In the classical modernisation model the countryside was viewed as traditional and static. Then in the nineteenth century it was suddenly modernised. In this essay I want to contribute to the renewal of the history of rural culture. At the same time I want to renew the concept of modernisation ...
(Show more)In the classical modernisation model the countryside was viewed as traditional and static. Then in the nineteenth century it was suddenly modernised. In this essay I want to contribute to the renewal of the history of rural culture. At the same time I want to renew the concept of modernisation by comparing it with the concept of glocalisation. I this manner I want to free the rural inhabitants from their role as victims of progress and to emphasis that modenisation is a process and not a change of state.
I begin by describing the modernity of the Dutch countryside in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I the argue that in the nineteenth century the position of the countryside changed in response to the process of nation-building, industrialisation and commercialisation. In the period 1850-1950/1970 the countryside prospered thanks to the process of modernisation. Nevertheless, during this period the perception of the countryside was quite different. It was seen as traditional. Ironically this traditional image was partly created by the process of modernisation.
To get a better idea of rural culture in the nineteenth and early twentieth century I distinguish three waves of change: the civilisation offensive, pillarisation and regionalism. I describe the impact on rural culture of gentleman farmers and of the religious groups and, finally, the development and construction of regional cultures within the nation-state.
In my conclusion I draw a comparison with contemporary processes of political, economical, social and cultural transformation arising from European integration and globalisation. Once again we are seeing a search for identity and national and nationalistic reactions. One of the concepts used for analysing these contemporary chagnes, ‘glocalisation’, gives me the oportunity to emphasise that modernisation must not be seen as a simple unilinear process, but as a stuctured process.
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