High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a `pre-modern` or `traditional` to a `modern` society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by societies that have achieved modernity. While it may theoretically be possible for some societies to make the transition in entirely different ways, there have been no counterexamples provided by reliable sources.