A Clash of Civilizations or of Paradigms?

Abstract

What is perceived by Huntington and many who think like him as an inevitable clash of civilizations is actually produced by the uneven modernization that has caused some parts of the world to lag behind others. Despite the serious resentment and conflict this has produced, social evolutionary pressures will force all societies to modernize, so that the major technological and cultural gaps between various parts of the world will greatly diminish in the future. Anti-modernizing policies that are rooted in poor social theory, and that feed on the resentment of people in societies whose modernization has lagged can, however, greatly retard modernization and increase human suffering and conflict. It is therefore a useful task for social scientists to consider what theories best explain social change in order to guide policies in the most beneficial direction. Classical functionalist-evolutionary theories do this far better than more recent theories such as those proposed by Huntington, by world system theorists, or by postmodernists.