The purpose of this article appears analysis of the concept of modernization and milestones of theoretical understanding of this phenomenon in the foreign and Russian science. The author considers the problem of the relation of modernism and postmodernism, and the question of finding alternative ways of development of non-Western societies. There are two stages in the development of research paradigms of modernization: classical modernism and reflective modernism. In this paper, the socio-economic and political conditions of transition to reflective modernism, and, most importantly, the spiritual background of this, that is the development of Western thought. One of the main characteristics of reflective modernism is variability, the absence of rigid teleology and the concept of "multiple modernities." On the one hand, it provides greater adequacy of the concept of modernism to realities of the third world, but on the other – leads to a lack in modern research universal recipe of achievement a high standard of living in these countries. It seems necessary in the analysis of the process of modernization a shift in emphasis to cultural differences between Western society and Non-western civilizations, exactly the cultural features of European society gave modernism its uniqueness. Ultimately, the author comes to conclusion that the emergence of a more flexible concept of reflective modernism suggests inevitability of modernization theory in the current social and political science.
