The Consequences of Modernity Anthony Giddens POLITY PRESS - PDF document

The Consequences of Modernity Anthony Giddens POLITY PRESS I shall epistemological over- tones. In doing, I discussions, in which these simply say which emerged in seventeenth century onwards and sociates modernity a time period the moment away in black box. in the late twentieth the opening social sciences must respond dazzling variety been suggested refer positively a new type the "information which suggest preceding state of affairs is drawing to a close ("post- modernity," "post-modernism," and so the de- upon insti- particularly those we are moving system based upon the with information. More commonly, however, these controversies for example, responsible for popularising the notion modernity, Jean-Franqois he represents shift away from attempts from faith the "grand overarching "story which we beings having post-modern outlook a plu- knowledge, in privileged place. a coherent mology is generalisable knowledge social development take a tack. The results primarily from the understand, and which seems in large invent new we have the nature of which, for certain specific reasons, poorly grasped hitherto. Rather a period post-modernity, into one in which of a quite distinct I shall develop have I have elsewhere called social development? some respects unique- all types turing the I shall its consequences us in in sociology, as integrally involved with the their cultural orientation, the debates and post- for the sociological positions. Using these this study character- isation both of the nature of modernity and of the post- the current The a smoothly course a familiar stressed in the term no par- historical materialism, undoubtedly are discontinuities the emer- discontinuities, associated with the modern have swept order, in quite intensionality the involved in more profound change characteristic they globe; in they have alter some the traditional modern, and whole cloth; is well gross a fashion. changes occurring dramatic and we get only limited assistance from knowledge of periods of transition social evolutionism one of the dernity has often been fully which stress the importance as hav- Evolutionary theories indeed represent "grand narratives," told in "story line" which im- picture upon human hap- isolated cultures through the and pastoral the formation societies in the evolutionary narrative, deconstruct- ing its only helps the task an- alysing modernity, the debate post-modern. History does the "totalised" form more influential in thought than teleological philosophies others take their prime objects Deconstruct- ing means accepting can- But it written. There are definite episodes transition, for whose character can be ge- neralisations can made? we identify which sep- from the features are the sheer pace of which the era modernity sets tion. Traditional have been considerably more dynamic but the ra- in conditions most obvious in respect crash across third feature modern institutions. found in prior historical the nation-state, production upon inanimate the thoroughgoing only have a specious continuity pre-existing social settlements often they have from them. different principles from those which set the pre-modern from the countryside Danger, Trust and Risk want to upon the security versus everyone living in closing years century can a double- phenomenon. The their worldwide a secure system. But modernity also in the the "opportunity both saw the modern one. But each modern era outweighed its schisms in the capitalistic order, same time industrialism would fulfilling social life, integrated through moral individualism. the most the three the modern which material was obtained the cost crushed in- anticipate how turn out example, all three work had degrading consequences, subjecting dull, repetitive la- it was the furthering production" would large-scale destructive in relation the material environment. large in the thought incorporated sociologists today it hard systematic appraisal second example the consolidated power, particularly as in episodes The arbitrary political power sociological founders sometimes having echoes the present, Marx's the rule the wake locaust, Stalinism, other episodes twentieth- century history, being foreclosed them. Totalitari- distinct from all the result. Totalitarian rule connects more concen- before the military power general phe- a further point. Durkheim the horrendous First World Durkheim died before the reached its conclusion. shattered the antici- pation industrial order would naturally industrialism and within the intellectual sociology. Weber gave military power in did either Marx or the military shifting the of the atic attention to the phenomenon "industrialisa- tion twentieth centuries could the invention weaponry.