Discuss development and modernization theory

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Global wealth and poverty are linked to the level of industrialization and

economic development in a given society. Although the process by which

a nation industrializes may vary somewhat, industrialization almost

inevitably brings with it a higher standard of living in a nation and some

degree of social mobility for individual participants in the society. The

most widely known development theory is modernization theory—a

perspective that links global inequality to different levels of economic

development and suggests that low-income economies can move to

middle- and high-income economies by achieving self-sustained

economic growth. According to modernization theory, the low-income,

less-developed nations can improve their standard of living only with a

period of intensive economic growth and accompanying changes in

people's beliefs, values, and attitudes toward work. As a result of

modernization, the values of people in developing countries supposedly

become more similar to those of people in high-income nations. The

number of hours that people work at their jobs each week is one measure

of the extent to which individuals subscribe to the work ethic, a core value

widely believed to be of great significance in the modernization process.