Analysis on Modernization and Westernization

Yang Hongyu,Lv Xiao

(School of Marxism Fudan University,Shanghai 200433)

The relationship between modernization and westernization is a controversial issue,but most scholars tend to draw the conclusion that modernization is not equal to westernization.Why is modernization not equal to westernization?And to what extent does modernization deviate from westernization?These are the questions that were rarely discussed before.Modernization is a global historical process that stems from the occident,and the relationship between modernization and westernization is dialectical and complicated.To draw the simple conclusion that modernization is or is not westernization is not proper.

Ⅰ.Westernization is inherent in modernization

Modernization and westernization have internal relations between themselves,which can be summed up as the following four points:

1.Modernization stems from Europe.Although there are many arguments on which the core concept of modernization is — industrialization,democratization,nationalization,or scientification,there is no doubt that European civilization is the cradle of modernization.Were it not for those west European countries that were at the forefront of modernization,there would not be any modernization movements worldwide.At present,the modernization movements worldwide are the result of long-term development and communication of human civilization,and comparatively speaking,the occident has contributed much more and directly to these movements.

2.The occident completed the modernization first.So far,twenty-seven countries and regions worldwide,with the population of about nine hundred million,have completed industrialization,most of which are from the occident.They are the showpieces of the outmoded oriental countries and the other developing countries around the world.

3.The process of global modernization is the worldwide expansion of the occidental civilization.Due to the occidental countries’ realization of modernization and taking the first step of becoming modern societies,western civilization has become a great challenge to the civilization of other countries globally.As Sun Yatsen put it,“the world trends are grandiose,and those who submit will prosper,those who resist shall perish”.Under this strict circumstance,the other countries around the world began the long journeys of modernization by choice or force,and began to accept the western civilization.Western civilization has achieved great successes worldwide.

4.The core of modernization is the western civilization.Modernization is a global drastic change for mankind since the industrial revolution,and its contents cover an extensive range of democratization,legalization,industrialization,urbanization,wealth equalization,welfare universalization,mobilization of social strata,religion secularization,education popularization,knowledge scientification,and etc.(Luo Rongqu 14),with the core value science,democracy and rule of law.

“From the western scholars’ perspective,modernization has been taking the societies of western European and north American as standard since seventeen century” claimed Yu Yingshih,“Therefore,modernization means to accept the basic values of the occident,which seems to be quite controversial and hard to be drawn any categorical conclusions”.“In terms of the ‘democracy’ and ‘science’ advocated since ‘May fourth Movement’,the accomplishment made by the occident stays several steps ahead of other countries,which makes the occident become the model of other countries and regions” (Yu Yingshih 5),added Yu.It is safe to draw the conclusion that the modern concepts of science,democracy and rule of law that has been accepted by most of those with close connections with western culture.

It is self-evident that modernization manifests the purpose and spirit of occidental civilization,since modernization is the result of long-term development and accumulation of traditional occidental civilization.It is also a foregone conclusion that modern civilization with science,democracy and rule of law as the core value share an inseverable connection with traditional western culture.Accepting this would help the developing countries to embrace western culture with open mind and to avoid development errors and step on the road of modernization as soon as possible.Chu Zhaohua suggests that,“westernization is the implicit meaning of modernization” (Chu Zhaohua).Liu Xiaofeng also claims that,“we cannot regard Chinese and occidental modernity as black-and-white categories,even if the former has its own historical materiality” (Liu Xiaofeng 3).These ideas incisively criticized those who hesitate to reform Chinese traditional culture and refuse to absorb western culture merely because they only focus on the Confucian characters shown by the modernization of Japan or the Four Asian Tigers,and then hope to accomplish modernization through revitalizing traditional Confucian culture.

As Mao Zedong said,“Only modernization could save China,only learning from foreign countries could modernize China” (Mao Zedong 1470).The foreign countries in Mao’s words are those occident or non-occident that follow the examples of the former with successful experience of constructing modern countries.To learn from the occident means to learn the modern sprits of science,democracy,rule of law,and etc.from the occidental culture,and to learn form the non-occident means to learn the open mind of following successful occidental examples to build their own modern nation spirits.We should learn the way of these non-occidental countries to successfully combining their particular conditions with western modern civilization,but not use these successful examples as the evidences to demonstrate that modernization could be achieved by deviating from western civilization or even by advocating anti-western civilization.

