Book Reviews : The Politics of Modernization. By DAVID E. APTER. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1965. Pp. xvi, 481. $7.50.)

• Author: Conrad Joyner
• Date: 01 December 1966
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900412
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

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ernmental operations because the former face no pressures for &dquo;crash programs&dquo;
and the like, and can, as a result, begin work on a modest scale and expand or pull
back projects accordingly.
This book establishes its point effectively; what is now needed is a study pin-
pointing the relationships between private, national, and international assistance
schemes.
RONALD I. RUBIN
City University of New York
The Politics of Modernization. By DAVID E. APTER. (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1965. Pp. xvi, 481. $7.50.)
Two points which impressed me about Apter’s present work were his candor
about its limitations and his commitment to press forward with a general statement
on political modernization. The former can be illustrated through two prefatory
remarks. &dquo;The events are confusing. Our research ideas are similarly untidy.&dquo;
&dquo;Material collected in these different ways is so rich and situations so complex that
I hesitate to commit myself to a particular set of rigid categories.&dquo; But as Apter so
successfully demonstrates, it is necessary for pioneering researchers to stick their
heads on the block so that scholars can learn from one another and scholarship
can develop. &dquo;To sustain communication between scholars before ideas have
become hardened and become fixed is, after all, one of the advantages of the mod-
ern world.&dquo;
These three quotations are samples from Apter’s Preface which ought to be
required reading for social scientists. In this opening statement of research meth-
ods and goals, Apter provides a guide for us as we pursue our various studies. He
reminds us of the difference between the natural and social sciences. He contends
&dquo;that, in political life, that which is significant (both from the standpoint of the
observer and from that of the participant) can only be understood in moral terms.&dquo;
Understood in the above context, Apter’s book becomes a grand adventure in
researching, building theory...