* But the connecting of industrial in- and organisation military power origins of industri- this went the strength modernity would tially pacific, the militarism char- previous ages. confrontation, but the modernity in the the century war, with 1914, of the a prediction, influenced laborator of a war erupts in spreading through- the war, a terrible is used, constructed a radio- substance called Carolinum. cities, causing chaos follows, a world republic is set in which being considerably higher preceding centuries. the present tury thus IOO million people have been killed in century, even allowing limited nuclear fought, the be staggering, might eradicate which we gerous one. This has the assumption would lead social order. is much modernity. In doing, we make good limitations which have affect sociological Sociology is broad and it as a whole are But we widely held the continuing impact social theory in sociology, which inhibit a satisfac- the institutional with the sociological analysis, "so- the connections which such knowledge traditions in including those stemming Weber, have overriding dynamic in interpret- the major transformative shaping the mod- ern world is capitalism. agrarian production based in is replaced national and international scope, in terms of which indefinite variety material goods but human labour in both its economic stitutions. The investment-profit- which, combined with the the rate decline, brings for the viewpoint was strongly influenced sociological analy- the tradition traced the modern institutions the impact the central industrial order, and some saw as social life a complex the industrial exploita- a capitalist, dustrial order. industrial order, respects his view is closer "Rational capital- it, comprises the economic including the commodi- "capitalism" in means something from the term as Marx's the organisation activities, in a capitalist shaping the rationalised control characteristic? I shall answered in form-that is regard these as characterisations. Modernity, I propose, these various some part. "society" occupies a focal position in much sociological discourse. "Society" is ambiguous notion, "social association" a distinct social rela- here only with the basic fashion in the dominant sociological perspectives. While the term forma- tion" the connotation systemw is similar. particularly those con- with the ciety is bound up with the virtually every opens-"sociology is the study contemporary writers "super- which individual properly dis- awe. But is very broadly accepted. have reservations the notion utilised in sociological as the study in mind associated with mo- dernity. In them, they systems, which have Now, understood in this although a casually employ instead the the character nation- is rarely directly theorised. In explicating the nation-state-a type nity which a radical second reason concerns certain theoretical interpre- have been with the the most the "problem the interpretation integration-what holds the system together interest which would think it way.'' should reformulate the question a problem about that social systems time and problem of time-space distanciation-the conditions connect pres- absence. This tinguished from the "boundedness" some respects defined boundedness. such societies also interwoven tions which sociopolitical system the cultural "nation." Virtually societies were as bounded as Agrarian civilisations geographers, while and gath- societies normally shaded into other dis- the most social systems must look in some modern institutions "situated" in to identify some modernity as a otherwise divergent forms as generating knowledge which can the inter- this theme are sociology supplies in- formation about which can give us over social physical provide in relates; such knowledge can technological fashion intervene in social taken a them, the idea make history" inert sub- through the self- social agents. undeniably more its conception relation between sociology its subject understood instead hermeneutic."" of sociological knowledge agentsy on the hand, notions coined in meta- routinely reenter were initially social world. Sociological knowledge spirals and out one in which there parallel track the accumulation ical knowledge on the more ex- social development on the other. which deal with ex- beings) does the same knowledge claims the social world channeled, either powerful groups the practical impact sociological theories shall develop the some detail grasp the from existing so- ciological perspectives in account for the extreme dynamism and glob- alising scope institutions and explain the their discontinuities from shall come institutions later, all posing the question: the sources distinguished in formulating answer, each which is relevant the dynamic "world- modern institutions. from the tion of time their recombination in forms which permit the life; the disembedding social systems which connects closely with the factors involved in time- and the dering of social relations in the actions analyse detail (which initial look beginning with between mo- of time drawing some contrasts the pre-modern pre-modern cultures the cal- The calendar, for example, was as dis- the invention the time reckoning formed the certainly for the majority the pop- linked time with the time socio-spatial markers: either connected _ the mechanical and its diffusion virtually all phenomenon which dates its earliest from the eighteenth century) in the time from space. The dock uniform dimension "empty" time, permit the (e.g., the "working day").'2 Time was still connected with space place) until time measurement the mechanical was matched organisa- tion time. This shift the expansion modernity and standard- isation the approach zooo," a global event. Different but are within a and purposes across regions. the latter the nineteenth century, different within a the borders states the chaotic.13 has causal over it. the control "empty space" the separation between these often used as more synonymous with is best conceptualised activity as geographically." In societies, space coincide, since are, for most the popula- localised activities. fostering relations tween "absent" others, face-to-face interaction. of place becomes increasingly shaped in terms of social quite distant from is the distanciated relations which determine its space from place is of time, with the have always been readily available