MODERNITY AND POST MODERNITY
Dr. K. Thirupathi Reddy
Modernity:
The process
of modernization started in European continent in the wake of Renaissance at
the Age of Reason characterized by unprecedented strides made in the fields of
science and technology and the application of knowledge acquired therein to
control the management of varied human affairs and social and other problems.
In Europe, the process of industrialisation accompanied the process of
modernization. Hence, modernization has been visualized as an offshoot of the
Industrial Revolution and vice-versa.
Essentials of Modernity:
Modernity is
the frame of mind, a world-view based reason, rationality, logic and spirit of
enquiry. It is a prospective couched in science and technology. Known
Sociologist Max Weber views modernity as rationality of thought and action.
Talcott Parsons sees universalism, specificity and achievement as attributes of
modernity. E. E. Hagen considers creative innovation the hallmark of modernity.
Taymond Aron conceptualizes modernity as a syndrome of equality, personality
and universality.
Apart from,
and in addition to, the attributes mentioned above, modernity implies
increasing freedom and liberty of individual citizens, particularly those
concerned with thought, expression, right of self-determination and free choice
in the fields of religion, marriage, education and occupation and also style of
life etc.
Modernity
emerged as a governing ideology and modernization as a dominant perspective and
process in Europe and America right from 17th Century onwards. The
pragmatic relevence and practical results of modernization soon made it a
process of universal appeal. In the post-second world war period the attraction
of modernization became almost irresistible in the developing Afro-Asian and
Latin-American countries which considered modernization process as a panacea
for the multifarious problems faced by these countries.
Types of Moderanisation:
There have
been two major versions of modernization in the world:
The Marxian
Version: This version involves total rejection of religion and radical
transformation of society on the basis of scientific and rational principles.
This version implies super-nationalization of life and society. The then
erstwhile Soviet Union adopted this type of modernization. The August Comtean
Version: This version is based on Comte’s conceptualization of modernization
which implies creative synthesis of tradition and modernity. This version of
modernization has two shades of meanings:-
(1) Revision of tradition in the light of modernity and (2) Erection of
superstructure of modernity on the substructure of tradition.
Countries
like Greece, Egypt, Turkey, majority of Middle-East countries like Syria, Iran,
and Iraq and Japan in the Far-East have opted for this version of
modernization.
The Indian Scenario:
The first
Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, too, opted for the
latter one i.e., the Comtean version of modernization, stressing upon the
‘scientific temper’ of modernization and its spread and adoption throughout the
country. Presiding over Indian Science Congress held in Delhi in 1947, Pandit
Nehru said that:
“I do believe
firmly that the only right approach to all world problems and to our national
problems is the approach of science, that is to say, the spirit or method of
science”. But in India the stronghold of the ‘religion-tradition and
superstition’ trio has forced modernization to confine itself to the exterior
and superficial areas and aspects of life only, such as hair style, dress and
dietary pattern, architecture and decoration of houses, fashion and make-up,
English speaking, pop music and dance and other items of peoples’ consumption.
Thus the pattern of modernization in India is of mixed or hybrid type.
Post-Modernity:
Post-modernity
is the outcome of the exhaustion and decline of modernity in the Western
Societies. And at the same time it also refers to the reaction and response
against the excesses of modernity in the West. It also further refers to the
reaction and response against the excesses of modernity in the fields of modern
industry, technology, money, material and techno-culture, organizations and
bureaucracy.
Post-modernity
is both perspective and a process of change:-
As a
perspective post-modernity reinstates the long glory of criticism, plurality of
ideas, and churning collectivism and humanism and higher values. Post-modernity
as a perspective first reflected itself in architecture in which more fundamental
and valid elements of traditional patterns were restored in view of their
beauty and utility, their time-old meaning fullness and artistic value and
their implicit critical nature vis-ŕ-vis the excess of modern architecture.
Post-modernity as a process of change: As a process of socio-cultural change in the west, post-modernity designates return from the artificial and superficial urban and material life to the simplicity and tranquility of nature from modernity to tradition, from individualism to collectivism, from secularism to spiritualism and from self gratification to philanthropy. This trend has already emerged and is progressing in America and other Western countries where modern society is fading out and post-modern society is gradually taking its place.