This paper will trace briefl y the emergence of industrial society in the West and its accompanying superstructure of complex social, economic, demographic and cultural consequences that constitute the modernised society. Modernisation has an inherent dynamic that propels it forward through a kind of Heglian dialectic into more and more progressive steps. It is argued that the same dynamic will expand into hitherto unknown territories eventually touching every part of the globe.The historical experience is that the operative dynamic can help take the modernisation process to different parts of the globe on different paths depending on each recipient country’s unique experiential circumstances. In the latter context, some issues with regard to applicability and adaptability will be highlighted.