producing uniform time. The de- velopment of "empty space" is linked privileged locale which forms a "remote" regions Western travelers explorers was necessary basis perspective played geographical position established space a unilinear development, in which there are like all dialectical features, characteristics. Moreover, from space the example the timetable. trains run, temporal chart. a time-space freight across large Why the separation time and the extreme the prime disem- bedding which shall shortly through the tween social "embedding" in depend upon coordination This phenomenon ifold possibilities gearing mechanisms for social life, organisation. Organisations (including the rather static, inertial quality but more have a dynamism with pre-modern orders. organisations are which would have been unthinkable in more traditional many millions radical historicity associated with moder- upon modes space unavailable stimulus with the but the modern institutions a fundamentally new impetus. standardised dating unitary past, however much today taken for granted, the time and form a world-historical frame- action and Disem bedding Let me the disembedding social systems. of social relations from Sociologists have the transition the modern The movement from small-scale systems civ- ilisations sification. Various objections can tion. It "boundary problem" often depends More important the present discussion, however, is the fact that it address the not the phenomenon brack- 2 1 better able capture the shifting alignments mentary importance for social change in general intrinsically involved in institutions. The interchange which be "passed juncture. Various be distinguished, The nature been widely discussed in so- nomics. In the content Money permits the ex- the goods substantive qualities common with Marx's subsequent distinction makes possible the second these because its role "pure most far-reaching between money modernity, however, is shortly, upon it of a disembedding mechanism. In a concern the social &aracter Luhmann in more times. Par- sons is dominant author money is several types media" in modern and lan- Neither power mechanisms. Power of social general have never been this question. main emphases upon the the rigorous j thought in Leon Walras exist."18 all distinguishes between j money of account and money pr~per!~ money is identified debt. "Commodity a first along the the transforma- barter into money economy. initiated when acknowledgments f the settlement trans- t a "spontaneous acknowledgment 1 can be issued bank and 1 ; recognition of a private be- diffused. This movement the intervention pre-modern civilisations in which money existed. Even means here the pre- modern era, was made words, in the shape the means defined above all taking the form infor- where these concern mation as figures in a computer interchanges. It this reason wrong metaphor see money, as Parsons does, as a cir- relates money time." deferral, providing in a modern economic the large liability in circumstances where immediate ex- etary transactions impossible. Money, say, is the conventional bracketing time and so as a essentially mis- leading2' the terms introduced earlier, money tion expressed directly in terms time-space distanciation. Money from this the greater the between agents separated in the same The spatial implications time. In would mean the role of associated with portional the individual . . . the profit LIOO could equally of transferred to is0 or ~IO. Money does place does it guarantee to property and the owner, accurately, time-space) as a spatial separation, as a coupling . . . The power bridge distances enables the absence. In R. S. so far apart that action as a extent than the period the owner and change sessions still direct mutual when every from another, in settlement one." transaction.7723 disembeddedness provided the disembedding mechanisms is vastly was the not attempt the developed money econ- 24 2s the character the disembedding the most characteristic forms capitalistic markets (including relatively early "Money proper" is integral which these property ownership in modern trust. Trust with the institutions monetary tokens never meets, money as which is the persons particular transactions are consider the a little later. the moment ties between money and trust Simmel. Like monetary transactions "public confi- issuing government." confidence in money knowledge" involved would bear grain following year in previous money involves a calculation the reliability exists, Simmel a certain in the surrender this conception, which may upon particular them.''24 in short, a form confidence vested in something rather I shall elaborate upon this later involved in modern institutions case rest partial under- Let us the nature I mean technical accomplishment which we today." Most laypersons consult "professionals"-lawyers, ar- I a periodic regular fashion. systems in I 1 influence many sitting in i I involved in an expert sys- which I i i going upstairs the structure might collapse. the codes knowledge used the architect builder in and construction 1 nonetheless have they have I "faith" is not so much in their competence, the authenticity the ex- knowledge which they apply-something which usually check exhaustively settings which are thoroughly permeated traffic lights, items. Everyone driving a entailing the I accept upon the aforesaid expertise min- as far as have very little knowledge how the car have minimal which help control the When I a plane, disembedding mechanisms in common with they remove from the disembedding mechanism presume, yet as the which they in the symbolic tokens, distan- social systems the impersonal tests applied evaluate technical knowledge public critique the production technical knowledge control its in expert these processes knowledge they be oversimplified. "weak inductive knowledge" is in the confidence which element in systems generally there are often above professional systems- bodies which licence machines, keep a watch aircraft manufacturers, this, however, disembed- the notion trust and how trust time- in ordinary lan- g~age.