In “The Passing of Traditional Society,” Lerner examines the process of modernization. He writes of Tosun’s account of the Chief and the Grocer to juxtapose the dichotomy between “the traditional Turkish values” and the new modern, national and global values of “an expansive world” (Lerner 23). The Chief is solely focused on the local issues about “women and cows” surrounding his town of Balgat. His ancestral heritage supports his authority, and the townspeople respect him and those traditional values of “obedience, courage, loyalty” that he represents. In contrast, the Grocer wants to “get out of his hole” and preferably move to a city for a more urbane life. His authority is based on his necessity as the only merchant in town who understands how the markets in Ankara work. The Grocer is focused on the larger national and global issues of  “a different world, an expansive world, populated more actively with imaginings and fantasies” (23). The one point of transition between these two worlds symbolized by the Chief and the Grocer is the use of the media, and, in particular, the radio. The radio, as a forms of communication, allows the Chief to begin to hear the national and global news, in this way, bringing the modern world into that of the traditional. Fascinatingly, this method of modernization works, as in 4 years, there were “over 100 radio receivers in Balgat” (34). Although the positive or negative outcome of such modernization can be debated (“the ancient village…had passed”), Lerner demonstrates the shift in modernization is due to a change in local to global communication and an interest in the larger world.