Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order

by Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens, Scott Lash

The theme of reflexivity has come to be central to social analysis. In this book three prominent social thinkers discuss the implications of "reflexive modernization" for social and cultural theory today. Ulrich Beck's vision of the "risk society" has already become extraordinarily influential. Beck offers a new elaboration of his basic ideas, connecting reflexive modernization with new issues to do with the state and political organization. Giddens offers an in-depth examination of the connections between "institutional reflexivity" and the de-traditionalizing of the modern world. We are entering, he argues, a phase of the development of a global society. A "global society" is not a world society, but one with universalizing tendencies. Lash develops the theme of reflexive modernization in relation the aesthetics and the interpretation of culture. In this domain, he suggests, we need to look again at the conventional theories of postmodernism; "aesthetic modernization" has distinctive qualities that need to be uncovered and analyzed. In the concluding sections of the book, the three authors offer critical appraisals of each other's viewpoints, providing a synthetic conclusion to the work as a whole.

Genres: Sociology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory

228 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Ulrich Beck was a German sociologist. He coined the term risk society and was a professor of Sociology at Munich University and the London School of Economics.

Reviews

[A. Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Lash's section in this book is an excellent interpretation of the work of three of the key thinkers on agency and structure in late modernity--Giddens, Beck and Bourdieu. Lash, without being too reductionist, examines the role of reflexivity in their work, contrasts the work on 'structuration' by Giddens and Bourdieu, and posits his own notion of 'aesthetic reflexivity,' rooted in thinkers like Benjamin and Adorno.

[Heli Miranda ahumada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gran libro.