Modernization is a process of social economic and cultural transformation in which a country evolves from pre-industrial to a modern society countries follow a series of Five stages of development that all countries have to follow. The traditional society, Pre-conditions for take off, take off. The drive to maturity and high mass consumption. The modernization theory formed in response to the prescriptions of development economists that failed.

Dependency is a result of the failure of the modernization theory to address the underdevelopment of the third world countries. They are focused on the origins and subsequent development of underdevelopment. Dependency theory was created to address and fix the issue regarding lack of development which the modernization theory was unable  to address.