Modernization inherently includes westernization,and knowing this clearly could make us understand that the process of modernization for those developing countries such as China,no matter how far they have developed,is still a process of learning and leveraging from western civilization to catch up with western developed countries.Relentless march of western technology makes them enjoy a higher level of material civilization and living standards,and what’s more,they also enjoy a more sophisticated institutional civilization.“Generally speaking”,claimed Yi Jiexiong,“values of those important elements of ideology,which consist of the superstructure,are more advanced than ours” (Yi Jiexiong 4).Although learning the western civilization doesn’t mean to be fully westernized,it is still necessary to utilize western civilization in all directions,or else we wouldn’t be able to grasp the essence of western modernization or find a proper way of modernization for our own country.In the process of Chinese modernization,as Yi put it,“the western values are not something we condemn but something we should learn and utilize” ( Yi Jiexiong 4).Those who use the “national conditions” or “to inherit in critical ways” as excuses to refuse to recognize or utilize western cultures and values.They arbitrarily distort and mutilate western civilization only according to their own value judgment system and sense of likes or dislikes,which is simply another version of “western technique under Chinese traditional culture” from the period of late Qing dynasty.And it’s evident that none of these ideologies would lead us to modern China.

Ⅱ.Modernization has richer connotations than westernization

After demonstrating the positive connotation of “whether modernization is westernization / Europeanization or not”,in the following,I intend to discuss the negative connotation of this proposition — modernization is unequal to westernization/ Europeanization.

1.Modernization is a holistic concept,and westernization is a local one.

Modernization is a worldwide historical process and also a process of globalization.European modernization is only one part of this process,not the end of the modernization history.To represent the whole historical process by the partial would not draw any accurate conclusions.

2.Modernization is a value free concept,and westernization/ Europeanization is a concept with strong value orientation.

Gilbert Rozman,an American scholar,suggested “although westernization is associated with the modernization modes of leading countries,these modes are definitely not exclusive to the occident,since not all western countries have accomplished the high level of modernization ….It is not proper to use the concept of westernization to illustrate modernization” ( Gibert Rozman 7).

3.Although modernization stems from Europe,western civilization is not only created by westerners,but also by a long-term development and integration of human civilization.

Because culture can be easily shared,it has no doubt that culture of any nation,especially the excellent parts of which,should be considered as the common wealth of mankind.

“Some values were first proposed by the East,such as the thought of ‘Oneness of Man with Nature’ (天人合一),which emphasizes on the harmony between man and nature;While some values were first proposed and emphasized by the West,such as science,democracy,freedom,human rights,the spirits of rule of law,and etc.It cannot be implied that the value of the harmony between man and nature is only suitable for the Oriental,or the values of science,democracy,freedom,human rights,and the spirits of rule of law can just be shared in the Occident.Actually,these are the common values that admired and pursued by the whole mankind.” (Yi Jiexiong 5)

Western culture,whether from the ancient,medieval,or modern,are just a part of human culture.What is more noteworthy is that western cultures are not only created by westerners,but also by a long-term development and integration of human civilization.Although Ancient Greece is the cradle of western civilization,it was not the contribution of the Greeks only that made the enriched ancient Greek culture.By contrast,it was formed by the process of ancient Greek extensively absorbing the outstanding cultures of those Mediterranean countries,particularly the Egyptian culture from Africa and Mesopotamian culture from Asia,during the voyage and business activities along Mediterranean areas.

The ancient western culture came from the communication of human civilization,also is the western modern culture.Karl Marx profoundly revealed the relationship between Chinese civilization and the modern civilization in Europe.“Powder,compass,and typography shadowed capitalism.Powder blasted the Knight,and compass inaugurated international market while typography became the instrument of Protestantism.In a word,these inventions were tools for scientific revival and great levers for spiritual development.” (Marx 1979:427)

