CONSENSUS, CONFLICT, AND INTERNATIONAL STRATIFICATION THEO'RIES OF MODERNIZATION: AN EVALUATION

Abstract

This paper reviews two of the major sociological theories of modernization, the consensus and conflict perspectives. These two theories are used to analyze some aspects of the economic and political situation in Chile. The international stratification approach is then presented as a third theory. Based upon criteria developed during the critique of the consensus and conflict theories, it is argued that the international stratification paradigm offers a synthesis of these two approaches which may be able to fulfill the requirements for a comprehensive sociological theory of modernization. From the classical period to the present sociologists have been con cerned with social change and development. Comte, Spencer and others, under the influence of Darwin, were particularly concerned with social progress. Social progress has been defined as attempts to trace the evo lution of specific social forms or entire societies from some earlier, less advanced state to a terminal, advanced state . . (Apelbaum, 1970:18). While sociologists no longer discuss social progress, they are concerned with development and, the more inclusive process, modernization. This interest in modernization became an urgent area of study at the end of the Second World War as a result of the changing international situation, particularly in relationship to the colonial countries (Bernstein, 1971). This paper examines two general approaches to the sociology of modernization, the consensus and conflict theories. The work of Smelser and Marx will be examined as important and representative examples of each of the respective theories. Data on social change in Chile is then used to examine the explanatory abilities of each theory. The interna tional stratification approach, an alternative model to the conflict and consensus models, will be discussed. Based upon the evaluation of each of these approaches, some requirements for a sociological theory of modernization will be presented.