Producing modern life

It is vital for you to read the excerpt from Giddens for the seminar next week

Print it out and bring it with you if you can – the seminar leader will not provide it)

I have provided the entire chapter on Blackboard (see the ‘Seminars’ section) but the seminar will focus on pages 8-18

An introduction to the concept of modernity and the causes of its development

The relationship between sociology, modernity and capitalism

The dark-side of modern life

What lies beyond modernity?

We examined the structure-agency dualism, considering a number of sociological theories ◦ Functionalism, Marxism, Symbolic Interactionism and

Structuration

We defined structure as the patterning arrangements that influence our capacity to act

Agency is the capacity to act otherwise

These ideas emerged within the framework of what has come to be known as ‘modernity’

Sociology itself developed with the rise of modernity

So, what is modernity?

A rejection, or supersession of ‘the traditional’, commonly conceived as feudalism and medievalism

A sense that ‘human’s are in charge’ – a rejection of the direct power of god and nature ◦ Opening up the possibility of human

agency, control of nature and governments of the people

[modernity]… is a shorthand term for modern society, or industrial civilization…

(1) a certain set of attitudes towards the world, the idea of the world as open to transformation by human intervention;

(2) a complex of economic institutions, especially industrial production and a market economy;

(3) a certain range of political institutions, including the nation-state and mass democracy.

(Conversations with Anthony Giddens, 1998, p.94).

The events, structures and ideas developed with modernity have allowed the capacity for individual choice and power, and the consequent sociological notion of agency

However, the institutional application of these principles has not only been uneven, but has also ended up with the opposite; widespread restrictions in liberty

Modernity is theoretical conception of the changes in society that occurred over the later half of the millennium and that have led to the conditions within which we currently live

The human body remains (largely) the same, but our way of understanding the human condition has been revolutionised

Socio-political revolutions and the rise of ‘the Enlightenment’;

The development of industrial society and modern capitalism;

The growth of rationality, bureaucracy and the power of science and technology;

The emergence of the nation-state and the outward spread of European societies.

Following from the earlier scientific developments of the likes of Copernicus, the 18th Century was marked by the belief in the possibility of human progress through science and rational thought

These developments were punctuated by revolutions in a number of regions ◦ France (1789) ◦ American (1775) ◦ Haiti (1791) ◦ Scottish Enlightenment (18th Century)

The positioning of the human condition as socially constructed and thus subject to change (and improvement);

Faith in the capacity of reason and rationality;

The ability to translate this capacity into technological developments capable of altering human societies;

A rejection of intolerance and blind faith that allowed for human self-development

The dominant ideas in pre-modern societies had been organised around the notion that man was at the mercy of nature (and God)

The scientific revolution, which pre-empted the enlightenment and modernity (in some ways), helped to overcome these notions

This revolution was forged in and helped to develop faith in rationality, empiricism and the scientific method

Which of these developments has been more influential in the development of modern life?

Brought unprecedented economic development through technological advancements in agriculture and manufacturing

Produced significant increases in surplus production ◦ But for whose benefit?

Allowed for fewer workers involved in the direct reproduction of life

Agricultural surpluses meant fewer resources needed to be allocated to meeting material needs

More time could be spent on education, leisure and social organisation

Former agricultural workers began to move to urban areas to look for work

Greater profits allowed for expansion of enterprise beyond its traditional boundaries

In turn, this expansion fuelled further economic growth and technological developments

The development of industry and the industrial workforce led to the rapid development of urban areas

Manchester, famous for its cotton mills, was the first industrial city

The development of cities brought large masses of people together, causing significant issues with crime, health and quality of life

• The development of nation-states (the combination of national identity and sovereign governance) is a modern, and European, idea

• It developed through revolution and the idea that the people should rule themselves

• This is a distinctly modern life; that legitimate authority can rise from people, rather than God or the rule of nature

• Industrial developments in Europe were specifically capitalist developments

• The development of industrial capitalism brought great wealth, to some, and more apparent inequality

Capitalism is the economic system whereby the owners of capital are able to use this capital to produce a surplus, which they are able to retain ◦ Have Money- Produce and Sell commodities-Make more

Money

Requires technologies (the forces of production)

And a workforce (the relations of production)

•Government controlled economic expansion, trading commodities for the good of the state •The first form of globalisation

Mass production and the complex division of labour Labourers sold their labour to the employer at an agreed price

to owners who were able to extract more value from the workers than they paid them

Capitalism contained the compulsions of profit & expansion,

& the inevitability of conflict between wage labourers & entrepreneurs

Capitalism was driven to expand globally

Multi-nationalism

Globalisation

Finance Capital

The forces of modernity brought with them the capacity to consider ourselves collectively

Human lived in much closer proximity to each other, producing new forms of social interaction

Education and enlightenment ideas allowed for the development of social explanations of the human condition

Sociologists provided particular insight into the dark side of modernity

Philosophers had often considered issues that we would now consider sociological

However, with enlightenment, industrial revolution and intensive urban living, specifically social forms of thought emerged

