Modernity and Post-Modernity - Essay Example

Modernity and Post-Modernity Modernity and Post Modernity Introduction Humans continued their intellectual development in the past and due to this cognitive process, they enabled themselves to create and apply various social systems during the past centuries (Colins 2004). However, the most significant development in this regard was industrialization, which led humanity towards the concept of modernization. In this era, nevertheless humans focused on automated production in order to fulfill the growing demand of consumer products such as flour, clothing. But, this divergence of values proved to be a source of devastation for the agricultural industry worldwide because, this time’s intellectual base emphasized on fulfilling the needs of majority on the expense of those of minority. However, with the passage of time, humans came across another important concept of post-modernity, which instead of collectivism focused on individualism (David 1989). Therefore, under the impression of individualism blessed everyone with the right to live their lives, as they see fit, within legal requirements of course. At the same time, it is imperative to consider the active contributors of this transition from the idea of collectivism towards that of individualism because, the consequences of modernism became visible in form of few ruling over the majority of humans (Frank & Waters 1999). Therefore, humanity considered the concept of individualism as savior for the humanity’s unequal distribution of rights. Therefore, in this way, international legal environment bestowed individuals with their rights of speech and vote. During this era of moderate enlightenment, African Americans and females are blessed with the right to vote. Additionally, this change from collectivism towards individualism occurred due to basic human need of equality. But, after so many years individualism failed to lead humanity towards tranquility because, the international economic system is still based on the concept of capitalism, which motivates corporations towards dwelling upon the financial resources of public in order to fulfill their financial and strategic goals. In the light of this argument, the presence of capitalism can be implied in the world, which is believed to be individualism. However, in fact, in the perception of individualism still the old and obsolete idea of collectivism is developing stronger with each passing year. Furthermore, when humanity entered into the era of post-modernity, it somehow lost its ethical values along the way because, technological interventions within the social life of people, which made face to face interaction between humans a distant reality (Sang-woo 2008). In this way, technology played a significant role in deteriorating ethical standards. For instance, increasing number of data theft cases worldwide. On the other hand, humanity learned the reality that human social system cannot be smoothly run without the interaction between collectivism and individualism. Because of, these significant finding humans learned to share the facilities of training and education with each other. Along with this, in developed countries people are free to make their personal decisions independently (Heiskala 2011). However, with the passage of time, developing nations are growing in terms of respecting individualism. But, still there is a significant difference between developed and underdeveloped countries regarding ethical standards. Nonetheless, humans experienced notable degradation of religious standards over the period of recent years (Garrison, 2010) because, modern scholars goaded people towards negating the possibility of supernatural, which reinforced the concept of ethics under the plenty of judgment day. However, the growing tendency of youth towards disbelieving the basic concept of supernatural is causing ethical degradation of humans internationally (Corfield, 2010). Based on this argument growing individualism has actively caused youth to experience great reductions in their ethical orientation. However, collectivism in its time suppressed the human psychological need of identity and in the process enslaved humans in rigid social systems. In this ways, both of the concepts of collectivism (modernism) and individualism (post-modernism) cannot be implemented in isolation. Conversely, they should be integrated with each other in order to form a permanent social system. In the light of above literature post-modernism came into being due to the fundamental human need of egalitarianism, which it cannot fulfill after so many years, because of the fact that still humans cannot forego the outdated concepts of capitalism. This concept is based on making as much money as possible without any ethical concerns (David A Brief History of Neoliberalism 2005). Along with this, religious outlook of humans suffered significant deformation over the past years. However, the reason behind this painful development can be identified as increasing human need of self-actualization, which is in fact destroying the international social system. Therefore, the need to reinstate the old ways of socialization is imperative in order to stimulate ethical standards in youth. Additionally, reformation of ethical standards in the context of religious beliefs, therefore, the role of religious scholars will become very important in order to sustain ethical development of youth in future. However, the need for ethical, just and disclosed economic system is a prerequisite of idealized individualism in the world because; the current concept of individualism is source of destruction for youth internationally. On the other hand, this proposed development may take many years because, this sort of change is often develops very slowly because, it is linked with psychological growth of people. Conclusion This paper viewed the development of modernism into post-modernism and identified the emphasis on individualism as the driving force of this change. However, both of the concepts have their advantages and disadvantages. Nevertheless, these two concepts cannot operate in isolation. However, these are supposed to interact with each other in order to form a stable social environment. Nevertheless, developed countries are more inclined in the direction of implementing individualism, which caused them to experience long lasting its hazardous effects in the form of disintegrated social system, with increasing negation of religion. Thus, these developments caused ethical standards to drop significantly over the past few decades. In the light of above discussion, the need of reinstatement of ethics through religious channels is an imperative need of the modern times. However, large scale needs such as education and training should be fulfilled through collectivism, while individualism should guide the personal decisions of humans. References Colins, C. (2004). Post Democracy. Polity. Corfield, P. (2010). Post-Medievalism/Modernity/Postmodernity? Rethinking History 14(3) , pp.379-404. David, H. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. David, H. (1989). The Condition of Postmodernity. Blackwell. Frank, M., & Waters, C. (1999). Moments of Modernity: reconstructing Britain, 1945-64. Rivers Osram. Garrison, J. (2010). Deweys Spiritual Response to the Crisis of Late Modernity and Early Postmodemity. Philosophy of Education , pp.289-296. Heiskala, R. (2011). From modernity through postmodernity to reflexive modernization.Did we learn anything? International Review of Sociology 21(1) , pp.3-19. Sang-woo, K. (2008). Modernity, Postmodernity, and Confucianism. Acta Korzana 11(2) , pp.65-85. Read More