[Review] Tradition and Modernity-Misplaced Polarities in the Study of Social Change by Joseph R. Gusfield
Tradition and Modernity - Misplaced Polarities in the Study of Social Change
Joseph R. Gusfield
What is the main point(s) of the reading/theory? What is the evidence that the theory is valid?
Many people think that the opposite of tradition is modernity. However, the author, Joseph R. Gusfield, disputes this view. According to him, people tend to think of traditions as static, normatively relevant, and structurally homogeneous. On the other hand, modernity is considered by people to be effective and practical for almost all cultures. In other words, many people have the following basic assumptions: “The existing institutions and values that are an important part of the tradition hinder change and hinder modernization.”
However, the author argues that tradition and modernity are complementary and can be applied very differently depending on the applicable environment. In fact, this article states that Max Weber's theory of 'rational economic behavior' can only be justified for a few societies (some western societies such as Britain and the United States). The author compares and analyzes India's traditional caste system and conventionally considered modernity to support his argument. And in order to assert this in detail, this article describes the fallacies of the following seven assumptions we have.
FALLACY I : DEVELOPING SOCIETIES HAVE BEEN STATIC SOCIETIES
The author argues that the assumption that traditional societies are not developing and that they adhere to the past is wrong. In fact, the caste system, which we call traditional culture in India, is a culture developed based on Islamic civilization, which is a good example of how traditional society can be the result of long-term social change.
FALLACY 2: TRADITIONAL CULTURE IS A CONSISTENT BODY OF NORMS AND VALUES
This article argues that traditional society is not uniform, and that traditional society is also the result of elaborated through interaction of various elements. For example, when looking at a society in the past, the elite group, which is a literate group, and the popular group, who cannot read, created different societies, and these different sub-social groups created optimal combinations with each other, resulting in As a result, different groups formed the distinctive social features of that time.
FALLACY 3: TRADITIONAL SOCIETY IS A HOMOGENEOUS SOCIAL STRUCTURE
The author argues that traditional society cannot be defined by a single characteristic. In fact, in a society, various elements (social groups) coexist under it, and each element group plays a different role, thereby maintaining a balance within a society. For example, in India's caste system, the untouchables (such as the Dalit group) are socially ostracized, but in reality they are important actors in the business domain that other social class groups never want to take over. In other words, they are ultimately playing an essential role in the society.
FALLACY 4: OLD TRADITIONS ARE DISPLACED BY NEW CHANGES
The author argues that it is not justified to replace the existing cultural style just because a new product, religion, or idea has emerged. Rather, the existing old culture and the modern can complement each other or play a positive role in increasing the range of alternatives that people can choose from.
FALLACY 5: TRADITIONAL AND MODERN FORMS ARE ALWAYS IN CONFLICT
It is not justified for traditional customs to be overpowered or replaced by modern ones. For example, the idea that Western individualistic tendencies are superior to Japanese collectivist tendencies and therefore better to be replaced can be misleading. Such logic can be a fallacy of hasty generalization. On the contrary, there are many cases in which traditional methods can be applied more effectively in a modern society.
FALLACY 6: TRADITION AND MODERNITY ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE SYSTEMS
Tradition and modernity are complementary rather than conflicting systems. In fact, existing economic growth theories have argued that the caste system is an obstacle to economic growth. This is because the lower caste groups receive injustice because the higher caste groups monopolize the accumulation of wealth. However, in actual India, movement among caste groups is limited, so the entire Indian society can remain stable.
FALLACY 7: MODERNIZING PROCESSES WEAKEN TRADITIONS
New institutions and values can evolve into higher-level cultures by merging with old ones. For example, transportation development and declining literacy rates can deepen their understanding of religion and increase their satisfaction with life for many people (especially people from lower social classes).
How does that point appear in historical, contemporary or potential future social changes other than the evidence presented in reading(s)?
When we talk about 'modern medicine', we often mean the Western medical system. Conversely, we often regard 'Oriental medicine' as traditional medicine that has been handed down for a long time. In this judgment, the existing medical system is dominated by Western 'modern' medicine. But can we confidently say that Western medicine is superior to Eastern medicine? On this point, we have not yet reached a complete conclusion, because Western modern medicine and Eastern traditional medicine originated from different starting points, and the two medical systems can be used complementary to each other.
