Societies are constantly changing; there is no natural end to social evolution. Societies can be regarded as modernizing in the sense of continually undergoing change, but also in the sense of trying to achieve specific goals already achieved elsewhere. A society can become modernized in the latter sense by becoming more specialized or industrialized or democratic, or by improving health services or educational facilities, as long as it is assumed that it is overcoming some gap that separates it from other societies. Specialization may be the most plausible notion involved in the concept of modernization, suggesting that modernization is but another expression vaunting the good of state formation. It is doubtful whether state formation is good in itself, although it becomes necessary for smaller, less specialized units in vulnerable positions. Thus modernization, even conceived in a very minimal way as a transit from less to more specialized forms of social control, is not an end nor a good in itself. It merely calls attention to the need to create a greater equality between some societies and others without which some would remain significantly vulnerable to others. A related document is SO 007 169. (Author)