~~ term, while they slight in impli- means little more the polite enquiry are in "trust" carries a hope and reliability which When someone says, "Trust this implication pronounced, al- "weak inductive knowledge." It is recognised be relied produce the But these usages are for the matters issue in designations referring the behaviour others; the "faith" which in its deeper it as "confidence in some quality a person definition provides which, following Sim- already spoken. While recognising Luhmann makes a Trust, he a term which in the modern The notion our own "Risk" largely replaces fortuna (fortune or fate) and be- "The found its in the teenth century and probably danger or to go a rock. Trust presupposes does not. a more taken-for- familiar things will remain The normal break down the street your Sunday without forming expectations neglect, more the pos- but also do not permanent uncertainty to withdraw expectations without anything with them?' Where trust is involved, in Luhmann's borne in buys a car, instead a new one, chasing a He or she places the reputation avoid this occurrence. whereas someone those alternatives the risks engages in a person reacts others; in must partly regret having placed trust and whether the previous behaviour upon a correlate discrimination between the notion relatively recent in holds, the possibility danger must from social characteristics which affect created, rather important and a number conceptual discriminations content with conceptualisa- tion. trust and danger, as one another. the notion circumstances in which individuals alternative courses much more a continuous state than a particular something distinct from it. refrain from action run no ri~k"'~-in ing (potentially) some risks which Moreover, there intrinsic connection between risks involved in ing the Atlantic for example, are consid- erably greater large ocean liner because the element danger in- I propose trust and differently. For ease shall set involved as ten points which include absence in time anyone whose activities were continually whose workings were wholly understood. It has coping with prime condition requirements for bound up, contingency. Trust always carries liability in contingent outcomes, whether these tems. In is why the individual is given. same as faith faith. Trust and it which distinguishes "weak inductive confidence based upon some 3 3 of which degree relevant faith in concerns their proper working operation as At this point we reach confidence in regarding a confidence expresses a faith in the (technical knowledge). the con- general awareness activity- including within this phrase the created, rather divine influence; increased transformative the dynamic modern social institutions. The risk replaces fortuna, between risk alteration in the religious cos- chance, in its the same Danger and not the consciously weighs presumes is danger, where takes a "calculated risk" specific course is certainly possible individuals involved being risky they are. In the dangers and trust normally serving of activity some circumstances patterns of institutionalised, within rounding frameworks dangerous sports). factors upon normally risk and there is virtually always balance between trust and the calculation is seen as "ac- ferent contexts, with running per pas- senger mile. Risk is individual action. There the face the earth, as the risk of may define "se- curity" as a situation in which usually rests upon a balance of trust and acceptable risk. its factual its experiential large aggregates including global 10. foregoing observations not, I these points of- fer much concerning shall discuss these some detail settings. Indeed, some have argued are so tightly interlaced as any generalised valueless. But we can a fundamental sense in which "keep in touch" with the grounds integral element have called this elsewhere the chronic in~olved.~' action does Erving Goffman above us, never-to-be-relaxed-monitoring behav- iour and contexts. This connected with modernity, although cultures, the past because they generations. Tradition grating the action with the time- space, which inserts experience within the continuity past, present, recurrent so- cial practices. Tradition be reinvented each new generation inheritance from preceding it. Tradition a context which there and spatial mark- have any these cultures are the understand tradition, as distinct from or- action and experience, demands possible with the writing. Writing expands the in which the knowledge can from designated tradition. However, in pre-modern civilisations time the "past" is much more down than the routinisation daily life remains bound with tradition in the old the advent takes on ferent character. tem reproduction, and action stantly refracted back upon routinisa- tion intrinsic connections the past all, save because it do; tradition in the light knowledge which with the this means the most modernised generally much upon the integra- tradition and the contemporary sham clothing its identity from the modern social in the fact social practices constantly examined and the