Convergence and Divergence in Societal Modernization: Global trends, Regional Variations, and Some Implications for Sustainability

Abstract

Taking the debate about convergent versus divergent crystallations of modernity as its point of departure, the chapter argues that the question as to whether modernization results in similar forms of societal organization anywhere or instead manifests itself in rather heterogeneous social systems cannot be answered by purely empirical means, because the weight accorded particular kinds of diversity depends on the vantage point from which they are viewed. Viewed from the vantage point of a differentiation theoretical conception of modernity, the differences highlighted by the multiple modernities school, while doubtless real, appear relatively unimportant. At the same time, equally real differences that are highly relevant from a differentiation theoretical perspective, are largely ignored in the multiple modernities literature. Reconstructing global modernization effects during the past half century, a comparison between East Asian and Western modernity, the currently most advanced exemplars of modernity, yields little noteworthy difference. The chapter ends with e few speculative remarks about the implications of ongoing global modernization for sustainability.