Modernity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Modern life" redirects here. For the french film, see Modern Life (film).
Sociology

History

Outline

Portal

Theory

Positivism

Antipositivism

Functionalism

Conflict theories

Social constructionism

Structuralism

Interactionism

Critical theory

Structure and agency

Actor-network theory

Methods

Quantitative

Qualitative

Historical

Mathematical

Computational

Ethnography

Ethnomethodology

Network analysis

Subfields

Conflict

Criminology

Culture

Development

Deviance

Demography

Education

Economic

Environmental

Family

Gender

Health

Industrial

Inequality

Knowledge

Law
Literature

Medical

Military

Organizational

Political

Race & ethnicity

Religion

Rural
Science

Social change

Social movements

Social psychology

Stratification

STS
Technology

Urban

Browse

Bibliography

Index
Journals
Organizations

People

Timeline

Human history

Prehistory

Recorded history

Ancient

Earliest records

Africa

Americas

East Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Mediterranean

Near East

Postclassical

Africa

Americas

Central Asia

East Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Europe
Middle East

Modern

Early modern

Modern

Contemporary

See also

Modernity

Futurology

Future

Modernity is a term of art used in the humanities and social sciences to designate both a
historical period (the modern era), as well as the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms,
attitudes and practices that arose in post-medieval Europe and have developed since, in
various ways and at various times, around the world. While it includes a wide range of
interrelated historical processes and cultural phenomena (from fashion to modern warfare), it
can also refer to the subjective or existential experience of the conditions they produce, and
their ongoing impact on human culture, institutions, and politics (Berman 2010, 1536).
As a historical category, modernity refers to a period marked by a questioning or rejection
of tradition; the prioritization ofindividualism, freedom and formal equality; faith in inevitable
social, scientific and technological progress and human
perfectibility; rationalization and professionalization; a movement
from feudalism (or agrarianism) toward capitalism and the market
economy; industrialization, urbanization and secularization; the development of the nationstate and its constituent institutions (e.g. representative democracy, public education,
modern bureaucracy) and forms of surveillance(Foucault 1995, 17077). Some writers have
suggested there is more than one possible modernity, given the unsettled nature of the term
and of history itself.
Charles Baudelaire is credited with coining the term "modernity" (modernit) in his 1864
essay "The Painter of Modern Life," to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in
an urban metropolis, and the responsibility art has to capture that experience. In this sense,
it refers to a particular relationship to time, one characterized by intense historical
discontinuity or rupture, openness to the novelty of the future, and a heightened sensitivity to
what is unique about the present (Kompridis 2006, 3259).
As an analytical concept and normative ideal, modernity is closely linked to the ethos of
philosophical and aestheticmodernism; political and intellectual currents that intersect with
the Enlightenment; and subsequent developments as diverse
as Marxism, existentialism, modern art and the formal establishment of social science. It also
encompasses the social relations associated with the rise of capitalism, and shifts in
attitudes associated with secularisation and post-industrial life (Berman 2010, 1536).
Contents
[hide]

1Etymology

2Phases of modernity

3Defining modernity
o

3.1Politically

3.2Sociologically

3.3Culturally and philosophically

3.4Secularization

3.5Scientifically

3.6Artistically

3.7Theologically

4Modernity defined

5See also

6Content notes

7References

8Further reading

9External links

Etymology[edit]
The term "modern" (Latin modernus from modo, "just now") dates from the 5th century,
originally distinguishing the Christian era from the Pagan era. In the 6th century
AD, Cassiodorus appears to have been the first writer to use "modern" (modernus) regularly
to refer to his own age (O'Donnell 1979, 235 n9). However, the word entered general usage
only in the 17th-centuryquarrel of the Ancients and the Modernsdebating: "Is Modern
culture superior to Classical (GrcoRoman) culture?"a literary and artistic quarrel within
theAcadmie franaise in the early 1690s.
In these usages, "modernity" denoted the renunciation of the recent past, favouring a new
beginning, and a re-interpretation of historical origin. The distinction between "modernity"
and "modern" did not arise until the 19th century (Delanty 2007).
[which?]

A related word in English which conveys a similar meaning is model, as in someone who
exhibits fashion. Likewise, modernity can be considered the fashion of societies, cultures,
and civilizations, which is constantly being brought "up to date", that is, forced by the flow
of time to refashion itself.

