The Concept of Modernity and Its Features - Essay Example

? Modernity and its Futures: A Review Modernity and its Futures: A Review Introduction Modernity is a process of human intellectual development because it involves the integration of new concepts within the existing conceptual framework. The humans once upon a time lived and survived in caves. But with the passage of time their knowledge about construction evolved and they started to build houses and other permanent structures. The same is the story with intellectual development because in the past children were considered as private property of the parents and they had an authority to send offspring to death without remorse. In the fourteenth century the Roman law gave the above mentioned privileges whereas a century later English authorities granted the similar rights to the parents. Yet the intellectual evolution kicked in and by seventeenth century scholars initiated to view children as an important part of the society and supported the notion of facility settlement for their training (Peck 2008). Based on the above paragraph, it can be assumed that the tendency and the power of evolution are embedded within the fabric of humanity and humans are gifted with an unexplainable energy to overcome resistance to change. Historically the females were not considered humans and in the present they are recognized as equals to the male population. All of the instances demonstrate the fact that humans kept on growing intellectually in the past and therefore their behavior also became better with the passage of time. In the process of intellectual growth old concepts were challenged and replaced with new and more practical ones. Corporate professionals in the past were only concerned with the maximization of the profit. However nowadays businessmen are getting more and more attached to the concepts of job autonomy, modern training and prevention of environmental degradation. Literature Review Modern thinking started to be accepted and praised when it challenged the concept of capitalism. The state socialism evolved around the premise of accumulation of wealth within few hands and therefore causing serious financial inequalities in the West as it is mentioned in the book that “State socialism attempts as far as possible to substitute central planning for the working of economic market” (Hall 1992 pp 54). However, the neo-classic economic experts stated that the country should and must use its natural and human resources efficiently in order to maximize their utility to the society. The Marxism, an important economic theory holds on to the point that there are no notable differences in social classes regarding their needs and wants. Nevertheless the true message of the theory is that all humans should be treated equally in the eyes of economics and there should be negligible impact of social boundaries on the commitment of the resources it is written in the book “State power could caretaker of the existence (Hall 1992 pp 32). Thus, the state will have the ultimate responsibility of fulfilling the needs and wants of the citizens. According to Marx’s viewpoint “the presence of politics in the society is a representation of classes and their goals and objectives” (Hall 1992 pp 31) and the above mentioned economic authority is having an unconstructive view of politics in general. But in a more practical sense the model of politics presented by Marx is supporting dictatorship as there is no provision for public opinion. Furthermore the Marxist ideas about political activities were implemented by the Soviet Union in the form of State governed Socialism The profound failure of the above mentioned political system supports that democracy has a tendency to prevail under adverse situation because it is more accommodating towards the human nature as it supports freedom of speech and choice. However socialism thrives on the idea of protecting the capital so that it can be used for the greater good of the society. But in this kind of system people starve by the millions because the state never fulfills its promise of public welfare. The evolution in terms of political system took place when in mid-twentieth century humanity fully understood the importance and application of democracy and therefore adopted this system to the letter. The notion of freedom of choice and speech compelled the capitalist nations to accommodate and apply democracy. This development nonetheless changed the political outlook of the world. It is also suggested in the passage of the book that free market economy can play a significant role in the economic revitalization of capitalistic nations as the proposed mechanism will cause the corporate world to move freely in terms of making an investment and pricing decision. Thus the efficient use of resources will become possible (Hall, 1992 pp. 45). Human rights have changed due to modern concepts of social life because females who were not considered humans in the past are now permitted to pursue lesbian relationships. Thus the idea of liberty is currently being expanded. The modern world has been growing in the direction of having a unified culture of individualism while collectivism is going down regarding its application in the modern era of the 21st century. Moreover the scientific development occurred in the 20th century when Neil Armstrong landed foot on the moon for the first time in the history. This numerous success was made possible with the cracking of the belief that humans cannot make a space trip. Again the change in the mindset and consideration of space travel as a possibility indeed lent a hand in the process of breaking out the space age. The change is therefore the only known constant in the