Suchergebnisse

Three sociological responses to postmodernity are considered: the restructuring of sociological strategy in postmodern fashion, the re-phrasing of the postmodern problematic as that of the crisis of modernity, & the attempt to develop a sociology of postmodernity. Regarding the latter, the yet unresolved task is the separation of the image of society from that of the nation state, or principally coordinated space, & the replacement of the concept of society with sociality as a key sociological analytical construct. AA

Challenges the currently fashionable periodization of history since the 18th century into two major phases -- modernity & postmodernity -- questioning the conception of modernity & emphasizing the specificity of capitalism in opposition to other aspects of modernity with which it is conventionally associated. It is argued that, if we are now witnessing an epochal shift, it is not a transition from modernity to postmodernity, but the maturation & universalization of capitalism. The universalization of capitalism is distinguished from globalization, & the latter concept is contended to obscure more than it reveals. Adapted from the source document.

SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES AND TASKS OF A POLITICS OF POSTMODERNITY IS DELINEATED. AN ATTEMPT IS MADE TO REFLECT ON THE DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTIONS OF 1989 IN EASTERN EUROPE AND TO DISCERN WHAT LESSONS THEY MIGHT HAVE TO OFFER. WHAT IS CALLED FOR IS A RENEWED THEORY OF DEMOCRACY AND A REFORMULATION OF TRADITIONAL LIBERALISM. THE AUTHOR SUGGESTS HOW SUCH TRADITIONAL LIBERAL CONCEPTS AS THE INDIVIDAL, REASON, UNIVERSALITY, AND FREEDOM CAN BE REFORMULATED IN A GENUINELY POSTMETAPHYSICAL, POSTMODERN FASHION.

THE AUTHOR CONSIDERS WHAT IS INVOLVED IN PERIODIZING THE HISTORY OF CAPITALISM INTO THESE TWO MAJOR PHASES, MODERNITY AND POSTMODERNITY. THEN SHE LOOKS AT WHAT SEEMS WRONG WITH THE CONCEPT OF MODERNITY ITSELF. HER MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO CONSIDER WHETHER THIS PERIODIZATION HELPS OR HINDERS THE READER'S UNDERSTANDING OF CAPITALISM. CAPITALISM, EVEN IN SO-CALLED ADVANCED CAPITALIST SOCIETIES, HAS FOR THE FIRST TIME TRULY PENETRATED EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE; THE STATE, THE PRACTICES AND IDEOLOGIES OF RULING AND PRODUCING CLASSES, AND THE PREVAILING CULTURE.

Contributions to this collection seek to determine the extent to which states and boundaries have, in fact, disappeared, or are simply changing their functions as we move from an era of fixed territories into a post-Westphalian territorial system. A group of international political geographers and political scientists examine the changing nature of the state, pointing to significant changes on the one hand, but equally noting the continued importance of territory and boundaries in determining the political ordering of the post-modern world