light incoming information constitutively altering their character. be clear this phenomenon. are partly constituted on" in Witt- genstein's sense is intrinsic the conventions all cul- tures, social practices the light them. But only in convention radicalised all aspects ing technological intervention the material world. often said appetite for not an of the new its own sake, but the presumption course includes upon the reflection itself. only now, in the late twentieth full sense settling this outlook when the placed those than that so long as do not modernity actually subverts reason, but the equation knowledge with certitude has be misconceived. thoroughly constituted through the same most staunchly Karl Popper, ac- science rests sand."32 certain, and with the most dependable information can aspire. the world modernity floats under conditions "old" sense, applies equally the social In the case social science, however, point the observations made social sciences, unsettled character empirically based knowledge to add the "sub- version" which comes from the social scientific the contexts the social sciences formalised version quite fundamental modernity as a between the Enlighten- usually been as the preeminent endeavour distinguishing the modern outlook favour interpretative sociology have normally seen social science technological development scientific discoveries. in modernity science, since social practices in the light instit~tions?~ social sciences lation, although sociology has example the "investment," "markets," "industry," their modern early development as a distinct discipline in the early nineteenth centu- These concepts, empirical conclusions linked them, were formulated in analyse changes in- the emergence modern institutions. not, and separated from the activ- they related. They have become inseparable from economic activity would for the fact all members have mastered these concepts and an provide formal account in practical mastery Concepts such as the theories whereby agents more clearly able they could They actively undertaken. There and that through in in the busi- 5 and members economic environment in the inputs, thus creating a situation involvement between economic dis- sociology in from its upon modern Let us 1 statistics published governments concern- studying social with precision. the pi- such as Durkheim, statistics represented hard data, in terms evant aspects societies can where such are lacking. analytical characteristics the social uni- from which they From its statistics has administrative con- inseparable from which all temporary states endeavour, permeated have utilised the basis suicide statistics. causes/motives however, coroners are guided theories which a coroner the state. Anyone in instance, knows rates are however imperfectly a great deal more the demog- divorce might marry, as as decisions considerations-provi- divorce, moreover, normally much more a brute ways pervaded sociological thinking. some idea changing, changes ative social women, al- in sexual mores, etc.-all change which they day were they "psy- discourse of sociology concepts, theories, continually "cir- out" what it their subject which itself itself deeply intrinsically sociological. the professional cial life, fact that step ahead the disci- more knowledge buttressed empirically be) equals greater true about social events. produce a more illuminating grasp tions and, increasing "technological" life were about it the reasons social action, the "ra- specific needs. in fact totalising impact which the inheritance out as goal. This the least the least The appropriation knowledge does homogeneous fashion, often differentially available those in power it in the concerns the are not tions in the social world. knowledge could bear upon apply. But from inputs mobile relation changes in value The third factor of unintended conse- of accumulated knowledge social life could encompass all circumstances its im- were wholly from the environment which it applied. the social world better, the scope unintended consequences might come more and unwanted conse- quences rare. life blocks this possibility ence involved. Although least Enlightenment reason, it signifi-', % . .- the others. \. stable social world * its unstable directly involved the continual generating self- knowledge, does stabilise the relation between expert knowledge and knowledge applied observers (in some and in rejoins its subject matter, thus also normally practice) altering all the same as in the the intervention observer changes can connect the the debates "Post- post-modernism, post-industrial etc. Although the idea rate:4 explicated, the other two cepts mentioned are not. I draw a means anything, ments within literature, painting, the plastic arts, and concerns aspects Although sometimes designated, modernism able outlook various areas and might other currents separate work written on this Post-modernity refers something different, the notion. into a post-modernity, this means the trajectory from the towards a distinct type cogent form, might ex- does post-modernity ordinarily from the general through a marked disparity from the the term have discovered known with since all pre-existing "foundations" epistemology have been plausibly be with the increasing promi- and perhaps generally. Scarcely anyone today identify post-modernity with it was once Pushing this transition from centre stage, in fact, the main factors has prompted the possible dissolution nity, given Marx's all dismiss as unworthy serious intel- lectual consideration the that no knowl- social development possible. hold