Auguste Comte 1797-1845 Herbert Spencer 1820 -1903

Emile Durkheim 1858-1917

Karl Marx 1818-1883

Max Weber 1864-1920

Arguing that capitalism was the latest historical form of class struggle, Marx suggested that capitalism was both alienating and exploitative

Exploitation occurs not only because the owner is able to appropriate ‘surplus-value’ from the worker, but that the worker has no choice but to accept these circumstances

Marx argued that the contradictions within capitalism would inevitably led to a communist revolution

Whilst the ideas of the enlightenment had inspired modern developments, it was the processes of capitalism that allowed for the expansion of these ideas

Therefore, some Marxists (amongst others) argue that modernity is nothing but the development of capitalism

Whilst some modern ideas do seem to go beyond capitalism e.g. Democracy, others appear entirely linked to the interests of capitalism

• Belief in progress through rationality was key to modern developments

• This rationality applied to both science and politics

• Max Weber argued that a ‘formal rationality’ dominated modern societies

• Efficiency and effectiveness ruled over tradition or social bonds

The growth of rationality removed some of the injustices of tradition, but increasingly dehumanised social life

Choice was replaced by bureaucratic processes ◦ Agency replaced by structure

This ‘iron cage’ become ultimately irrational, trapping individuals and reducing the potential for resistance

This is part of a wider trend in understandings of modern life whereby we sacrifice some liberty to achieve security

Can you think of an instance in which a bureaucratic process frustrated you? Do you feel this process would have benefited society as a whole (beyond you as an individual)?

Ultimately, Weber feared that the depersonalised and bureaucratic elements of modernity would betray enlightenment principles of human progress

Is there the possibility of resistance if “‘rules are rules’ and I’m only here to enforce them?”

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four (1949) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdyKJ1xXph8&featur

e=related

Zygmunt Bauman, amongst others, has argued that the Holocaust was not a failure of modern ideals, but the consequence

Modernity requires control over uncertainty and insecurity

The Holocaust was an extreme example of the tendency to try remove the uncontrollable by harnessing the scientific efficiency

Bauman’s argument is part of the idea that the structural consequences of the application of enlightenment ideals of human empowerment has been to produce the opposite

Marx argued that capitalism alienates us from our human nature (species being) because we are reduced to a cog in the mode of production

Durkheim suggested that a break down in bonds between the individual and community led to a failure of social norms and the fragmentation of social identity = anomie

These approaches suggested structural influences that reduced the capacity for individual agency

Do you know people who feel alienated from society, if so, why? Is this something society should be concerned about?

The advent of modernity and the technological advances that drove it, offered the capacity for significant expansion of European empires

These adventures were fuelled by technological capacity, scientific curiosity and the need for trade and resources

It is carried with it the ‘White-man’s burden’

The expansion of European empires brought with it the expansion of European ideals

Whilst the benefits of science, technology and literacy had significant influence, they were not always evenly applied to indigenous peoples

The assumed superiority of these ideals over local practices has been deemed ‘Eurocentricism’

Should Enlightenment ideals be forced upon some societies? Was colonisation a force for good?

Capitalism and industrial production has transformed our material lives

This production is based upon twin ideas of continual growth and a faith in technology

However, industrial production has had significant impact upon the environment

Capitalism appears unable to exist without expansion and relies solely on technological advances

Technological developments have led to significant human progress

The notion of human rights has been hegemonic in the Western

The information revolution has spread digital literary and power

The development within modernity itself – moving beyond pure rationality

To what extent has the development of modernity been a force for good? What aspects in particular?

Modernity is not a singular process

Several theorists such as Bauman, Jameson and Giddens argue that we have moved beyond our original sense of modernity

Societies are not purely industrial or rational, but are we still on the same path to progress?

Anthony Giddens has argued that we are now in a state of ‘late-modernity’

This is a continuation of modernity, as opposed a distinct break

Late-modernity is almost a ‘hyper-modernity’ sped up by increased technological change

It is also more self-referential and reflexive, rather than based on a distinction from the traditional

A new stage of modernity based on uncertainty and the fragmentation of identities and society

Identities and truth are subject to rapid change, often dominated by the demands of a consumer ideology

PROGRESS!?

Fredric Jameson: Late or post modernity are just the more recent mode of capitalism

Our cultural identities and practices may have changed, but capitalism continues are usual ◦ Industrial production remains, although finance capital has

become more dominant

‘It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism’?

What has been the interesting or challenging aspect of the lecture?

Has it changed your understanding of structure and agency?

Modernity is the basis for the development of sociology and our contemporary ways of understanding the world

Modernity involves significant technological developments, an awareness of the capacity for human agency and a hope for human progress through rationality

This hope has often turned to disappear are the institutionalisation of modernist principles has often ended in the opposite: the crushing of the human spirit

Contemporary debate has focused on whether we have moved beyond modernity

Class and Economic Stratification

Fulcher and Scott (2011) Sociology, Chapter 19. Giddens (2009) Sociology, Chapter 11. Macionis, & Plummer (2012) Sociology, Chapter 8.

Remember to read Giddens pp.8-18 and attend your

seminar! Contact chris.mcmillan@brunel.ac.uk if there are any issues