Imaginaries of Modernity: Politics, Cultures, Tensions (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought)

This book offers a new perspective on the issue of modernity through a series of interconnected essays. Drawing centrally on the works of Castoriadis, Luhmann, Heller and Lefort, and in critical discussion with Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Adorno, Habermas and Taylor, the author argues that modernity is not only a unique historical creation but also a multiple one. With a focus on five broad themes - the problem of understanding of modernity after the decline of grand narratives; the complexity of the modern condition; politics, especially with reference to freedom and totalitarian regimes; the variety and density of modern life; and the centrality of a concept of culture to social and critical theory - John Rundell advances the view that modernity is not the outcome of an evolutionary process or historical development, but is unique and indeterminate, as are the constitutive dimensions that can be identified as 'modern'. There are, then, different modernities. A rigorous engagement with a range of prominent and contemporary social theorists, __Imaginaries of Modernity__ casts new light on the significance of understanding the multidimensional character of modernity and the plurality of its forms beyond the conventional paradigms associated with only the West. As such, it will appeal to scholars of social theory, critical theory, sociology and philosophy concerned with questions of culture, politics and modernity. This book offers a new perspective on the issue of modernity through a series of interconnected essays. Drawing centrally on the works of Castoriadis, Luhmann, Heller and Lefort, and in critical discussion with Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Adorno, Habermas and Taylor, the author argues that modernity is not only a unique historical creation but also a multiple one. With a focus on five broad themes - the problem of understanding of modernity after the decline of grand narratives; the complexity of the modern condition; politics, especially with reference to freedom and totalitarian regimes; the variety and density of modern life; and the centrality of a concept of culture to social and critical theory - John Rundell advances the view that modernity is not the outcome of an evolutionary process or historical development, but is unique and indeterminate, as are the constitutive dimensions that can be identified as 'modern'. There are, then, different modernities. A rigorous engagement with a range of prominent and contemporary social theorists, Imaginaries of Modernity casts new light on the significance of understanding the multidimensional character of modernity and the plurality of its forms beyond the conventional paradigms associated with only the West. As such, it will appeal to scholars of social theory, critical theory, sociology and philosophy concerned with questions of culture, politics and modernity. -- Provided by publisher Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright 5 Table of contents 6 Acknowledgement 8 Details of Published Work 9 Introduction: Modernity is out of joint 12 Part 1 Tensions of modernity 32 1 From communicative modernity to modernities in tension 34 2 Modernity, contingency, dissonance: Luhmann contra Adorno, Adorno contra Luhmann 50 Part 2 Political modernities 72 4 Durkheim and the reflexive condition of modernity 74 5 Democratic revolutions, power and ‘The City’: Weber and political modernity 94 6 Autonomy, oligarchy, statesman: Weber, Castoriadis and the fragility of politics 109 7 Power, the state and the closure of politics – On the recent work of Claude Lefort 131 8 Tensions of citizenship in an age of diversity: Reflections on territoriality, democracy and symmetrical reciprocity 137 9 From indigenous civilisation to indigenous modernities 155 10 Intersections and tensions between civilisations and modernities: The case of Oman 169 11 Citizens and strangers: Cosmopolitanism as an empty universal 188 Part 3 In search of transcendence 200 12 Multiple modernities, sacredness, and the democratic imaginary: Religion as a stand-in category 202 13 In search of transcendence: Charles Taylor’s critique of secularisation 221 14 The erotic imaginary, autonomy and modernity 242 15 Musicality and modernity: Music as a space of possibilities 254 Bibliography 285 Index 307 Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgement -- Details of Published Work -- Introduction: Modernity is out of joint -- Imaginary turns in social theory -- Imaginaries of modernity: Tensions, politics, cultures -- Notes -- PART 1: Tensions of modernity -- 1. From communicative modernity to modernities in tension -- Introduction -- Habermas's sociological discourse of modernity -- Contingent imaginaries of modernity -- Tensions, dissonance and publics -- Notes -- 2. Modernity, contingency, dissonance: Luhmann contra Adorno, Adorno contra Luhmann Theorising indigenous civilisation - The social ontology of the sacred -- Civilisational encounters: Multiple modernities, indigenous modernities and inscriptive practices -- Notes -- 10. Intersections and tensions between civilisations and modernities: The case of Oman -- Oman, civilisational history and modernities in tension: Some theoretical reflections -- Oman's thalassic imaginary and absolutist thalassocracy - Expansion and openness to outside worlds -- The period of thalassic Absolutism -- Thalassic neo- or enlightened Absolutism - Reconstructing contemporary Omani modernity 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 3. Imagining cities, others: Strangers, contingency and fear -- Introduction -- Strangers in the night -- Daytime: 'City air makes one free' -- The experience of the metropolis: From conditional to contingent strangers -- Night and day: Contingency and fear -- Notes -- PART 2: Political modernities -- 4. Durkheim and the reflexive condition of modernity -- Durkheim: Representation, reflexivity and political modernity -- Collective representations as cultures of reflexivity -- The open reflexive condition of modernity -- Durkheim's political modernity -- Notes 5. Democratic revolutions, power and 'The City': Weber and political modernity -- Multiple modernities: Times and places of revolutions -- A longer kiss goodnight - political modernity -- Weber's 'The City' - another political modernity -- Democracy and the problem of the contemporary circulation of power -- Notes -- 6. Autonomy, oligarchy, statesman: Weber, Castoriadis and the fragility of politics -- Introduction -- Explicit power, the political, politics -- Non-legitimate domination in the work of Max Weber - Open and closed circulations of the political -- Notes 7. Power, the state and the closure of politics - On the recent work of Claude Lefort -- Notes -- 8. Tensions of citizenship in an age of diversity: Reflections on territoriality, democracy and symmetrical reciprocity -- Globalisation, nations and citizens -- The condensation of citizenship -- An intersubjective Horizon of cosmopolitan citizenship: Symmetrical reciprocity -- Notes -- 9. From indigenous civilisation to indigenous modernities -- Civilisation and Australia's founding myths -- Hail to thee, Australia's shores/We bring a civilisation