High Modernism was a movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that extended rationalization and optimization processes to society itself, which had been previously untouchable by social engineers. In short, they wanted to remake society, ignoring geographic, social and cultural ties in favor of visions imposed from above. They used science, technological progress and reason as justifications for the destruction of local communities and social structures. Some high modernist writers, such as HG Wells, foresaw a future where modernization was applied to the utmost and no irrationalities, like local cultures or religion existed. Both sides of the Cold War applied this to some degree, with the Americans promoting development theory in the third world, which argued that local traditions should be wiped out in favor of Westernization imposed by local elites, and the Soviets, who planned their entire economy and society from the top down, in theory. How can this model be disrupted?