The Dark Side of Modernity (eBook)

Jeffrey C. Alexander (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2013
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-0-7456-7651-7 (ISBN)

Infos

In this book, one of the world's leading social theorists
presents a critical, alarmed, but also nuanced understanding of the
post-traditional world we inhabit today. Jeffrey Alexander writes
about modernity as historical time and social condition, but also
as ideology and utopia. The idea of modernity embodies the
Enlightenment's noble hopes for progress and rationality, but
its reality brings great suffering and exposes the destructive
impulses that continue to motivate humankind.

Alexander examines how twentieth-century theorists struggled to
comprehend the Janus-faced character of modernity, which looks
backward and forward at the same time. Weber linked the triumph of
worldly asceticism to liberating autonomy but also ruthless
domination, describing flights from rationalization as systemic and
dangerous. Simmel pointed to the otherness haunting modernity, even
as he normalized the stranger. Eisenstadt celebrated Axial Age
transcendence, but acknowledged its increasing capacity for
barbarity. Parsons heralded American community, but ignored
modernity's fragmentations.

Rather than seeking to resolve modernity's contradictions,
Alexander argues that social theory should accept its Janus-faced
character. It is a dangerous delusion to think that modernity can
eliminate evil. Civil inclusion and anti-civil exclusion are
intertwined. Alexander enumerates dangerous frictions endemic to
modernity, but he also suggests new lines of social amelioration
and emotional repair.

Autor

Jeffrey C. Alexander is the Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University and a co-director of the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale.

Inhalt

CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: Social Theory between Progress and Apocalypse

Chapter 2: Autonomy and Domination: Weber's Cage

Chapter 3: Barbarism and Modernity: Eisenstadt's
Regret

Chapter 4: Integration and Justice: Parsons' Utopia

Chapter 5: Despising Others: Simmel's Stranger

Chapter 6: Meaning Evil

Chapter 7: De-civilizing the Civil Sphere

Chapter 8: Psychotherapy as Central Institution

Chapter 9: The Frictions of Modernity and their Possible
Repair

Notes

Bibliography

Rezensionen

"Jeffery Alexander's The dark side of modernity (2013) is an eclectic collection of essays written over 25 years and spanning from discussions on a few key theorists - including Weber, Simmel, Eisenstadt, and Parsons - to engagements with some of the central themes of modernity... its greatest contribution is that it allows us to reconsider some of the founding debates of our discipline."
Information, Communication & Society

"Alexander greatly contributes to social theory by demonstrating the two sides of the coin of modernity in his explanation to diverse approaches and various thinkers in the field."
Review of Social Studies

"This book offers a highly engaging and insightful overview of modernity"
Political Studies Review

"No major figure in American social theory has reached so far beyond regional traditions to reinvent the language by which we interpret culture, politics, and the dilemmas of modernity. The Dark Side of Modernity collects superb essays representative of Jeff Alexander's special gift for clear expression, unflinching criticism, and creative thinking."
Charles Lemert, Center for Comparative Research, Sociology, Yale University

"Modernity has had its critics from the beginning, but social science in general and sociology in particular have mainly supported the idea that it is a 'good thing.' Few were willing to look squarely at the dark side of modernity, Weber being a partial exception. Jeffrey Alexander has looked unflinchingly at the dark side, not holding it to be the only truth about modernity, but an inescapable aspect of it. His new book is indispensable for anyone who wants to look at modernity whole."
Robert Bellah, University of California, Berkeley and coauthor of Habits of the Heart

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 16.4.2013
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeine Soziologie
• Schlagworte: barbarism • Cage • Condition • contents • Critical • embodies • Historical • hopes • Ideology • Introduction • Jeffrey Alexander • leading • Moderne u. Postmoderne • Modernity • Modernity & Postmodernity • posttraditional world • Progress • Social • Sociology • Soziologie • Theorists • theory between • Time • Today • webers • Worlds
• ISBN-10: 0-7456-7651-0 / 0745676510
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-7651-7 / 9780745676517