ABSTRACT
Modernization is typically viewed as a universal process, specialists in this area have given surprisingly little attention to the possible impact of the socioeconomic system upon the course and outcome of modernization. If wish to pursue a fruitful analysis of the correlation between socioeconomic systems and the modernization process have to determine the criteria by which the various systems are to be classified. The type of ownership of the means of production—private versus public or controlled mixed—may appear to be the most salient characteristic of contemporary economic systems. The nature of the socioeconomic system plays a far more important role in determining the quality of the subjective perception of modernization. In this correlation, once again, the attitude—initiatory or responsive—the system takes toward the process of change is more significant than the ownership mode that it represents. Characteristic of the subjective experience of modernization in initiatory systems is a heightened awareness of the ongoing change.
