Modern, modernism, and modernization are the notions which may be easily defined in human mind, it means that one can understand what modern, modernism, and modernization mean, however, when it comes to formulation of the definition of the notions, people are unable to cover those with words.
There are a lot of different ideas presented as the definitions of modern, modernism, and modernization, however, they all may be criticized as they lack specification and realism. Thus, the main idea of this paper is to consider the definitions of modern, modernism, and modernization from different angles trying to find the most appropriate ones.
Trying to differentiate between these three notions, it is possible to consider the following data. Modernity is defined as the typical feature of the time. Each epoch has its own characteristic features of modernity. Modernism is a cultural response of the time to artistic movements.
Modernization is a social process which defines the development such as technological innovations, national states, democratization, secularization etc. It is possible to agree with the idea that modernism is the project which covers progress and emancipation. Reading Essays on Mexican Art by Octavio Paz, it is possible to conclude that the vision of modernization during the 18th century was absolutely different from how we perceive modernization now, however, it was modernization (Paz 37).
Max Weber said that modernity is the process of disenchantment of the world. I definitely disagree with this statement as making such statement, Max Weber assures the whole humanity that the previous population is worse than the previous one as from one century to another one the disenchantment of the world makes it worse and worse. Looking at the modern tomes and comparing those with the previous ones many advantages and disadvantages may be found.
The world is changing, the time is passing. There are always people who are unable to accept the changes and they consider all the development as the steps back. However, there are people who always look positively in the future and they consider present times better than the previous ones. However, it is important to measure modern, modernism, and modernization as various notions while arguing Max Weber’s statement.
Being a cultural response to the artistic movements, modernism cannot be perceived as disappointment, it may be misunderstood. Social processes are the natural developments which may not disenchant the world.
These processes also reflect human life and their vision of the modern world. Modernity cannot be the disenchantment of the world as it is the state of affairs, it just characterizes the state of affairs without being able to make any judgments. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that Max Weber’s statement is inappropriate and cannot be agreed on.
The issue of modern, modernism, and modernization is rather contestable as there is no one specific definition of the issue, nor cultural, time and space frames which may be used as the basis for making a definition. Therefore, the differences in vision of modern, modernism, and modernization are going to be present until there is a strict definition of these items.
At the same time, it is impossible to define these notions as modern, modernism, and modernization are absolutely different during different periods of time, with various perceptions in the past and in the future. It is possible to understand modern, modernism, and modernization only from one perspective, living at the present time and being able to judge about one modernism movement.
Works Cited
Paz, Octavio. Essays on Mexican Art. London: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993. Print.