Modernization theory

<p>Modernization theory or modernisation theory holds that as societies become more economically modernized, wealthier and more educated, their political institutions become increasingly <a href="/facts/Liberal_democracy/5blgnbkS">liberal democratic</a> and <a href="/facts/Rationalism/MNk171TG">rationalist</a>. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s, most influentially articulated by <a href="/facts/Seymour_Martin_Lipset/TfNty1I4">Seymour Lipset</a>, drew on sociological analyses of <a href="/facts/Karl_Marx/CXYTK95X">Karl Marx</a>, <a href="/facts/Emile_Durkheim/bfSP82oP">Emile Durkheim</a>, <a href="/facts/Max_Weber/MF3HU6bN">Max Weber</a>, and <a href="/facts/Talcott_Parsons/C8w443Cg">Talcott Parsons</a>. Modernization theory was a dominant paradigm in the social sciences in the 1950s and 1960s, and saw a resurgence after 1991, when <a href="/facts/Francis_Fukuyama/FgvMN0x3">Francis Fukuyama</a> wrote about the end of the Cold War as confirmation of modernization theory. 
</p><p>The theory is the subject of much debate among scholars. Critics have highlighted cases where <a href="/facts/Industrialisation/h3QXzS6C">industrialization</a> did not prompt stable <a href="/facts/Democratization/ppbzKnhe">democratization</a>, such as Japan, Germany, and the Soviet Union, as well as cases of <a href="/facts/Democratic_backsliding/PXsoKs4r">democratic backsliding</a> in economically advanced parts of Latin America. Other critics argue the <a href="/facts/Reverse_causality/NvtsxNYE">causal relationship is reverse</a> (democracy is more likely to lead to economic modernization) or that economic modernization helps democracies survive but does not prompt democratization. Other scholars provide supporting evidence, showing that economic development significantly predicts democratization.
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Modernization theory open-in-new

Modernization theory