Modernity vs. Modernism, Part I
Encyclopedia Britannica defines Modernity as the self-definition of a generation about its own technological innovation, governance, and socioeconomics.
In my interpretation, Modernity in its true sense, means major changes that occur as a result of discoveries or making enough progress in technological or cultural fields, where this progress leads to development of a tool or tools that forever change the way that generation lives as well as impacting the future generations to come. The discovery of fire dating back to about over a million years ago, the invention of wheel, pigments, textiles, vaccines, computers, the Internet, smart phones, and now AI, are all examples of tools that brought with them Modernity that forever changed the status quo. Modernity can also be explained as the attentive focus on knowledge, industry, and technology at any given time in the history of humanity.
The main driver or the reason why humans have a thrive for Modernity is the expectation that it would bring with it new opportunities and economic prosperity resulting in better living standards compared to that of the present or to the previous generation. Even if Modernity was not articulated as such in the past, the industrial revolution and rapid growth of cities at the end of 19th century would be a clear example of movement towards Modernity.
A critical distinction must also be made between Tradition (old tools/old ways), Modernity (new tools/old ways), and Modernism (new tools/new ways). This distinction becomes utterly important because all three could co-exist in most societies and the proportion of one versus the other could determine where that society is in their journey towards modernisation. One might want to argue that looking at the sheer number of people in a community or country that lean more towards one or the other end could determine where that society is and where it could be headed. I would argue however, that that would be a one-dimensional way of looking at this phenomenon because in reality any member of any given society could be struggling with all three stages simultaneously even from within. In my very limited view of the world, this internal conflict is seen especially in the Middle Eastern countries where the idea of modernism has in some cases been forced to an extent where some cannot find their place in the new society and would therefore claim that part of their identity has been lost. And the result brings with it a polarized society while paving the way for extreme nationalism and/or religious extremism. The same internal conflict could also be recognized in some second or third generation of migrants from the so-called third world countries to the developed countries where the new generation is exposed to new ways and new tools outside the home but pulled back to the old ways and old tools inside the home by parents or grandparents.
This inevitable head-on clash with tradition is in fact the common denominator dilemma that every movement towards Modernity has had throughout the history. The result of this clash throughout the history has mostly been war and destruction and in some cases the very same tools that were to bring progress and development have caused devastation to human race. The opposite is also true when we look at the discovery of antibiotics or vaccines which we can clearly see has only contributed to a better human life quality.
by: Ali Hoorsun, July 2023
See also Part II of this article
Credits: Special thanks to following individuals, intellectuals, gurus, profits who have helped me put a lot of puzzle pieces together: Dr. Jordan Peterson, Dr. Farhang Holakoui, David-Richard Precht, Yuval Noah Harari