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High modernism (also known as high modernity) is a form of modernity, characterized by an unfaltering confidence in science and technology as means to reorder the social and natural world.James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999), p. 4. The high modernist movement was particularly prevalent during the Cold War, especially in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Modernity and high modernity are concerned with human progress and the potential of human intervention to bring about positive change in the structure of society; however, high modernity's visions of societal change rely on the expertise of intellectuals and scientific innovation, making high modernity a more elitist project than its predecessor.Scott, p. 94-96
Both concepts operate on an ambiguous understanding of what the final stage of societal progress will entail. While modernity is retrospective in its prescriptions for the future and promotes organic growth, high modernity advocates a complete transformation of existing conditions and the creation of a blank slate.Taylor, pp. 14, 40-41. This break from the historical and geographical contexts of places often results in the application of standardized models to a variety of locations, often with socially disruptive consequences (see examples below).
Modernity and modernization are associated with capitalist and industrial development, and emphasize the increased movement of goods, people, capital and information ( see Globalization). This emphasis on economic freedom and capitalism is accompanied by the decline of traditional forms of society and the rise of the nation-state.Volker H. Schmidt, "Multiple Modernities or Varieties of Modernity?" Current Sociology 54, no. 77 (2006): p. 80; Taylor, p. 39. In contrast, high modernism transcends traditional political ideological divisions in its reordering of society towards a utopian ideal as such ideal societies are highly subjective across the political spectrum.Tobias Rupprecht, "Socialist High Modernity and Global Stagnation: A Shared History of Brazil and the Soviet Union During the Cold War," Journal of Global History 6, no. 3 (2011): p. 522; Scott, pp. 88-89. Furthermore, projects characteristic of high modernity are best enacted under conditions of authoritarian and technocratic rule, as populations are more easily controlled and changed.Scott, p. 5, 94.
Notably, our main source on Hippodamus is Aristotle, who criticized his grid plan in Politics II.8. Thus, criticism of high modernism also has a long history.
The Industrial Revolution was a major impetus of high modernism. In industrial production, standardization is necessary for economies of scale, and standardization necessarily increases legibility and homogenizes local context. The drive to standardization can be seen in Henry Ford's quote concerning consumer choice of Ford Model T: "You can have any color you want so long as it's black."
The high modernist method of governance has also been practiced in the East Asian cultural sphere for millennia. It originated in Legalism, which was adopted by the Qin dynasty (221 BC–206 BC). The Qin dynasty undertook massive standardization projects for the entire country, including measurement standards, Ban Liang, writing system, institution of a bureaucracy (replacing Fengjian of the Zhou dynasty), and more practical details, such as the length of chariot axles.World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia, p. 36 More controversially, the Qin dynasty also unified philosophy, with the promotion of Legalism and suppression of all other philosophies.
Although the brutality of the Qin regime contributed to its rapid collapse, the outcomes of its unification projects remained largely intact throughout history. The unification of philosophy remained intact too, but with Confucianism replacing Legalism.
The grid plan is a common motif in Chinese and Japanese capitals, which is visible in the maps of Chang'an, Beijing, and Heian-kyō.
With modern state-building, the problem of illegible naming became acute. Consequently, a common naming system of Patronymic surname was promoted at the expense of informal local naming systems. Whereas in Europe, patronymy was the exception in 14th century, it became the norm in 19th century. This process reached its logical conclusion with the national identification number, which allows unique identification of any citizen across their entire lifespan. It is purely a naming system for the state administration, completely devoid of any personal or local meaning.
This state-sponsored standardization apparatus is clearly visible in Iceland, where the Icelandic Naming Committee maintains an official list of approved Icelandic name.
The main proponent of architectural modernism, Le Corbusier, designed the Unité d'habitation residential housing principle, and implemented it first in La Cité Radieuse, Marseille, completed in 1952. With 337 of 23 different layouts, over 12 stories, all suspended on large , it remains popular and in use to this day. In 2016, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List for its importance to the development of modernist architecture. Modernist housing has been implemented extensively in the form of high-rise apartment buildings in Asian cities with high urban densities. Two illustrative examples are Hong Kong and Singapore. In Hong Kong in the year 2020, 2.1 million residents were in public housing, which is 28% of the total population. In terms of households, 0.8 million households were in public housing, which is 43% of all households.
