Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America (New Studies in American Intellectual and Cultural History)

Because it provided the dominant framework for "development" of poor, postcolonial countries, modernization theory ranks among the most important constructs of twentieth-century social science. In Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America Nils Gilman offers the first intellectual history of a movement that has had far-reaching and often unintended consequences.After a survey of the theory's origins and its role in forming America's postwar sense of global mission, Gilman offers a close analysis of the people who did the most to promote it in the United States and the academic institutions they came to dominate. He first explains how Talcott Parsons at Harvard constructed a social theory that challenged the prevailing economics-centered understanding of the modernization process, then describes the work of Edward Shils and Gabriel Almond in helping Parsonsian ideas triumph over other alternative conceptions of the development process, and finally discusses the role of Walt Rostow and his colleagues at M.I.T. in promoting modernization theory during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. By connecting modernization theory to the welfare state liberalism programs of the New Deal order, Gilman not only provides a new intellectual context for America's Third World during the Cold War, but also connects the optimism of the Great Society to the notion that American power and good intentions could stop the postcolonial world from embracing communism. (Apr. 2006)

Because it provided the dominant framework for "development" of poor, postcolonial countries, modernization theory ranks among the most important constructs of twentieth-century social science. In Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America Nils Gilman offers the first intellectual history of a movement that has had far-reaching and often unintended consequences.

After a survey of the theory's origins and its role in forming America's postwar sense of global mission, Gilman offers a close analysis of the people who did the most to promote it in the United States and the academic institutions they came to dominate. He first explains how Talcott Parsons at Harvard constructed a social theory that challenged the prevailing economics-centered understanding of the modernization process, then describes the work of Edward Shils and Gabriel Almond in helping Parsonsian ideas triumph over other alternative conceptions of the development process, and finally discusses the role of Walt Rostow and his colleagues at M.I.T. in promoting modernization theory during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. By connecting modernization theory to the welfare state liberalism programs of the New Deal order, Gilman not only provides a new intellectual context for America's Third World during the Cold War, but also connects the optimism of the Great Society to the notion that American power and good intentions could stop the postcolonial world from embracing communism.

Because it provided the dominant framework for "development" of poor, postcolonial countries, modernization theory ranks among the most important constructs of twentieth-century social science. In Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America Nils Gilman offers the first intellectual history of a movement that has had far-reaching and often unintended consequences. After a survey of the theory's origins and its role in forming America's postwar sense of global mission, Gilman offers a close analysis of the people who did the most to promote it in the United States and the academic institutions they came to dominate. He first explains how Talcott Parsons at Harvard constructed a social theory that challenged the prevailing economics-centered understanding of the modernization process, then describes the work of Edward Shils and Gabriel Almond in helping Parsonsian ideas triumph over other alternative conceptions of the development process, and finally discusses the role of Walt Rostow and his colleagues at M.I.T. in promoting modernization theory during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. By connecting modernization theory to the welfare state liberalism programs of the New Deal order, Gilman not only provides a new intellectual context for America's Third World during the Cold War, but also connects the optimism of the Great Society to the notion that American power and good intentions could stop the postcolonial world from embracing communism. "After a survey of modernization theory's origins and its role in forming America's postwar sense of global mission, Gilman offers a close analysis of the people who did the most to promote it in the United States and the academic institutions they came to dominate. He first explains how Talcott Parsons at Harvard constructed a social theory that challenged the prevailing economics-centered understanding of the modernization process, then describes the work of Edward Shils and Gabriel Almond in helping Parsonsian ideas triumph over other alternative conceptions of the development process, and finally discusses the role of Walt Rostow and his colleagues at M.I.T. in promoting modernization theory during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. By connecting modernization theory to the welfare-state liberalism programs of the New Deal, Gilman not only provides a new intellectual context for America's policies toward the Third World during the cold war, but also connects the optimism of the Great Society to the notion that American power and good intentions could prevent the post-colonial world from embracing communism."--Jacket Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 CHAPTER 1 Modernization Theory and American Modernism......Page 16 CHAPTER 2 From the European Past to the American Present......Page 39 CHAPTER 3 The Harvard Department of Social Relations and the Intellectual Origins of Modernization Theory......Page 87 CHAPTER 4 The Rise of Modernization Theory in Political Science......Page 128 CHAPTER 5 Modernization Theory as a Foreign Policy Doctrine......Page 170 CHAPTER 6 The Collapse of Modernization Theory......Page 218 C H A P T E R 7 The Postmodern Turn and the Aftermath of Modernization Theory......Page 256 Notes......Page 292 Essay on Sources......Page 328 Index......Page 335

because It Provided The Dominant Framework For The Development Of Poor, Postcolonial Countries, Modernization Theory Ranks Among The Most Important Constructs Of Twentieth-century Social Science. In Mandarins Of The Future, Nils Gilman Offers The First Intellectual History Of A Movement That Has Had Far-reaching, And Often Unintended, Consequences.

Introduction : modernization theory and American modernism Contests : the European past and the American present The Harvard Department of Social Relations SSRC's Committee on Comparative Politics The MIT Center for International Studies The collapse of modernization theory The postmodern turn and the aftermath of modernization theory. On a steamy June morning in 1959, sociologist Edward Shils strode to the podium of a conference hall on the former Rockefeller estate in Dobbs Ferry, New York, to deliver the keynote address at a conference on the political problems and prospects of the "new states" in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.