The Growth of Modernity

Modern times can be difficult to comprehend at times. There are many different definitions of modernity. However, the best way to understand modern society is to review pre-modern societies or traditional societies and evaluate the effects in the middle age world that led to such transformations. Through careful exploration of the different perspectives of our sociology fore-fathers; Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim we can better understand this development, known as modernity. For the sake of this essay, only two theorist’s views on the growth of modernity will be explored. The Marxist theory; Karl Marx’s believed that the growth of modernity emerged with the birth of industrial capitalism. The other is the Weberian Theory; which was based in rationalization and rationality. Throughout this essay, five concepts of Marx which emerged in his efforts to better comprehend the world around him will be touched on to help better understand today’s modern times. The first was already mentioned the idea that modernity is the result of capitalism. The second being that modern society is functionalist by nature, which is a concept relevant to today’s stratification. The third is the death of religion as the world’s main knowledge base as society moves away from traditional values and ideas which were dominant in pre-modern societies before the birth of science. The fourth, that modernity dismantled norms and traditional values through industrialization and to conclude, as a result of capitalism the rationalization theory coined by Max Weber who argues that capitalism is in fact the result of rationalization in modern society.

Modernity is defined by Zela O’Leary (2007) in her article ‘The social science Jargon buster’ as “A historical period associated with the European Enlightenment (mid- eighteenth century) that captures the shift from the traditional ‘middle age’ societies to contemporary societies that characterize an industrialized world” (O’Leary, 2007). As such, Anthony Gidden believes that modernity contrasts with tradition (Daya, 2010). Meaning that ‘middle age’ society’s also known as pre-modern societies did not co-inside with modern societies. In the 16th century before the birth of modernity most people co-habituated together in small communities known as villages and worked the land for a living; agricultural production (Bessant & watts, 2007). Most of the world was illiterate and as such people built their belief system on other people’s knowledge of the wider world (Bessant & Watts, 2007). They built opinions based on what they themselves could see (Bessant &Watts, 2007). It was a time deeply rooted in superstition, magic/ folk knowledge and tradition (Bessant & Watts, 2007). People believed inexplicitly what they were told and turned to priests and wise men for what they were to believe in (Bessant & Watts, 2007). Class stratification was clearly defined