The Western medical system has been developed based on the Western scientific system, which places importance on analyzing objects themselves, while the Eastern medical system has developed on the basis of the Eastern philosophy, which emphasizes harmony between various objects. For example, when a person develops a skin disease, in the Western medical system, doctors focus on the skin disease itself and focus on how to solve it, whereas in the Eastern medical system, oriental doctors approach the problem completely differently. They suspect that the disease may be one of the consequences of a problem with the circulatory system of 'spirit or internal energy' that flows throughout the body. For this reason, patients who receive Western-style medical prescriptions experience a quick recovery but often experience side effects after a long time, whereas patients who receive Asian-style medical prescriptions take some time but fundamentally improve their body constitution .
We know that the Western-style medical system has developed rapidly due to the development of modern science, and Western medical technology has been systematically organized compared to Eastern medicine. However, there were cases where oriental medicine could find a clue to solutions that were not actually discovered by Western medicine. Considering that the classification system of human constitution is the result of knowledge accumulated and organized by Oriental medicine over a long period of time, and that Western medicine has achieved development by borrowing these ideas, we cannot say that 'modern Western medicine is superior to or completely replaceable in every way compared to traditional Oriental medicine'.
Although I have only presented my arguments limited to the medical field. In fact, in various fields, I think it is appropriate for the traditional culture of the East, which has been ‘optimized by long-term experience’ and the Western culture, which ‘developed rapidly through scientific/analytic approaches’, to develop complementary to each other.
What part of the reading/theory doesn't make sense or might even be wrong?
In this article, the author uses the ideas of Max Weber and examples of caste culture in India, and these two examples correspond to the two extremes of modernity and tradition. The author tried to clarify the point by comparing these two extremes. I think that this comparison of the author will be a good starting point for the study of comparative analysis of tradition and modernity society. From this starting point, I think that if two point points are added, it will be a more realistic and concrete study.
First, it is necessary to distinguish between the tendency of society to pursue development while maintaining tradition, and the tendency of society to disapprove of tradition by its members. Second, it is necessary to distinguish between a tradition that does not want to be combined with modernity and a tradition that has not yet been combined because it is not ready for itself.
First, in some cultures, traditions can act as a driver to stabilize or develop a society, but there are traditions that inhibit social change. Recalling the author's example, India operates a caste system, and people in each social class have a socially promised job. Due to this social consensus, people focus on fulfilling their responsibilities rather than fighting to escape from the social class to which they belong, and in the end, the vast Indian society can maintain a stable state without class conflict. However, there are societies on the planet that meekly accept the social class system like India, while there are societies that seek radical change and development through constant struggle. Countries belonging to the former include Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, where a strong minority leadership and a loyal majority follow are balanced. On the other hand, countries belonging to the latter include France, the United States, and Korea, which abolished the existing class system and achieved development through radical struggles for social equality and equality of opportunity. Each society has different strengths and weaknesses, and their traditions can be either a benefit or a hindrance to their society.
Second, in a particular society, traditions may exist in the form of refusing to adapt to the changes in the world, or they may exist in the form of being unable to adapt to advocacy due to lack of systematization despite knowledge and insights accumulated/advanced for a long time. The former defensive tradition can never be successfully combined with modernity, whereas the latter, when the unfinished tradition meets the systemic nature of modernity, we can discover strong potential in tradition. At the end of the 19th century, Western powers attempted to engage in exchanges with the East. However, at that time, the powers of conservative countries such as China and South Korea refused to accept new things for fear that their power base would be compromised, and they had to endure a dark time as a disastrous loser for decades. On the other hand, Japan, located in the same Northeast Asian region, actively accepted Western culture and could become a regional leader for several decades. On the other hand, oriental medicine, which can be represented by 'Qi' and acupuncture, can be a good example of the unsystematic tradition mentioned above. Even today, many of Oriental medicine's techniques lack scientific mechanism definition, but have been recognized as a treatment that actually cures patients' ailments. And these traditional Oriental medicine mechanisms and detailed treatment principles are being investigated one by one by Western analytical modern medical technology.
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