the elite class of the Third World societies.
 They argued that modernization program increased the economic and political gaps between
the rich and the poor in the developing countries.
 It is viewed that this approach made these nations more dependent on the West for their
development.
Thank You