Parsonian modernization theory stripped modernity of its European historical specificity

Evidence

These doubts played little part in the version of Weber’s theory used by postwar sociologists of modernization in the English-speaking world such as Talcott Parsons. As Habermas notes, this ‘theory of modernization … dissociates “modernity” from its modern European origins and stylizes it into a spatio-temporally neutral model for processes of social development in general’. Parsons conceived modernization as an evolutionary process in which social systems, governed by a ’ “law of inertia” of social process’ orienting them towards stability, are prompted by disruptive exogenous and endogenous factors to under­ go a process of structural differentiation. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 155

Categorization

• XREF: Links to Habermas’s critique of Parsons and to modernization theory debates more broadly; connects to the reader’s Marxist critique framework. — connects to: Parsonian modernization theory treats the United States as the teleological end-state of all societies — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 158; The European modernization narrative has no overriding importance for analyzing modernity; Western modernity is a hegemonic particularism disguised as universalism — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 153
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 155

Broader Connections

• The European modernization narrative has no overriding importance for analyzing modernity #corroborates (0.80)
• Western modernity is a hegemonic particularism disguised as universalism #expands (0.80) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 153