universe. However in 1950s intellectual people initiated to raise voice against socialism and capitalism. But it was 1980s when the system started to experience serious deformation (Hall 1992 pp.35). Interestingly, every new concept is met with resistance initially then; the stage of identifying it as a possibility comes and thereafter a vast acceptance of the new thinking follow. In early times the growth of modernity was negated by leading scholars yet their negation cannot stop the gigantic snowball of the new concept from conquering the world. It is also noteworthy that every innovation has some advantages and disadvantages and it is the job of government and other powerful bodies to ensure that society should reap full advantage of the novelty whereas the negative effects should be minimized as well. Modernity is also considered as a vast scale implementation of the new concepts, ideas, methods and techniques. The development and acceptance of leading Human Resource Management concepts are living examples of the human factor’s recognition in the industrial world. In the past humans were treated as slaves and they are supposed fulfill the wishes, wants and needs of their masters under all circumstances (Hall 1992 pp. 32). But nowadays this kind of thinking is identified as absurd and therefore condemned in all parts of the world. The growth of human’s value in the corporate world is yet another example of growth in the human intellect. According to many social-scientists' view human tendency to maintain and love the old ways is immense and due to this reason they want to hold the obsolete ideas dear. But it is the responsibility of innovators to challenge the routine because without innovation humanity will be pushed back to prehistoric ages of caves. It is also important to build bridges with preceding and proceeding generations so that they can share the knowledge with each other. It is believed that humanity has developed due to knowledge sharing among the generations. In the current period the interaction between elders and youngsters is diminishing and therefore the ability of elders to share knowledge is lessening. In the light of the above fact educational institutions are suggested to foster communication between the two generations. The proposed mechanism will also result in the enhancement of life contentment in the elderly. The free market economy according to the book has played a notable hand in making internationalization of trade a reality. The dissolution of national boundaries subsequently caused an end of closed economy and even nowadays China (a current follower of capitalism) is taking a great part in international trade endeavors (Hall 1992 pp. 46). Modernity has also helped the vast scale application of the internet to take place in the world. However the internet is playing a significant role in degrading sexual behavior in youth whereas, it is considered as an active cause of increasing violent tendencies in youngsters. The excessive use of the internet is also known to be the reason of the disintegration of the family structure in developed and underdeveloped countries. It is because of diminishing social interaction among the people of the societies. The e-world is also causing physical exercise to become less over the period of time (Hall 1992). This negative development is however causing depression, high blood-pressure and cardinal diseases to increase in all parts of the world. The above paragraph highlighted various negativities of modern lifestyle. The educational institutes with the help of parents can motivate children towards following a healthy lifestyle while, the exposure to unhealthy materials can be minimized with deploying parental control on browsers. The youngsters should also be motivated towards having a marriage so that the deforming family structure can be prevented. Conclusion The idea of modernity is the backbone of human intellectual development. The process of development took place as few people got tired of doing things with old methods. Thus the boredom compelled them to seek new ways that resulted in innovation. Importantly in case of every innovation, it was found that few people conceptualize the ideas and others implemented them. Perhaps the whole of the society supports the application of new methods at a significant level. Yet this paper acknowledged few of the drawbacks of modern living. Still it is of the view that benefits of modernity are currently outweighing its costs. However, ethical and legal issues associated with internet usage are turning adverse. Nevertheless the future of modernity is quite secure because people are working on new ideas of space travel while legal experts are also engaged in finding remedies of e-crimes. In summary it can be said that humanity has never given up thinking that is the base of all human development. The development of democracy is an important instance of modernity as it came out of the era dominated with capitalistic socialism. Finally humans will keep on developing in walks of life because they are the crown of creation and they are fundamentally created for intellectual endeavors. Additionally it can be assumed that next innovative field will be the one of space travel because NASA with collaboration with few great economies of the world is presently engaged in perfecting the mechanism. At the end, modernity and modern thinking have not been stopped and will never do. However scientific, political and societal development processes become sluggish at times. References Hall, S. (1992). Modernity and its Futures. Cambridge: Polity Press. Peck, M. (2008). The Road Less travelled The Classic Work on Relationships, Spiritual Growth and Life's Meaning . London: Rider. Read More