Modernisation and Secularisation

Modernisation and Secularisation

The term modernisation has a long history. From the 19th and more so the 20th century, it became associated with positive and desirable values — people and societies wanted to be modern. In its early years, modernisation referred to improvement in technology and production processes. Increasingly, however, the term took on a wider meaning. It came to refer to the path of development that much of western Europe or North America had taken, and it suggested that other societies both have to and ought to follow the same path.

In India, the beginnings of capitalism took place within the colonial context. The story of Indian modernisation and secularisation is therefore quite distinct from their growth in the west. This is evident from the earlier discussion of westernisation and the 19th century social movements. Here, the two processes — modernisation and secularisation — are examined together because they are linked; both are part of a set of modern ideas.

Sociologists have tried to define what exactly constitutes the modernisation process. According to Rudolph and Rudolph (1967), modernity assumes that:

• Local ties and parochial perspectives give way to universal commitments and cosmopolitan attitudes.
• The truths of utility, calculation, and science take precedence over those of the emotions, the sacred, and the non-rational.
• The individual, rather than the group, becomes the primary unit of society and politics.
• The associations in which people live and work are based on choice, not birth.
• Mastery, rather than fatalism, orients people's attitude toward the material and human environment.
• Identity is chosen and achieved, not ascribed and affirmed.
• Work is separated from family, residence, and community in bureaucratic organisation.

In other words, people are influenced not just by local but by universal contexts. How you behave and what you think is no longer decided by your family, tribe, caste, or community. What job you wish to do is decided not by the job your parent does, but by what you wish to do. Work is based on choice, not birth. On whom you depend is determined by what you achieve, not by who you are. A scientific attitude gains ground.

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Secularisation

In the modern west, secularisation has usually meant a process of decline in the influence of religion. It has been an assumption of all theorists of modernisation that modern societies become increasingly secular. Indicators of secularisation have referred to:

• Levels of involvement with religious organisations.
• The social and material influence of religious organisations.
• The degree to which people hold religious beliefs.

However, recent years have seen an unprecedented growth of religious consciousness and conflict worldwide. Even in the past, the view that modern ways would necessarily lead to a decline in religious ways has not been entirely true. Western and modern forms of communication, organisation, and ideas actually led to the emergence of new kinds of religious reform organisations.

Furthermore, a considerable part of ritual in India has direct reference to the pursuit of secular ends. Rituals also have secular dimensions as distinct from secular goals. They provide men and women with occasions for socialising with their peers and superiors, and for showing off the family's wealth, clothing, and jewellery. During the last few decades in particular, the economic, political, and status dimensions of ritual have become increasingly conspicuous. The number of cars lined up outside a wedding house and the VIPs who attended the wedding provide an index to the household's standing in the local community.

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Secularisation of Caste

There has also been considerable debate about what is seen by some as the secularisation of caste. In traditional India, the caste system operated within a religious framework. Belief systems of purity and pollution were central to its practice. Today, caste often functions as political pressure groups. Contemporary India has seen the formation of caste associations and caste-based political parties. They seek to press upon the state their demands. This changed role of caste has been described as the secularisation of caste.

The box in the textbook (Box 2.5, based on Kothari 1977) explains this process further. Everyone recognises that the traditional social system in India was organised around caste structures and caste identities. In dealing with the relationship between caste and politics, the doctrinaire moderniser suffers from a serious xenophobia. He begins with the question: is caste disappearing? But no social system disappears like that. A more useful point of departure would be: what form is caste taking under the impact of modern politics, and what form is politics taking in a caste-oriented society? …