• As used in classical sociological theory, the concept of modernity has its roots in the attempt to come to grips with the meaning and significance of the social changes occurring in Europe in the latter half of the nineteenth century, namely, the effects of industrialization, urbanization, and political democracy on essentially rural and autocratic societies. The term “modernity” was coined to capture these changes in progress by contrasting the “modern” with the “traditional.” The theme, if not the concept, of modernity pervades sociology and the work of its founding fathers, Marx, Weber, and Durkheim. In their work modernity was meant to be more than a heuristic concept. It carried connotations of a new experience of the world. Modernity referred to a world constructed anew through the active and conscious intervention of actors and the new sense of self that such active intervention and responsibility entailed.
• This new sense of time and future orientation applies as much to the arts as to social and political relations. In fact, the concept of modernity used in social theory and the concept of modernism used to describe movements in the arts and literature have a common basis. Both focus on the new sense of individuality, future orientation, and creative possibility and identify these attributes with both the individual and collective movements.
  • Karl Marx’s concern with modernity was in terms of production relations. It was the objective of the capitalist class to increase its production. More production means more profit. Capitalism, for him, was ultimately profiteering. Marx, therefore, argued that for capitalism everything is a commodity. Dance, drama, literature, religion, in fact, everything in society is a commodity. It is manufactured and sold in the market.
  • Max Weberscans a huge literature on domination, religion and other wider areas of life and comes to the conclusion that rationality is the pervading theme, which characterizes human actions. He has, therefore, defined modernity as rationality. For him, in one word, modernity is synonymous with rationality.
  • Emile Durkheimhad a very intimate encounter with industrialization and urbanization. He was scared of the impact of modernization. His studies of modern society brought out very interesting and exciting data. He was a functionalist. He very strongly believed in the cohesion of society. For him, society is above everything else. It is par excellence. It is God. Despite all this, society is never static.
  • Ferdinand Tonnies characterized key characteristics of simple and modern societies with the German words Gemeinschaft and  Gesellschaft. Gemeinschaft means human community, and Tonnies said that a sense of community characterizes simple societies, where  family , kin, and community ties are quite strong. As societies grew and industrialized and as people moved to cities, Tonnies said, social ties weakened and became more impersonal. Tonnies called this situation a  Gesellschaft  and found it dismaying.
  • George Simmelis seen as investigating modernity primarily in two major interrelated sites: the city and the money economy. The city is where modernity is concentrated or intensified, whereas the money economy involves the diffusion of modernity, its extension. Thus, for Simmel, modernity consists of city life and the diffusion of money.

Modernity brought with it many blessings to the people including much better health and economic prospects. However, there are also some problems which have emerged with modern society e.g. the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during world war II; and the arms race thereafter. Other problems include environmental degradation e.g. air and water pollution. Modernity also creates great stress on people and alienation or being without specific interest in anything (malaise). At the present point the debate is still on whether modernity is socially positive or not, whether it has proved beneficial or not to world society.