Modernization

Modernization is a word that people throw around a lot but what exactly are they trying to convey? A lot of the time modern and western are words that are used interchangeably, however, that juxtaposition says a lot about the idea of 'modern' today, not what modern really is. Modern generally means having the characteristics of the present or the immediate past involving techniques, methods, or ideas. So technically the word modern simply means what ideas and methods are common presently, and modernization means moving towards that. However, there are a lot of words that modernization alludes to, like westernization, urbanization, industrialization, and civilized. The connections between modernization and westernization are tied tightly together by many ideas in our society. The 'west' views itself as the most advanced and therefore the most 'modern' of today's societies. So what does modern society mean? Does it mean that every societies’ modern is the same? In the natural world every organism is different but they are all advanced and well suited to survive in their environment, can we think of societies the same way? As the world becomes more interconnected must societies become more similar in order to live together in a smaller environment. I think that there could be a move towards a more ‘modern society’ in order to become more powerful in the world without loosing the unique culture of each society.

There are other interesting blogs about this subject, like this one and this one. Both of them are from a different parts of the world, but both give interesting points of view.