Answer to Question #238905 in English for Kyle

Question

 Describe how you think WWR's four stages of modernization work for you in your own words.

Answer 1

Walt Whitman Rostow's Work advocated certain stages of modernization his modernization theory were he to used to explain the process of modernization within societies. Modernization refers to a model of a progressive transition from a 'pre-modern or 'traditional' to a 'modern society. Modernization theory both attempts to identify the social variables that contribute to social progress and development of societies and seeks to explain the process of social evolution. Modernization theory is subject to condemnation originating among socialist and free-market ideologies, world-systems theorists, globalization theorists, and dependency theorists among others. Modernization theory stresses not only the process of change but also the responses to that change. The following are the four stages of modernization and how they work;

Firstly, there is the traditional Society stage which is characterized by a subsistent, agricultural-based economy, with intensive labor and low levels of trading, and a population that does not have a scientific perspective on the world and technology. Secondly, there are preconditions to the Take-off stage, and this is where a society begins to develop manufacturing and a more national or international, as opposed to regional outlook.

Thirdly, there is the take-off stage which is a short period of intensive growth, in which industrialization begins to occur, and workers and institutions become concentrated around a new industry. The last stage is the drive to Maturity and this stage takes place over a long period of time, as standards of living rise, use of technology increases, and the national economy grows and diversifies.