Tradition & Modernity

"Tradition" and "modernity" are widely used as polar opposites in a linear theory of social change. This theory is examined in the light of Indian and other materials on development. Seven fallacies in this contrast usage are presented. It is incorrect to view traditional societies as static, normatively consist, or structurally homogeneous. 

The relations between the traditional and the modern do not necessarily involve idsplacement, conflict, or exclusiveness. Modernity does not necessarily weaken tradition. Both tradition and modernity form the bases of ideologies and movements in which the polar opposites are converted into aspirations, but traditional forms may supply support for, as well as against, change.

Tradition and Modernity are not contradictory or exclusive. They are merely two different classes of things which can however interact beneficially. Tradition is still very often considered as a "thing of the past" without any contemporary legitimacy, and modernity is often mistakenly considered as modernism. 

The "contemporary", the "modern" and  the "traditional" are defined in a context of practice of "virtue" and in the perspective of the "good life", based on the potentials of our time, and the selected wisdom of past times.