Revision summary
Westernisation, in Srinivas, is change modelled on British and Western forms. Sanskritisation copies a high-caste Hindu style instead. Modernisation is structural change in economy, state, and value. The two can diverge: Western goods with unchanged caste. Yogendra Singh kept modernisation wider than a Western copy.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
Westernisation and modernisation are two related but unequal processes of social change. One names a source of models. The other names a structural shift in technology, state, and aspiration.
Body
Srinivas on Westernisation
- M. N. Srinivas used Westernisation for changes that follow British rule: English education, dress, law, science, and new jobs.
- He split primary Westernisation of the tiny elite from secondary spread through clerks, army, and town.
- Unlike Sanskritisation, which copies a twice-born style, Westernisation copies a colonial-modern style and may weaken some purity rules.
Modernisation as a wider process
- Yogendra Singh and later Indian sociologists treated modernisation as differentiation of economy, bureaucracy, and value, which can use Western, Japanese, or indigenous tools.
- A village may Westernise in cricket and mobile phones while remaining caste-bound, as S. C. Dube’s Shamirpet already hinted for earlier development.
- The pair is not a moral grade. Westernisation is a historical channel. Modernisation is the test of whether institutions actually change.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD W[Westernisation Srinivas] --> E[English law science] M[Modernisation] --> I[Institutions technology] S[Sanskritisation] --> C[Twice-born copy]
Conclusion
Westernisation is change on a Western model after colonial contact. Modernisation is broader structural change and need not be a carbon copy of the West.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Describe the methods adopted by Sir Herbert Hope Risley in classifying Indian populations. What are the criticisms against Risley's classification?
Next question on this syllabus topic (2022 · Q3(c)). View answer →
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Is every factory job Westernisation?
It may be modernisation of work. Srinivas reserved Westernisation for the cultural model of the West.
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Can a group Sanskritise and Westernise together?
Yes. Many castes keep vegetarian public style and seek English schools at once.
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