CONCEPTS
Robert Charlick

MODERN - partaking of the characteristics that are broadly shared in societies that have industrialized. "Modern" has become a virtual synonym for "developed," in the era since roughly 1800.

Elements of "modern" include :

• urbanized
• industrialized
• secular
• specialized
• effectively governed (either democratic, or authoritarian forms)

It may also be thought to include a specific set of value preferences, such as

• the preference for personal achievement (merit) over born status (ascription)
• the preference for universal and objective standards for judging others over personal relations (particularlistic standards)

DEVELOPED- is a relative term, usually focusing on economic patterns and on quality of life measures associated with the
notion of the "modern world." Some indicators of "developed" are:

• High levels of material production, measured by things like Gross National Product (GNP)
• High levels of material consumption
• High inanimate energy consumption
• High levels of literacy and education in general
• Low infant morality rates (number of children who die before the age of 2)
• Longer life expectancy

UNDEVELOPED:- is defined as the residual category that lacks the characteristics of "developed."

UNDERDEVELOPED: has a specific meaning for some theorists, as lacking the qualities of "developed" as a result of the
actions of the developed actors victimizing or distorting the growth of others.

Third World: a very imprecise term given to those societies (generally non-western) that are undeveloped (or underdeveloped). Originally it mean societies with regimes that were neither part of the capitalist world nor the
socialist world-- a distinction that is not very useful at all today.