Giddens and the "detraditionalization" thesis: contrasts

Tradition(al) Post-Tradition(al)
Closed (cold, repetitive, ritualized) Open (hot, experimental, revisable)
Fate (pre-ordained) Choice (reflexivity)
Necessity Contingency
Certainty Uncertainty
Security Risk
Differentiated (or organized) cultures De-differentiated (or disorganized) cultures
The embedded (situated or sociocentric) self Disembedded (de-situated or autonomous) self
Self under control Self in control
Virtues Preferences
Past oriented Future oriented
Repetitive Novel
Traditions have moral force Morality left to the individual
Unequal access to truth (guardians) Equal access to truth (no guardians)

Important: Giddens does not contrast tradition and modernity. He believes that modernity to this
point has in fact been largely traditional, but that now we are moving into a post-traditional time.

Traditional societies are informed by belief in established, timeless orders. These orders are
rooted in past events, and are highly authoritative. They exist over and above the individual, and
as such are "sacred" in Durkheim's sense of the term. They convey the wisdom of the timeless,
and thus cannot be questioned. So, they cannot be modified as the result of some utilitarian or
other calculus.

Persons think in terms of external (supra-individual) voices of authority, control, and destiny.
There is little freedom of expression outside of the bounds of these voices and the duty that
accompanies them.

Those who hold this thesis also hold that we are in the process of detraditionalization. This:

 Involves a shift of authority from "without" to "within"

 Entails a decline of the belief in the pre-given or natural order of things.
 Voice is displaced from established sources and is now within the self.

This does not mean that traditions vanish overnight, nor that new ones are not created. Rather, it
means that "one of the most powerful legacies of classical social thought is the idea that, with the
development of modern societies, tradition gradually declines in significance and eventually
ceases to play a meaningful role in the lives of most individual's
 What do traditions do?
 Can traditions be invented?
 Can we rationally decide to adopt a tradition?
 How does tradition relate to history?
 How does tradition relate to memory?
 How does tradition relate to the past?
 What does Giddens mean when he says we are "post-traditional"?