Updating Social Theory: Redefinition of Modernization

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24234/wisdom.v19i3.486

Keywords:

modernization, European Modernity, exogenous impact, complex system, innovation adoption

Abstract

The article considered a critical appraisal of the modernization theory in its mono-paradigm frames and offers a heterodox conceptual meaning of modernization. Obviously, the varieties of methodological ap- proaches to that important theoretical topic would have to be much more comprehensive than con- temporary interpretations of linear pattern mainstream theories propose. Rethinking the conceptual foun- dations of the existing interpretation of the very concept is the model of adaptive modernization. Protect- ing its own matrix core, the system carries out partial correction of specific parameters, in which there is a lag, to increase their own vitality. Constructive changes are intra-systemic and occur within the existing order, without destroying its foundations, main institutional structures, and preserve the generic socio- cultural genotype Modernization, as reception of foreign cultural innovations (technical and technological) with their appropriate adaptation to the endogenous conditions, is an adequate adaptive response of a so- cial system to external risks or exogenous origin impact.

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Author Biography

Vardgues POGOSYAN, Russian State Social University

(PhD in Social Philosophy and Philosophy of History, Dr. of Science in Sociology) is Professor of Sociology at Russian State Social University, Moscow, Russia. The area of his professional interests includes social theory, social philosophy, historical sociology, social anthropology. Pogosyan has about 100 scientific and educational publications. He is the author/co-author of 6 monographs, 4 textbooks and 32 articles in referred journals. Recent publications: Sociocultural Determinism and Order Parameters; Change and Variability of Phenomena in Complex Social Systems; Philosophies of Social Behavior Research: Meta-Analytic Review; Institutional Reconstruction: Complete Alteration?

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Published

2021-09-25

How to Cite

POGOSYAN, V. (2021). Updating Social Theory: Redefinition of Modernization. WISDOM, 19(3), 182–193. https://doi.org/10.24234/wisdom.v19i3.486

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Articles