Summary Of Modernization In Early America By Richard Brown

Richard Brown, in his article “Modernization and the Modern Personality in Early America, 1600-1865,” views modernization as dual themed; linking elements of economic with social and political change. He describes economic modernity as an increase in rationalized production with an emphasis on the specialization of economic functions; while social modernization equates to the evolution of small societies towards large ones, combined with the establishment of an integrated and efficient bureaucracy. In the political realm, widespread political participation, high literacy rates, and the reasonable available of communications are his keys to modernization. In contrast, the author views traditional society as having its foundations rooted in agricultural communities, isolated by a lack of communication apparatuses, with a decentralized political system grounded in hereditary rights. (Brown, 201-202) Brown argues that the modernization of the United States which began during the colonial period of the seventeenth century did not follow the conventional path of events. Instead of society progressing towards a participatory franchise as a result of economic growth and political amalgamation, “it was the social expectations and the wide political participation of the colonial period-accentuated, …show more content…
While Brown considers the revolution the tipping point towards modernization, Murrin and Berthoff are pragmatic when evaluating the effects of the conflict on the development of America’s social structure. They are willing to declare that the revolution ended two elements of traditional English society in the colonies; specifically the feudal revival within the proprietary colonies and communalism as practice in New England. However, it also gave rise to a third traditional element, an iconic image of the yeoman freeholder. (Murrin and Berthoff,