Modernization as a tacit concept used in governance

Abstract

The article discusses the tacit concept of modernization in its various guises as a transnational framework and as part of world culture. The historical formation of the idea of modernization is traced back to the Enlightenment philosophers. The article further discusses how the idea is embedded in contemporary discussions of society and social change. In discussing how modernization discourse is utilized in spreading and domesticating worldwide models, the paper points out that it is coupled with the cultural framework of competition, in which cross-national comparative data are commonly used as evidence. The article concludes that to avoid unknowingly chasing its own tail, social science needs to see its own role in society, and study the feedback loop from scientists’ desks to policy models and back again