This paper examines modernization as it has developed in the United States and across the global community. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution and the influence of free-market capitalism, the paper traces how technological innovation and economic expansion have driven modernization in America. It considers whether this trajectory will continue, pointing to renewable energy as a likely catalyst for the next wave of growth. The paper then addresses globalization as a vehicle for worldwide modernization and closes with a critical assessment of modernization's social costs, particularly through the lens of urban renewal and the displacement of working-class and minority communities in mid-20th-century Boston.
Modernization in the United States began in earnest with the inception of the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th and early 20th century, and it would manifest in direct concordance with the imperatives of a laissez-faire economy. The technological and commodity-oriented production boom that, nearing the turn of the 20th century, instigated the period known as the Industrial Revolution would initiate the widespread modernization of America's urban centers. These centers became the basis for a mode of expansion that enabled capitalism to ultimately achieve its intended sphere of influence over the world.
The growth of the world's economy came to include formerly imperialist colonial powers, independently thriving former colonies, and massive commercial operations, creating a direct association between the capitalist principle of open competition and the flourishing of modern infrastructure, consumer culture, commercial development, and technological innovation. As a result, modernization shared a direct relationship with some of the moments of greatest economic growth in America's history, with the prosperity achieved in the 1920s, the 1950s, and the 1990s coinciding directly with high points in the nation's timeline of economic expansion.
This pattern is directly consistent with the theories offered by Adam Smith, largely regarded as the father of modern capitalism. Smith contended that a free-market economy was the best way to allow a nation with the resource potential and human capital of the United States to ultimately lead a charge toward modernity (Smith, 1776).
All evidence suggests that, even in spite of its current patterns of economic recession and stagnant growth, America's cyclical tendencies point toward a steady ebb and flow in terms of innovation. We may therefore predict that the pendulum will ultimately swing back toward modernization when resources once again become available to the U.S. economy. Modernization has often been driven by catalyzing technological innovations — the automobile, the highway system, the commercial airliner, and the internet have all generated exponential opportunities for economic growth and technological sophistication.
With considerable certainty, the United States will continue its thrust in this direction. The only significant impediment today may be its continued dependency on finite fossil fuels as its primary source of energy. Indeed, if modernization is to continue — and perhaps even shed some of its association with industrial blight — it is not too bold to predict that the technological innovations driving the next wave of growth will relate to renewable energies.
"Globalization spreads modernization to developing nations"
"Urban renewal reveals modernization's costs for the poor"
You’re 44% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 2 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.