Phases of modernity[edit]
Modernity has been associated with cultural and intellectual movements of 14361789 and
extending to the 1970s or later (Toulmin 1992, 35).
According to one of Marshall Berman (1982, 1617), modernity is periodized into three
conventional phases (dubbed "Early," "Classical," and "Late," respectively, by Peter Osborne
(1992, 25)):

Early modernity: 15001789 (or 14531789 in traditional historiography)

Classical modernity: 17891900 (corresponding to the long 19th century (1789

1914) in Hobsbawm's scheme)

Late modernity: 19001989

In the second phase Berman draws upon the growth of modern technologies such as the
newspaper, telegraph and other forms of mass media. There was a great shift into
modernization in the name of industrial capitalism. Finally in the third phase, modernist arts
and individual creativity marked the beginning of a new modernist age as it combats
oppressive politics, economics as well as other social forces including mass media (Laughey
2007, 30).
[citation needed]

Some authors, such as Lyotard and Baudrillard,

believe that modernity ended in the
mid- or late 20th century and thus have defined a period subsequent to modernity,
namely Postmodernity (1930s/1950s/1990spresent). Other theorists, however, regard the
period from the late 20th century to the present as merely another phase of
modernity; Zygmunt Bauman (1989)
calls this phase "Liquid" modernity, Giddens (1998)
labels it "High" modernity (see High modernism).
[citation needed]

[page needed]

[page needed]

Defining modernity[edit]
Politically[edit]
Politically, modernity's earliest phase starts with Niccol Machiavelli's works which openly
rejected the medieval and Aristotelian style of analyzing politics by comparison with ideas
about how things should be, in favour of realistic analysis of how things really are. He also
proposed that an aim of politics is to control one's own chance or fortune, and that relying
upon providence actually leads to evil. Machiavelli argued, for example, that violent divisions
within political communities are unavoidable, but can also be a source of strength which lawmakers and leaders should account for and even encourage in some ways (Strauss 1987).
Machiavelli's recommendations were sometimes influential upon kings and princes, but
eventually came to be seen as favoring free republics over monarchies (Rahe 2006, 1).
Machiavelli in turn influenced Francis Bacon (Kennington 2004, chapt. 4
), Marchamont
Needham (Rahe 2006, chapt. 1
), James Harrington (Rahe 2006, chapt. 1
), John
Milton (Bock, Skinner, and Viroli 1990, chapt. 11
), David Hume (Rahe 2006, chapt.
4
), and many others (Strauss 1958).
[page needed]

[page needed]

[page needed]

[page needed]

[page needed]

Important modern political doctrines which stem from the new Machiavellian realism
include Mandeville's influential proposal that "Private Vices by the dextrous Management of
a skilful Politician may be turned into Publick Benefits (the last sentence of his Fable of the
Bees), and also the doctrine of a constitutional "separation of powers" in government, first
clearly proposed by Montesquieu. Both these principles are enshrined within
the constitutions of most modern democracies. It has been observed that while Machiavelli's
realism saw a value to war and political violence, his lasting influence has been "tamed" so
that useful conflict was deliberately converted as much as possible to formalized political
struggles and the economic "conflict" encouraged between free, private enterprises (Rahe
2006, chapt. 5
; Mansfield 1989).
[page needed]

Starting with Thomas Hobbes, attempts were made to use the methods of the new modern
physical sciences, as proposed by Bacon and Descartes, applied to humanity and politics
(Berns 1987). Notable attempts to improve upon the methodological approach of Hobbes
include those of John Locke (Goldwin 1987), Spinoza(Rosen 1987), Giambattista Vico
(1984, xli), and Rousseau (1997, part 1). David Hume made what he considered to be the
first proper attempt at trying to apply Bacon's scientific method to political subjects (Hume
1896 [1739], intro.), rejecting some aspects of the approach of Hobbes.

Modernist republicanism openly influenced the foundation of republics during the Dutch
Revolt (15681609) (Bock, Skinner, and Viroli 1990, chapt. 10,12
),English Civil
War (16421651) (Rahe 2006, chapt. 1
), American Revolution (17751783) (Rahe 2006,
chapt. 611
), the French Revolution(17891799), and the Haitian revolution (17911804). (Orwin and Tarcov 1997, chapt. 8
).
[page needed]

[page needed]

[page needed]

[page needed]

A second phase of modernist political thinking begins with Rousseau, who questioned the
natural rationality and sociality of humanity and proposed that human naturewas much more
malleable than had been previously thought. By this logic, what makes a good political
system or a good man is completely dependent upon the chance path a whole people has
taken over history. This thought influenced the political (and aesthetic) thinking of Immanuel
Kant, Edmund Burke and others and led to a critical review of modernist politics. On the
conservative side, Burke argued that this understanding encouraged caution and avoidance
of radical change. However more ambitious movements also developed from this insight into
human culture, initially Romanticism and Historicism, and eventually both
the Communism of Karl Marx, and the modern forms of nationalism inspired by the French
Revolution, including, in one extreme, the German Nazi movement (Orwin and Tarcov 1997,
chapt. 4
).
[page needed]

On the other hand, the notion modernity has been contested also due to its Euro-centric
underpinnings. This is further aggravated by the re-emergence of non-Western powers. Yet,
the contestations about modernity are also linked with our notions of democracy, social
discipline, and development (Regilme 2012, 96).

Sociologically[edit]

Cover of the original German edition of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

In sociology, a discipline that arose in direct response to the social problems of "modernity"
(Harriss 2000, 325), the term most generally refers to the social conditions, processes