Modernization and Nationalisms
Scope: Developments in the Long 19th Century divided societies around the world in
many ways. The deepest division pitted Western Europe and a few other wealthy
societies, such as the United States, against most of the rest of the world, where economic
conditions were deteriorating. In 1800, for example, the average Mexican had a standard
of living two-thirds the level of his U.S. counterpart; in 1900, the ratio stood at one-third
as a result of U.S. gains and Mexican losses. But there were other rifts as well. Some
regions were held as colonies, the treatment of which varied greatly. For all the divisions,
however, there were also a few common trends as societies attempted to respond to
Western pressure and example. With a great deal of caution, some of these trends can be
seen as the first signs of a global modernization process. Three areas warrant particular
attention: changes in the military, public health, and education. Another common trend,
though by definition a complicated one, involved the spread of nationalism. European in
origin, nationalism met a variety of needs in most regions of the world, becoming a
significant new political force by 1900. Figuring out what nationalism meant and how it
could vary, for example, between reformism and conservatism is a crucial analytical task
for modern world history.
Outline I. We will discuss new divisions in world history during the Long 19th Century,
some common trends that cut across these divisions, and the spread of nationalism.
II. We have already noted the important division that opened up in the Long 19th
Century between industrialized societies and agricultural societies.
A. We can also point to a division between societies held as colonies and those that
remained free.
1. While India was held as a colony, China—technically independent—was increasingly
subject to European territorial seizures and exploitation.
B. Even among colonies, however, we find differences.
1. India fared better under imperialism in the Long 19th Century than Africa did.
2. Africa was divided among competing European states in a race to exploit its territories
and resources.
III. Along with differential economic change and differential imperialism came the
realization of the need for certain reforms.
A. Some societies realized that aspects of Western development would need to be
imitated if they were to gain enough strength to establish or retain independence in a
world dominated by European political control and the control of the industrial zone.
B. Modernization theory, the brainchild of American sociologists in the 1950s, argues
that, as societies realize the directions of modern industrial political states, they begin
to change a number of aspects of social activity in parallel directions.
1. According to this theory, societies will begin to move in the same basic directions, and
connections will be seen among developments in intellectual life, family life, and
political life.
2. Economic modernization means that societies will become or will try to become
industrialized.
3. Political modernization means that governments will take on new functions, shed
older functions, and create larger bureaucracies; the result is the creation of a new kind
of state whose operation parallels the modernization of the economy.
4. As culture is modernized, science will be emphasized.
5. Modernization can even apply to aspects of family life, where it might involve, for
example, reduction of the birthrate.
C. Modernization theory is widely assumed in certain kinds of scholarship, but it also has
severe limitations.
1. Critics argue that looking for a single direction in world history in the modern period
oversimplifies very complicated patterns, even within single societies.
2. The theory also risks denigrating societies that seem to be slow in the modernization
process.
3. Modernization theory does not apply to many areas of social life: it doesn’t predict,
for example, trends in religion, crime rates, or the status of women.
4. Finally, modernization must be distinguished from mere Westernization.
IV. At the end of the Long 19th Century and in the early-20th century, we find common
trends in three broad areas—public health, education, and the military—in virtually
every major society in the world.
A. Borrowing from Western sanitary ideas and engineering, many societies realized that
governments needed to take responsibility for public health measures, which would
result in healthier and more rapidly growing populations—sources of economic and
military strength.
1. Modern public health measures were born in Western Europe in the 1830s and 1840s
and spread to the United States, Japan, Latin America, and elsewhere.
2. Public health became a concern in the urban sectors of virtually every part of the
world by the end of the 19th century, setting the stage for the huge global population
increase of the 20th century.
B. By 1900, virtually every society in the world was also attempting to spread schooling
to some sectors of the lower classes and to add technical and scientific subjects to the
educational agenda.
1. This might be a massive effort, as in the West or Japan, where by the 1890s virtually
every child of appropriate age was in school.
2. Much more gradually, colonial authorities in India and Africa began to allow some
access to education, sometimes assisted by missionary efforts.
3. China would expand its attention to student life by the 1890s, sending students to
learn from such societies as Japan, the United States, and Western Europe.
C. Recognizing the now more ominous power position of the West, societies looked to
improve military technology and copy Western military training and officer organization.
1. Even colonies enhanced the training of troops to provide more effective fighting
forces.
V. Another phenomenon that spread widely in the 19th century was the rise of
nationalism and nationalist loyalties.
A. Nationalism is the belief that a society has an identifiable national culture that is
measurably different from other cultures.
1. Cultural nationalists often assert that their nation’s culture is better than others and
may believe that the culture should be connected to the state.
2. Nationalists typically argue that recognizable divisions exist among peoples based on
different national traditions.
B. Nationalism is a mostly modern phenomenon that contrasts with traditional types of
loyalty to religion or locality.
C. Nationalism was born in Europe on the basis of two factors.
1. Nationalism was an objection to Enlightenment thinking that argued that all peoples
were fundamentally the same.
2. Increased population movement and the rise of the new middle class created an
audience for loyalty to an entity that was larger than the locality and would help
uprooted peoples in the city find a sense of identity.
D. Nationalism received a significant boost from the French Revolution.
1. By tearing down local institutions and reducing the power of the church, the French
Revolution resulted in the idea that the government belonged to the people, who now
owed it loyalty.
E. From Western and Central Europe, nationalism quickly spread in two additional
directions, visible by the late-18th and early-19th centuries.
1. It spread to the Americas, becoming more distinct after the American Revolution, and
to Eastern Europe.
2. In the Americas, nationalism was primarily used to form new states or to undergird
new states and identities; in Eastern Europe, nationalism became a force to attack
multinational empires.
F. Nationalism spread to the Middle East by the middle of the 19 th century and to India
by the 1880s; from the 1860s to 1900, we see nationalist elements in Japan, Russia,
Turkey, and Africa. In other words, from the 1750s to 1914, nationalism was effectively
created and gained some attention in virtually every part of the world.
VI. What were the implications of nationalism?
A. As we saw in Europe, nationalism provided new loyalties for people who were facing
rapid economic and political change.
B. Further, nationalism provided alternatives to traditional loyalties, particularly with
regard to religion.
C. Nationalism helped people entertain the possibility of a certain degree of change,
while insisting that change had to be modified or controlled by attachment to tradition.
D. Nationalists may also argue that in order to express national strength, certain kinds of
changes are needed, such as more attention to industrial development or even changes
in styles of dress to appear more businesslike. Hence, it could link directly to
modernization.
E. Nationalism was an increasingly important rallying point for many peoples around the
world against the West; national loyalties united people across traditional boundaries of
class, caste, or even gender