Progress is the aim and also the achievement of Western Modernity. Discuss.

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Progress is the aim and also the achievement of Western Modernity. Discuss.

When one thinks of the many political, economic and technological advances that have occurred since the ‘period of enlightenment’, it only seems proper to classify these immense developments as the results of progress. Since the French revolution of 1789 and the emergence of the industrial revolution in Europe, traditional thinking and religious myth began to lose feasibility as scientists and social thinkers paved the way for new ideas and technology.

Industrialisation originated in eighteenth century England as a result of the industrial revolution. The changes in the revolution included the invention of new machinery, the harnessing of resources (especially water and steam) and the use of science to improve production methods. With all these advancements considered, western countries are seen to be part of a modern, industrialised world. Modernity is generally held to have come into being with the Renaissance and was defined in relation to Antiquity. According to Featherstone (1991) ‘From the point of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century German sociological thinking (from which we derive much of our current sense of the term modernity) is contrasted to the traditional order and implies progressive economic and administrative rationalization which brought processes of the modern capitalist state’.  One of the founding fathers Auguste Comte, and others like him (such as Saint-Simon)  saw Sociology was the story of a human history of growth, freedom, democracy and industrial development - these were the qualities believed to be waiting for humanity in the final stage of their social evolution, a modern society. To this ultimate and final goal, all historical change and growth was believed to point.

In a political sense, there is a notion that a democratic political system is the result of progress as a state rather than the feudal systems we experienced in the past or the dictatorships that have occurred in totalitarian regimes. According to Giddens (1997) ‘While some modern states (such as Britain and Belgium) still favour monarchs these are few and far between.. Their real power is usually limited.. And the vast majorities of modern states are republican and almost every one including constitutional monarchies professes adherence to democracy’.

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 The word democracy has its roots in the Greek term demokratia, the individual parts of which are demos (‘people’) and kratos (‘rule’) so one can establish that on a basic level, that a democratic political system aims to let the people rule rather than a dictator or a monarch. The idea of democracy in western modernity can be seen as progress although one can question the definition of democracy. If democracy means people rule than one must establish who the people are and what kind of participation they are allowed.

One must also consider that although democracy is  the political choice ...

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