Over the last decades, a new culture has emerged and spread all over the world. This new culture has replaced the pre-modern or traditional cultures of some communities or countries in some cases, while the cultures of some states have been transformed or mutated. This evolutionary transition which has affected almost all the continents is what is termed as modernization. The process of modernization began with the Industrial Revolution that occurred not only in Europe but also in other continents such as North America (the United States of America in particular), Australia, South America, Africa and Asia. However, more often than not, modernization has been associated with Westernization where European culture is the standard measure of modernization (“The West No Longer Owns Modernity”, 2011).
However, despite the views of various groups on modernization, one thing that stands out is that this issue cuts across all the aspects of a given society. No matter whether it is religion, society, economy or education, modernization aims at bringing progress and development into these sectors. Over the last few decades, many countries have been experiencing various constraints on development (R. A., 2012) which require new remedies that would tap into such sectors as sports, music and art to be not fully tapped to contribute to the modernization process. Thus, this paper aims at exploring the possibilities of using sports, music and arts to assist in development. Moreover, it also focuses on looking into the challenges that come with such new avenues.
Sport has many disciplines including American football, soccer, athletics and rugby, among others which if tapped into, can generate the income necessary to steer development and progress to the next level. Sport can be a good remedy for development since many people love sports. The many generated from ticket sales and infrastructure development that comes with the organizing of sports events are major contributors to development (Levermore, 2012). Moreover, sports also attract tourists, especially such kinds of traditional sports as sumo wrestling in Japan, thereby contributing to the needed foreign exchange (Levermore and Beacom, 2012). Music is spread worldwide; thus, if tapped correctly, it can greatly contribute to the development and hence modernization. Like sports, funds can be generated from ticket sales during concerts, sales of recorded music and royalties, among others. Many countries, such as the United States of America, have recorded a considerably high amount of revenues from the music industries.
Moreover, traditional music dancers and performers are major tourist attractions. Thus, the income generated can be used to spur development in all the sectors of the government. Year in the year, several forms of arts, such as painting, as well as performed arts, such as acting, have generated revenues to many governments (Davoud, 2012. Hence, with the current challenges facing the mainstream sources of income, it would be wise for the governments to explore ways of incorporating this sector into their development policies. Sports, music and arts have been used for many years to spread the respective cultures all over the world. This has led to modernization as these cultures have been incorporated into many societies all over the globe.
All in all, the process of development and progress requires all to be inclusive; it needs a concerted effort from all the sectors of the society. Critical analysis of the remedies for development and hence, modernization, is very important as each remedy has its own shortcomings. Even though these remedies can contribute to development, their impacts are not immediate depending on the citizens of the country and even the world population at large. However, when properly utilized, they can spur development and progress.
References
Davoud, S. 2012. ‘The Scream’ to go on sale at Sotheby’s. Financial Times. Web.
Levermore, R. 2012. CSR for Development through Sport: examining its potential and limitations. Third World Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 56 – 60.
Levermore, R and Beacom, A. 2012. Sport and International Development. Development in Practice, vol. 29, no 1, p. 276. Web.
R. A. 2012, ‘Urban development: Remember opportunity costs’, The Economist. Web.
‘The West No Longer Owns Modernity’, 2011, World Development, Summer. Web.