Introduction
The onset of modern technology as well as globalisation has created new awareness of modernisation and democratisation in nations considered non-Western (Inglehart & Welzel 112). Differences found in existence for the various civilisations across the globe are considered important despite the onset of modernisation process (Roberts & Hite 254).
Even though societies differ from each other by culture, tradition, religion as well as history, modern day or contemporary societies share similar experiences in terms of social mobilisation, urbanisation and education (Kinnvall & Jonsson 40). As it has been observed from history, not all civilisations gladly welcome modernisation or advanced technology as they tend to continue holding on to their traditional beliefs as to how best their societies should be run.
The embracing of industrial production, technical education, capitalistic trade and materialist science for one civilisation does not necessarily mean that the rest of the civilisations across the globe will follow suit in embracing the Western traditions (King 24).
Majority of the developing and undeveloped nations tend to believe that the West sets itself up as a superior nation by taking advantage of the less powerful nations and therefore should not be allowed to do so easily through such means as influencing their traditions and advanced cultures on them (Rigg 75). However, more and more civilizations are willing to embrace and welcome modernisation as it is bound to improve the living standards of those who accept it.
Essay
Modernisation can be defined as the growth process in the adaptive efficiency and complexity of social systems (Roberts & Hite 266). Good examples of modernisation include science and market economy. As it has been observed in the recent past, modernisation process is desirable in addition to being inevitable (Inglehart & Welzel 113).
Deployment as well as rejection of tradition in the process of modernisation has been experienced in majority of nations especially in Asia. This can be attributed to the fact that modernisation process is characterised by its ability to break down any vestiges of hierarchy that are left over in addition to centralising domination of social functions (Kinnvall & Jonsson 55).
According to Samuel Huntington, despite the fact that all cultures undergo similar experiences in the process of modernisation, they are still able to retain their unique and distinct characteristics (Inglehart & Welzel 114).
Recent studies have also revealed that as human beings progress, it is possible to observe wilful rejection of a number of technological advances due to cultural preference. Huntington agrees with the fact that the West has had a huge influence on other civilisations especially in this day and age where advanced technology is being embraced (King 38). However, campaigns against the process of modernisation have been more successful in the recent past.
Across the Asian continent modernity has been abducted by the Western civilization and even though nations like China made great efforts in establishing a nation and culture that was unified, much richness of its ancient and local traditions were lost in the process of modernisation (Roberts & Hite 273).
In addition, there has also been a huge resurgence of traditional civilisations in Asia and the rest of the world where elites who have had the chance to study in the West and picked up a few things from western values see their offspring going back to their roots (Inglehart & Welzel 233). By so doing, these children knowingly reject the western cultural influence up to some point. Asian civilisations boast of rich and long standing traditions and cultures that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
People from all over the globe admire and praise the Asian culture and that is the reason why even though these Asian civilizations tend to welcome and embrace the process of modernisation, they are also very much aware that the process requires the historical differences existing between civilisations be at a minimal (Kinnvall & Jonsson 72).
Huntington also observes that despite the fact that majority of societies across the globe have undergone the process of modernisation, not all have deployed and rejected tradition to the same degree (Rigg 92). For instance, nations such as Turkey and Honduras are considered to be more modernised than China, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
This is because the former have considered rejecting tradition in the modernisation process as compared to the latter nations (Inglehart & Welzel 280). Countries across Asia have since time immemorial been the test case as far as universality of Western culture is concerned in that civilisations such as Japan and China were among the first non-western individuals to embrace the process of modernity successfully (King 61).
However, despite the fact that these Asian nations established a powerful economy founded on Western technology and science, their civilisations are still very different from the Western civilisations they tend to imitate. Deployment and rejection of tradition in the process of modernisation in Asia is therefore visible to the rest of the world especially the manner in which they tend to reject some of their ancient traditions but still hold on to others in an effort of keeping up with this modern era (Roberts & Hite 290).
Conclusion
Even though majority of Asian civilisations have managed to keep some of their cultural traditions in the wake of modernity, most modernisation theorists predict that these traditional norms will soon disappear as these civilisations transform and embrace modernisation fully.
The process of modernisation in Asia shows that it is quite possible for civilizations to embrace it while still keeping to cultural traditions. In this way, such civilisations will be able to maintain their traditions while keeping up with the modern era.
Works Cited
Inglehart, Ronald and Welzel, Christian. “Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence.” New York: Cambridge University Press. 2005. Pp. 112 – 300.
King, Victor T. “The Sociology of Southeast Asia: Transformations in a Developing Region.” Copenhagen: NIAS Press. 2008. Pp. 24 – 67.
Kinnvall, Catrina and Jonsson, Kristina. “Globalisation and Democratisation in Asia: The Construction of Identity.” London: Routledge. 2002. Pp. 40 – 83.
Rigg, Jonathan. “Southeast Asia: The Human Landscape of Modernisation and Development.” 2nd edition. London: Routledge. 2003. Pp. 75 – 99.
Roberts, J. Timmons and Hite, Amy. “From Modernization to Globalization: Perspectives on Development and Social Change.” Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. 2000. Pp. 254 – 380.