Modernisation

noun

/ˌmɒd.ə.naɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/

The process of transformation from a traditional to a modern society, characterised by industrialisation, urbanisation, literacy, rational-bureaucratic institutions, science-based technology, and the differentiation of social roles; in Indian sociology, the debate centres on whether modernisation necessarily entails Westernisation or can take culturally indigenous forms

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

India's postcolonial development trajectory under Nehru combined modernisation through state-led heavy industrialisation with the retention of traditional social structures — producing what sociologists describe as a "partially modernised" or "multiple modernities" scenario.

Synonyms

developmentsocial transformationindustrialisation (economic dimension)rationalisation

Antonyms

traditionstagnationpre-modernityunderdevelopment

🌱 Word Family

modernisation (n), modernise (v), modern (adj), modernity (n), modernist (n/adj)

🔡 Root

Latin modernus = of present time (modo = just now/recently) + -isation = process suffix

📜 Etymology

The concept was theorised by Talcott Parsons (pattern variables, 1951) and W.W. Rostow (Stages of Economic Growth, 1960); Daniel Lerner applied it to developing societies; in India, the Planning Commission era (1950s-1990s) used industrialisation as the state-led vehicle of modernisation; Nehru famously called dams and steel plants the "temples of modern India"

🧠 Memory Hook

MODERN + -ISATION: becoming MODERN — swapping bullock carts for trains, oral tradition for literacy, and ritual for science

👥 Society 📖 Seen in: Salient Features of Indian Society — D...

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