ON THE SOCIAL COSTS OF MODERNIZATION: Social Disintregation, Atomie/Anomie and Social Development

he modernization project launched by the West two centuries ago, was based on three pillars: State-logic, Capital-logic and Ratio-logic; formulated in part by Montesquieu (France), Smith (Britain) and Kant (Germany). The logic of the State implied centralization of coercive power, tempered by democracy. The logic of Capital implied market forces for economic power, tempered by anti-monopoly clauses. The logic of Ratio implied secularization for normative power. The result was spectacular, with bureaucracies, corporations and universities being major carriers of the triple logic, with ring-effects all o ver.