| Chapter 2: | Bringing People Back In |
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Socioeconomic modernization affects human attitudes and behaviors, which in turn change politics, and elites will conduct state affairs according to the kinds of pressures they perceive from the citizenry. This framework, which has several important components, appears in the following figure.
Modernization: Economic Developmentand Social Changes
Modernization theory is relevant in that economic growth drives social change and institutional adaptations. In my framework, socioeconomic modernization includes economic growth and social changes. Social changes may include the emergence and growth of a middle class, urbanization, expanded literacy and education levels, emergence and growth of a capitalist class, and others. Changes also occur in formal institutions in a society; for example, institutionalization of the market process, emergence and proliferation of public media and emergence of a strong civil society in the form of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Value Changes—It’s the People!
Socioeconomic developments must translate into changes in people’s values and behaviors to have an effect on politics. Along with modernization come people’s prodemocratic attitudes and values. Significantly, we should differentiate among three kinds of attitudes and values generally referred to as prodemocratic: self-expression values, support for democracy, and civic culture. Each has a different conceptual emphasis and should be treated differently to truly understand the relationship between value changes and the emergence, consolidation, and performance of democracy.