Political modernization, it refers to the change in the political culture and political institutions, as a result of the process of modernization. It is the change in political culture and political institutions that combine together and leads to the acceleration of a process through which the performance standard and achievement can be obtained by the less developed societies. Like political development it is very difficult to give a precise definition of political modernization. It is a process which is based upon the rational utilization of resources aiming at the establishment of a modern society.
The term modern society stands for a society which is characterized by the application of technology, by extensive social interdependence, urbanization, literacy, social mobility and many such other factors. In the context of western societies, modernization has involved a breakdown of traditional society and the rise of a completely different society on its ashes. A society that is based on advanced technology and the spirit of science, a secular approach to social relations, a feeling for justice in the public matters.
According to the concept of a modern society, a modern man is he who has the attributes of compassion, humanness and universalistic world view, the one who possesses a secular outlook and who is committed to the values of unity, mutuality and harmony. This may rightly be called as a humanistic concept of modernization. It believes in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of mankind. This concept or these humanistic conceptions of modernization differ from other similar concept of modernization. Political modernization is not only concerned with the change in the political attributes of the individual or a political system of a modern society, but it has a wider scope. It covers a large area of our social life in different sphere. It is thus simultaneously concerned with many things at a time. It is also concerned with a change in the outlook of an individual, a change in the philosophy of a political system, political culture and covering and thus the realm of economics, sociology, psychology and industrialization together with the urbanization of rural life.
There are many dimensions of political modernization. It has been viewed from psychological, intellectual, social and economic sphere. The modern man believes that change in nature and society is not only possible but can be brought about by him. At the intellectual level it involves a tremendous expansion of man’s knowledge about his environment and the distribution of this knowledge in the society through incased literacy, mass communication and education. Modernization is thus regarded as a comprehensive phenomenon. The western concept of modernization stands for the replacement of society by a complete rejection, based on an advanced technology and a secular approach to social relations. In India it stands for continuity and change, creation of a new identity without destroying its glorious rich heritage. Modernization is essentially a restructuring of tradition along democratic lines. It means creation of a new system upon an old system and not the substitution of a new and withdrawing of the old.