such it inchoate in the first place), write a book possibility would intellectual activity physical ex- Whatever the absence foundationalism in temology implies, more plausible might look differences between philosophers, there which they converge. modernity the "history" can identified as them, this in the in the cumulative stock Each finds from the foun- the Enlightenment the vantage better- founded claims. They therefore "critical overcoming" so central the Enlightenment transition from mo- however, faces post-modernity as superseding mo- thing which (now) to some coherence was the principal post- modernity from modernity, phenomenon supposedly saw all this almost a a breakthrough without, as he said, doing any- thing more uncovering the hidden presuppositions the Enlightenment itself? the conclusion the break significant divide the mid- surely makes sense this as "moder- nity coming the over- this in shall label providential outlooks. Enlight- culture in general, emerged which emphasised achievement of grace. Divine of Christian thought. the Enlightenment would possible in the first unfettered reason reshaped the ideas the providential, rather displacing it. certainty (divine another (the observation), and providence was Moreover, the providential reason coincided European dominance the world. The growth European power provided, as the material the assump- the world was founded base which provided security from the dogma of nihilism were from the the sphere knowledge can the most notions regarded as would relapse separate from the which determines in the Although most regarded the most dependable we can Enlightenment thinkers "evidence" is in principle suspect. could never wholly secure base claims. Given the greater awareness today theoretical categories, philo- thought has empiricism. Moreover, since Nietzsche the circularity reason, as problematic relations taking us they provide fuller understanding of the ' the nature puz- / zling. How can we justify a commitment to reason in the I I was the : stumbled across this E - tradition and dogma from / Modernity turns and there in which this questions where shall argue subsequently that it the phenomenon anxieties which / press in on everyone. with the have referred earlier, there detailed discussion intrinsic form to an (such as the idea direction). History equated with "historicity," the second distinctively bound with the Marx's historical materialism mistakenly with the tributes a false unity historical development fails adequately discern the special qualities were well covered in LCvi-Strauss and Sartre.37 make history" dernity's reflexivity. Even dating, the charting coding temporality. historicity. It as the shape the but it contrary, historicity means the the past breaking with manner.38 fact orients regarded as conditional upon action un- possibilities in a fun- time-space "stretch" which con- ditions modernity make ~'Futuro1ogy"-the charting of possible/likely/available important than past. Each disembedding mechanism men- a future orientationof this sort. break with history, the together with counterfactual future-oriented thought the "emp- change, are so dif- from the core perspectives Enlightenment as to warrant which hampers an accurate understanding nature and disjunctions which taken place should be seen resulting from modern thought, as the tradition and are cleared moved beyond modernity but are through a phase its radicalisation. or Western global he- modern institutions influences involved here. latter part the nineteenth cen- a context, the phrase usually referred historical change, simply seen cated civilisation among others world. Civilisations have their periods as they others, the global power alters. one civilisation have sug- gested above. the world the diminishing the institutions a result global spread. which gave was founded upon the the four institutional modernity I shall distinctly differentiates globalisation, a term which social sci- changes often new social I shall try However, we various theories have been shall analyse post- modernity as immanent transitions distinguished subsequently. social universe, still see few glimpses which di- those fostered this analysis, seen why most conspicuous features-the dissolution evolutionism, the disappearance together with posi- tion a new still refers primarily living in industrialised sectors whose implications are felt everywhere. are now a position have been with the temporal and spatial mechanisms. These out" social reorgan- social relations large time-space The reflexive systematic knowledge rolling social three features why living modern world like being a careering juggernaut shall develop in more detail later) rather is intrinsically disembed- mechanisms provide this extension lifting social "situatedness" in spe- disembedding mechanisms be represented confidence based weak inductive (protection against dangers) can relation between trust and disembedding remains consider circumstances usually be social ac- is filtered the double her- originally referred. Subsequently we shall trace the implications these features for the risk found social world. Institutional Dimensions Earlier I mentioned look for a in modern significance today. is based mistaken premises, a certain reductionism involved- either industrialism seen as a subtype versa. In such reductionism, capitalism and industrialism "organ- dimensions involved in the institu- I shall the relation between private propertyless wage this relation form- main axis class system. Capitalist enterprise production for being signals for investors, producers,