ModernityFrom 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

v

t

e

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

v

t

e

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, 15–36).

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 nation-state and its constituent institutions (e.g. representative democracy, public education, modern bureaucracy) and forms of surveillance(Foucault 1995, 170–77). 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" (modernité) 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, 32–59).

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, 15–36).

Contents  [hide] 

1Etymology 2Phases of modernity 3Defining modernity

o 3.1Politically

o 3.2Sociologically

o 3.3Culturally and philosophically

o 3.4Secularization

o 3.5Scientifically

o 3.6Artistically

o 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 Moderns—debating: "Is Modern culture superior to Classical (Græco–Roman) culture?"—a literary and artistic quarrel within theAcadémie française in the early 1690s.

In these[which?] 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).

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 1436–1789 and extending to the 1970s or later (Toulmin 1992, 3–5).

According to one of Marshall Berman (1982, 16–17), modernity is periodized into three conventional phases (dubbed "Early," "Classical," and "Late," respectively, by Peter Osborne (1992, 25)):

Early modernity : 1500–1789 (or 1453–1789 in traditional historiography) Classical modernity: 1789–1900 (corresponding to the long 19th century (1789–1914)

in Hobsbawm's scheme) Late modernity: 1900–1989

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,[citation needed] believe that modernity ended in the mid- or late 20th century and thus have defined a period subsequent to modernity, namely Postmodernity (1930s/1950s/1990s–present). Other theorists, however, regard the

period from the late 20th century to the present as merely another phase of modernity; Zygmunt Bauman (1989)[page needed] calls this phase "Liquid" modernity, Giddens (1998)[page needed] labels it "High" modernity (see High modernism).

Defining modernity[edit]

Politically[edit]Politically, modernity's earliest phase starts with Niccolò 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 law-makers 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[page needed]), Marchamont Needham (Rahe 2006, chapt. 1[page needed]), James Harrington (Rahe 2006, chapt. 1[page needed]), John Milton (Bock, Skinner, and Viroli 1990, chapt. 11[page needed]), David Hume (Rahe 2006, chapt. 4[page needed]), and many others (Strauss 1958).

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[page needed]; Mansfield 1989).

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 (1568–1609) (Bock, Skinner, and Viroli 1990, chapt. 10,12[page needed]),English Civil War (1642–1651) (Rahe 2006, chapt. 1[page needed]), American Revolution (1775–1783) (Rahe 2006, chapt. 6–11[page needed]), the French Revolution(1789–1799), and the Haitian revolution (1791-1804). (Orwin and Tarcov 1997, chapt. 8[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