Modernization & Social Class: A Comparative Historical Analysis

Historical Sociology or Comparative History

Historical sociologists are interested in how modernization takes place. It's not the level of modernization that matters, but how it is achieved. They focus on class structure because they believe that the result of modernization will depend on the class structure of the country and the relations between different social groups. Groups will be benefited in different ways, so they analyze which social groups were more affected and benefited by democracy.

Barrington Moore and the Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy

Barrington Moore was the founder of this school and wrote the influential book Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World in 1966. The study was based on how these societies became modern from 1800-1950: France, Russia, the US, China, India, and Japan. The title also reflects the core thesis: the result of modernization will depend on the relationship between social groups and how it evolves over time. These social groups are divided into three classes: landed aristocracy, bourgeoisie, and peasantry.

Key Questions and Historical Scenarios

Moore asked two key questions:

• How to absorb the peasantry, this large part of the population, into a modern economy?
• Will there be a defeat of the aristocracy by a rising bourgeoisie?

He then described three possible historical scenarios:

1. Bourgeoisie Revolution

The revolution of the middle class. "No bourgeoisie, no democracy" because it allows political power to shift from the aristocracy to a new middle class. Examples include the French Revolution, the English Industrial Revolution, and American Independence.

2. Revolution from Above

Modernization is developed by the aristocracy through state institutions. In some cases, they also control the army and have a military elite, known as the Junker class (e.g., Bismarck). Another characteristic is that the bourgeoisie is politically weak, and the aristocracy runs the state, so the peasant class remains on the land.

3. Revolution from Below

In this scenario, the aristocracy is weak, the bourgeoisie is weak, and the peasantry is strong.