In Singapore, public housing is administered by the Housing and Development Board, first formed in 1960. While its original mission was to build cheap flats for the poor, it later expanded its mission to plan and develop public housing for all Singapore residents. In the year 2020, 78.7% residents live in public housing, decreasing from a high of 88.0% in 2000. There was a concurrent rise in residents living private condominiums and other kinds of apartments, from 6.5% to 16.0%. The rest 5% live in "landed properties", a proportion that remained stable since 2000. Despite its origin in the west, modernist housing projects have met with far less success in Western countries. The most iconic failure is the Pruitt–Igoe housing project, a housing complex of 33 buildings, of 11 stories each, first occupied in 1954. Living conditions rapidly deteriorated, and it was demolished in 1972. It came to become a symbol of the failures of urban renewal, public-policy planning and public housing. Some, such as the architectural historian Charles Jencks, and journalist Tom Wolfe, argued that it demonstrated the error of architectural modernism itself.
These claims are problematized both by the long-term functioning of modernist housing projects outside of the United States, as well as by multiple counter-narratives developed within, such as explaining that the tenant selection process selected people unprepared for urban living, or that the geometry of design precluded the direct surveillance for preventing crime. The legacy of Pruitt–Igoe remains contested, both between architects concerning the benefits and faults of architectural modernism, and between general political observers concerning the benefits and faults of public housing, or high modernism in general.
In the Soviet Union, high modernism manifested in both architectural and social reforms aimed at creating a highly rationalized, efficient society aligned with socialist ideals. Khrushchev promoted extensive urban housing projects, standardizing designs to streamline production and rapidly address housing shortages. This led to the rise of "Khrushchevka" apartments—simple, prefabricated buildings meant to provide functional, affordable housing for the masses. In addition, the Soviet government undertook ambitious infrastructure projects like hydroelectric dams, scientific research facilities, and expansive transport networks, aiming to underscore the transformative potential of socialist modernity. The state's approach to high modernism prioritized not only economic development but also the cultivation of a collective Soviet identity, rooted in principles of scientific progress, collectivism, and a classless society.
Following the successes of the Marshall Plan in Europe, economists turned their attention towards development in the Third World in the aftermath of the Second World War.Lwazi Siyabonga Lushaba, Development as Modernity, Modernity As Development (Dakar, Senegal: Counsel for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2009), pp. 2-4; Kimber Charles Pearce, ‘’Rostow, Kennedy, and the Rhetoric of Foreign Aid’’ (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2001), p. 29. Contemporary development theory stressed the necessity of capital accumulation and modernization in order for underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to 'catch up' to the developed Western nations.Pearce, p. 3. Post-World War II development schemes were problematized by a focus on economy (ignoring the political, social and institutional impediments to growth), as well as its assumption that conditions in developing countries were the same as those in Europe that experienced success under the Marshall Plan.Zaheer Baber, “Modernization Theory and the Cold War,” ‘’Journal of Contemporary Asia’’ 31, no. 1 (2001): p. 74. Modernization theory built upon previous ideas of sociocultural evolution from the previous century, constructing a global hierarchy based on economic development.Lushaba, pp. 2-3 In this worldview, Western countries were the most developed, while the rest of the world (particularly countries that had just experienced decolonization) still possessed traditional, pre-modern economies. In order to advance beyond this traditional state, the third world would therefore need to emulate developed Western countries, through optimistic social engineering endeavours.Walt Whitman Rostow, “The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (1960),” in ‘’From Modernization to Globalization: Perspectives on Development and Social Change’’, ed. J. Timmons Roberts and Amy Hite (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, Ltd., 2000), pp. 100-101.
The overwhelming enthusiasm for the power of science and technology to manage the human and natural world encouraged regimes to attempt monumental development projects that would rapidly catapult developing countries into Western-style development.Schneider notes in his evaluation of James Scott’s analysis of Ujamaa that development failures in this period were not always attributable to ‘’high’’ modernism. In the case of Tanzanian villagization, modernization projects were driven by policy makers acting on their own hubris as creators of a modern state, rather than as proponents of scientific rationality. Schneider, pp. 32-33 High modernism emphasized spatial order as rational design; by standardizing, simplifying and ordering physical space, otherwise complex concepts or entities could be made legible and more easily controlled, including economies.