Chinese civilization was not only of great significance to western modernization,but also of profound influence to European Enlightenment during the process of immersing to the west (Tan min 40-66).“During that period (17th and 18th century noted by author),most great European thinkers such as Leibnitz,Voltaire,Montesquieu,Rousseau,Diderot,Rohrbacher,and etc.admired Chinese culture in varying degrees.” (Tan Min 52) “Chinese ideologies have given ammunition to European especially those French people who longed to be free from tyranny and hierocracy.” (Rene Etiemble 19) During the process of using Chinese culture and ideologies to oppose the authority of the Church and feudalism,“European Enlightenment thinkers selected,absorbed and digested many laws and regulations or ideas of Chinese traditional culture to integrate with their own,and then passed them on to thinkers of later ages,which made the Chinese factors merge into western culture and finally hard to identified.” (Tan Min 65)

However,it was not just Chinese that influenced the European modern civilization and culture,but it was also Japanese,Korean,Indian and Turkish cultures which “also had decisive effects on European intellectuals” (Rene Etiemble 9).Japanese culture,for example,“gave Christian westerners great ammunitions to protest against dogmatism,oppose the woodpiles put by inquisition to burn heretics and their books,and impugn Pozuelorus‘s argument of ‘intellectuals are all heretics’” (Rene Etiemble 8).

4.The mode of western modernization still needs to be improved and developed.

Modernization is the progress and improvement of human civilization.Marxism has been confirmed the positive side of the western modern civilization with capitalism as its core.

Economically,“the bourgeoisie,during its rule of scarce one hundred years,has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together” (Marx 1972:256).

Politically,“the bourgeois republic,parliament and the general election system,all of which,from the perspective of social development,is a huge step forward” ( Lenin 1972c:55).

The western modern civilization with capitalism as its core,on the other hand is a flawed mode.One of the main flaws of this mode is that it was built on conquest and colonial plunder of those backward areas at the beginning phase,and the other is that it was built on the ruthless exploitation on wage earners and the frequent outbreaks of cyclical economic crisis.This mode was,furthermore,built on the destruction of material and spiritual fortune during the period of two world wars.Even nowadays,this mode which has been evolved for three hundreds years still has many unsolved issues such as unemployment,economic stagflation,pollution,over-consumption of resources,human dissimilation,moral disillusionment and so on.Of course we can regard this as the inevitable problems during the development of western modernization,and shall be confident in western’s problem solving skills,but on the other hand it also implies that this mode is not perfect and needs improvements.We should deal with western modernization rationally,because “it is impossible to find a perfect western modern society in the real world” ( Yu Yingshi 5).And because of these flaws and problems,modernization process stemmed from Europe has been criticized and resisted,which finally formed a global scale of anti-modernization trend — “a continuous and worldwide trend of anti-modernization thought” (Guy Salvatore Alitto 227).It is noteworthy that “most anti-modernizationists were those who devoted to modernization at younger ages” (Guy Salvatore Alitto 224),which makes it important to rethink of the imperfect global modernization.

American scholar Guy Salvatore Alitto asserts that,“modernization is a tragedy in a classic sense,every benefit brought by which requires the payments of something still sharing great value”;“ modernization is usually inversely proportional to the content of human happiness” (Guy Salvatore Alitto 231).French Scholar Tilo Chabert raised a question,“whether was western modernization practical or not nowadays?”He then replied immediately that,“(western) modern world was established around three hundreds and fifty years ago,which demonstrated a huge progress,…but nowadays,it seemed to be clearer and clearer that there was a big sign with ‘Dead End’ on the process of (western) modernization” (He Xin 274).Although these opinions might be extremist,still it is noteworthy that the modernization stemmed from Western Europe requires improvements.Developing countries should not duplicate westerners’ failure,but should absorb the successful experience.

5.Modernization is a universal civilization.

The reason why modernization first started in the West,and then spread across the whole world,is not that it contains a Western culture,but it reflects the general requirements and patterns for human progress and development.Many elements of modernization,such as economic industrialization,which performs as a key point to backward countries to transform from traditional agricultural societies to modern industrial ones,urbanization as the mark of modernization,and a variety of indicators to measure the development levels,are neutral and value free.

