Creative traditions
Modernisation and traditions are discussed in this essay. From a theoretical point of view the possibilities to change our main macro-conceptions of the modernisation-process, using dichotomies 8uch as feudallcapitali8tic. individual/collective, etc. are critically discussed. It can be concluded that manifold and complex analysis should be favoured. An inquiry of the concept of traditionalism is necessary. Traditionalism is not in a simple way the other side of the coin. Today in the agrarian research concerning modernity and traditionalism these aspects of the processes are seen as intertwined.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century there were many agrarian reformers working for implementing new agrarian technology and new social relationships. Rutger Macklean's reforms on the estate Svaneholm are used as an illustrative example. The different innovations were not implemented without taking notice of patterns of traditionalism. It is stressed that questions concerning traditionalism should be raised. What does traditions mean for the processes of change in different social contexts? What does it mean to be traditional respectively modern?