Part of this grand vision for Brazil's future was the relocation of the nation's capital from the coastal Rio de Janeiro to a new inland site named Brasília. Essentially located in the wilderness, Brasília was to be a “single-function, strictly administrative capital,” says political scientist and anthropologist James C. Scott.Scott, p. 118 Here, long-considered plans for a new capital were finally able to come to fruition thanks to global enthusiasm for the potential of technology. Brasília's massive scale, rational design and cultural offerings, all built from the ground up in the forests of Brazil made it the ultimate manifestation of high modernity.Rupprecht, p. 508 The project's chief architect, Oscar Niemeyer, was strongly influenced by Soviet high modernism in his prescriptions for the new capital as the Soviet Union began to slowly open up to the rest of the world in a new period of internationalism.Rupprecht, p. 510 Despite the cultural and ideological differences of the two countries, both shared common ground in their determination to modernize, strong state authority and a strong belief in the doctrine of high modernity.Rupprecht, p. 509
The new Brazilian capital was completed in under four years and was presented to the world upon its completion in 1960 as the epitome of urban modernism.Holston, 86. The city was planned as a manifestation of Brazil's future as a modern, industrialized power, creating a completely new city that would then create a new society.Holston, p. 93; Scott, p. 120 Based on the master plans of the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM), Brasília's urban space was oriented around mobility, uniformity and functionality, achieved through the elimination of corridor streets (seen as the source of disease and criminality) and the creation of indistinguishable residence sectors based on occupation, known as ‘’superquadra’’.Holston, p. 96; Scott, p. 125.
Total state control of development was critical to the creation of utopian high modernist cities by the CIAM, as it prevented conflict between the planned ideal society and the incoherence of imposing this model on existing conditions.Holston, p. 93.
Following the completion of the city, it became apparent that Brasília’s high modernist design had overlooked the complexities of urban space and had overestimated the ability of functional, rational design to improve socio-political order. Planners’ focus on orienting mobility in the city around automobile traffic had eliminated the street as a place for public gathering; the removal of street corners in favour of and open space (punctuated by monumental sculptural and architectural forms like the Cathedral of Brasília and the National Congress Building) discouraged pedestrian traffic, barrio and organic growth of public space.Holston, pp. 94-95; Scott, pp. 120-121, 126. The organization of Brasília's settlement similarly restricted social space by collectivizing residents according to their occupation in the ‘’superquadra’’, transforming the private sphere of the home into a space where the individual was ‘symbolically minimized.’ Holston, p. 97. While these ‘’superquadra’’ featured their own educational, entertainment, recreational and retail facilities to meet any perceivable need of the city’s residents, these perceived needs were based on European models from CIAM and architect Le Corbusier. Furthermore, the aesthetic monotony and scale of the city’s built environment created feelings of isolation, forced conformity and disorientation among residents; there also existed a stark contrast between the wealthier residents living in the centre of the city and the poorer residents situated along the city’s margins.Holston, p. 103; Scott, pp. 127, 130.
The newly constructed towns of Iqaluit and Inuvik were ambitiously designed by federal officials to overcome the previously 'uninhabitable' arctic environment and rapidly incorporate the Inuit into the modern age;Farish and Lackenbauer note that while Canada did not possess an authoritarian government to enforce high modernist planning, the limited political agency of native northerners in the early years of the Cold War allowed the Canadian government and military to administer their plans in a similar manner to authoritarian regimes. Farish and Lackenbauer, pp. 517, 521. however, the disregard for the local conditions and opinions of northerners resulted in spatial segregation of Inuit and military personnel in the two towns. In pursuit of a modernized, self-sufficient northern settlement, state-led projects to stabilize the nomadic Inuit in towns disrupted native resource-based economies and contributed to spatial segregation, social inequity, health problems and cultural dislocation.Dawson, p. 117; Farish and Lackenbauer, pp. 537–539.
High modernism is exemplified in the writings of Clement Greenberg, who described an opposition between "avant-garde" art and "kitsch" in his essay Avant-Garde and Kitsch.Clement Greenberg, Avant-Garde and Kitsch Composer Milton Babbitt's well-known essay "Who Cares if You Listen" describes "efficiency", an increase in "the number of functions associated with each component", "a high degree of contextuality and autonomy", and an "extension of the methods of other musics" as being among the traits possessed by contemporary serious music,Milton Babbitt, "Who Cares if You Listen" (originally in High Fidelity, Feb. 1958) though the words "modernism" and "modernist" do not occur in the article, and "modern" occurs only in a quotation with reference to Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.
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