Whether to implement planned economy or market economy was considered as the difference between the socialist modernization and modern capitalist one (this concept is sometimes equivalent to westernization),but it has been proven to be a misconception after years of practice.Socialism needs market,while capitalism should be planned as well.Although we do distinguish the socialist market economy from the capitalist one in theory at present,it makes no difference for the products in trading market.Equivalent exchange and fair dealing in business are the principles of market trading in any society,as well as the prerequisites of business trading in different countries.Discarding some stereotypes,we could discover many neutral values in modernization.For example,democracy has always been considered as a concept with strong value orientation,but in fact,the content of democracy,especially the basic content associated with freedom and human rights,does not contain class character itself.“Democracy was not just a tool”,said Tu Weiming,“it should be pluralistic and bear some basic assignments,strongly connected with the concepts of freedom and human rights” (Tu Weiming 10).If a society propagates democracy without the guarantee of basic freedom and human rights,it would be just a joke or balderdash.Lenin asserted,“Democracy means to recognize in form that all citizens are equal,and everyone has the equal rights to determine national institutions and to administer the country” (Lenin 1972b:257).“‘Principle of extensive democracy’ includes two necessary conditions:first,complete openness;Second,all the positions are to be elected.Democracy without openness is ridiculous.” (Lenin 1972a:347) These are the confirmation of the basic elements of democracy.

6.The expansion of modernization from the Occident is the process of detaching from occidental mode and integrating with distinctive national culture features.

Besides the Occident,there are many other nations and regions that accomplished modernization,such as Japan and the Four Asian Tigers:Singapore,Hong Kong,South Korea and Taiwan.Although having political and social issues,Latin countries like Mexico,Brazil and Argentina,have almost finished the economic modernization.And those who are moving towards modernization are numerous.The non-occidental modernization contains its own national culture features in addition to the general characters.For example,the modernization of Japan and the Four Asian Tigers contains the cultural values associated with Confucianism,and therefore are called as Confucian capitalism.It is safe to say that the modernization progress is the global expansion of the occidental modern civilization,but as the scale of modernization growing,it would involve with more countries with more different characteristics,and of course it would become further and further from the westernization or Europeanization.

And this is only about the modes;as to the specific process,there are even more distinctive characteristics involved,such as exogenous or endogenous paths and various developing strategies.The mode of Soviet Union that prevailed in developing countries and hugely effected the world modernization enriched the connation of modernization.Luo Rongqu divided the world modernization into three types:capitalism private property plus free market plus centralized or decentralized modern national institutions;socialism public ownership plus the combination of planned instruction and limited market plus centralized modern national institutions;mixed economy plus free market plus centralized or decentralized modern national institutions ( Luo Rongqu 150-161).In fact,these three types are only in terms of general understanding,and there are much more types falling between these three types.

Tradition is “the product of human behavior,thought and imagination,and it has been inherited from generation to generation” (Edward Shils 15).Western modernization,undoubtedly,could be considered as the product of the long-term accumulation of western traditional culture.Then,what kind of role does the traditional culture play in the process of modernization in the backward non-Occidental countries?He Lin suggested that,“the modern could not be separated from the ancient in the range of ideas and culture.Any new modern idea without involvement with the culture from past would be the water without a source or a tree without roots,and could not be long lasting and deeply ingrained.Although culture and history will be inevitably divided by foreign invasion and the internal collapse,it always must (or should) have its continuity” (He Lin 4).Tradition links history and reality together.Without connections with tradition or inheritors of the tradition,a society would have nothing to depend on,which may result in actions of absurdity.Therefore,the process of modernization in non-occidental is not only a procedure of new culture replacing the old one,but also a process of transformation and integration between the new culture and the old one.In other words,culture collision is just the appearance,and the culture integration is the essence.

“The relationship between modernization and tradition should illustrate each other rather than resist each other” (Xu Fuguan 47-48),claimed Xu Fuguan,“Adding into the tradition,new things could be functional,meanwhile,the traditional could maintain its survival by absorbing new things” ( Xu Fuguan 17).The process of modernization in non-Occident is not a passive way of accepting of the occidental civilization and culture,but an active participation and a creative activity involved with their own national cultural tradition,which is the reason why those non-occident,during the process of modernization,should not only learn and absorb the advanced occidental culture and experience，but also explore every positive factor of the modernization to move forward reformations.Only in this way can we transform the tradition into the power of modernization.

