1 Alexander's version of modernism borrows from modernisation theory.This theory held a hegemonic position within the social sciences from the 1940s to the 1960s.Modernisation theorists worked under the assumption that societies were coherently organized systems, traditional or modern, developing through evolutionary processes towards individualism, secularism, capitalism, democracy (cf.1995: 67-68).16 To understand Marxism as a 'system of thought' implies granting it a privileged position in explanations of historical phenomena.Rather than seeing it as one analytical approach among many, employing Marxism as a system of thought rests on the assumption that its explanatory validity -and superiority to other theories -is self-evident or proven.Different from this approach is the use of Marxism as a 'spirit of critique', which means to evaluate historical phenomena from a distinctive normative position.Rather than claiming its explanatory superiority, employing Marxism as a spirit of critique rests on the assumption of its evident ethical legitimacy.