Historically,modernization is also known as Europeanization,westernization or industrialization;while in the general sense,they could be considered as equivalent,it is undoubted that modernization has much more profound meanings compared with the later concepts.Modernization of non-Occident is not a simple process of acknowledging the Occident,which,on the contrary,contains different value orientations and mode selection of different countries in their own historical and cultural view” ( Xu Jilin,Chen Dakai 2).

The occidental modernization model is not perfect,because the relationship between modernization,Europeanization and Westernization has both affirmative and negative sides.Therefore,during the process of modernization,targeted countries should not only actively learn from the Occident,but also combine the excellent cultural traditions with the experiences of other modern countries,and to create a more rational pattern of modernization via comparison,identification and selection.

History is the dialogue among the past,present and future.In the process of future development,not only need we to face challenges of reality,but also need to find the wisdom from the past.Modernization is a worldwide process,and it requires the joint efforts of the whole mankind and the wisdom of all cultures.

“Modern China’s modernization will never be equal but closely related to ‘Westernization’” (Cai Shangsi ).As the conclusion,these words from Cai Shangsi are precise,concise and profound.

Notes:

〔1〕Cai Shangsi,My Opinion On the Relationship Between Traditional Culture And Modernization, Chinese Culture:Tradition And Modernisation,4(2):4,March,1996.

〔2〕Chu Zhaohua,Study on Westernization and the Viable Solution of Traditional Chinese Culture, Social Scientist,1(2),pp.5-13,October,1986.

〔3〕Edward Shils, On Tradition,Shanghai:People’s Publishing House,1991.

〔4〕Gilbert Rozman, The Modernization of China,Jiangsu:People’s Publishing House,1988.

〔5〕Guy Salvatore Alitto, Anti-modernization thought trends in a world-wide perspective:On cultural conservatism,Guizhou:People’s Publishing House,1991.

〔6〕He Lin, Culture and Life,Beijing:Commercial Press,1988.

〔7〕He Xin, Collections of He Xin — Reflection,Challenge,and Creation,Beijing:Current Affairs Press,2004.

〔8〕Lenin, Selected Works of Lenin,Vol.1,Beijing:People’s Publishing House,1972a.

〔9〕Lenin, Selected Works of Lenin,Vol.3,Beijing:People’s Publishing House,1972b.

〔10〕Lenin, Selected Works of Lenin,Vol.4,Beijing:People’s Publishing House,1972c.

〔11〕Liu Xiaofeng, Introduction to Social Theory of Modernity,Shanghai:The Joint Publishing Company,1998.

〔12〕Luo Rongqu, New Theory of Modernization,Beijing:Peking University Press,1993.

〔13〕Mao Zedong, Selected works of Mao Ze-dong,Vol.4,Beijing:People’s Publishing House,1991.

〔14〕Marx Karl,Engels Friedrich, Selected Works of Marx and Engels,Vol.1,Beijing:People’s Publishing House,1972.

〔15〕Marx Karl,Engels Friedrich, Complete Works of Marx and Engels,Vol.47,Beijing:People’s Publishing House,1979.

〔16〕Rene Etiemble, L’ Europe Chinoisse,Vol.1,Henan:People’s Publishing House,1992.

〔17〕Rene Etiemble, L’ Europe Chinoisse,Vol.2,Henan:People’s Publishing House,1992.

〔18〕 Tan Min’s The Chinese Source of France’s Physiocracy,Shanghai:People’s Publishing House,1992.

〔19〕Tu Weiming,On Confucian Humanity,History Department of Fudan University,International Communication Office of Fudan University ed.1991, Confucianism and the Future Society,Shanghai:People’s Publishing House.

〔20〕Xu Fuguan, Elaboration of Chinese Humanism — Summary Collection of Xu Fu-guan’s Neo-Confucianism,Beijing:China Radio & Television Publishing House,1996.

〔21〕Xu Jilin,Chen Dakai, Chinese History of Modernization,Vol.1,Shanghai:The Joint Publishing Company,1996.

〔22〕Yi Jiexiong, General Preface to Series of European Civilization Process,Beijing:Huaxia Press,2000.

〔23〕Yu Yingshih, The path of Inner Surpassing — Summary Collection of Yu Ying-shih’s treatise on Neo-Confucianism,Beijing:China Radio & Television Publishing House,1992.