Late Modernity Flashcards
(9 cards)
Who are the two late modernists?
Giddens and Beck.
They both believe that progress within society is possible, unlike Lyotard and Baudrillard. Not yet in a period of postmodernity.
What does Giddens theorise?
We are living in a time called ‘late modernity’, meaning society is changing rapidly due to globalisation, leading to uncertainty and risk. Not yet living in postmodernity.
We are always rethinking our choices and identities, connected to a global system. However, he rejects the postmodernist view that we cannot intervene to improve things - he believes we can make rational plans to reduce these risks, becoming a better society.
He says that 2 things have changed over the past few decades, including reflexivity and disembedding.
What does Giddens say Reflexivity is?
Thinking carefully about what we do and why we do it, via:
self-identity: who and what we want to be, “who am i?”, constantly reinventing ourselves
knowledge/expertise: we are always learning new things and updating knowledge, e.g new scientific information may change our believes or habits.
decision-making: we make choices by considering lots of information, e.g career/lifestyle where we look at different options and decide what is best for us
What does Giddens say Disembedding is?
Our social interactions and relationships are not limited to local places, it can happen through:
- symbolic tokens: money, allowing us to buy things from anywhere without knowing the person we are buying from
- expert systems: we rely on systems e.g doctors for health, lawyers for legal issues, etc, but we can now depend on technology. We rely on social media to communicate with friends/family, and interaction has become more impersonal
Evaluation of Giddens:
Does not consider how these changes might look different in various cultures or historical periods - not every society experiences disembedding in the same way.
What does Beck theorise?
We are living in a period of postmodernity where society is changing rapidly due to technology, globalisation, etc.
This leads to a risk society, where we are increasingly focusing on managing global risks, such as climate change, recessions, etc - interconnectivity.
In the past, people worried about natural disasters/diseases, but now worry about the risks that come from human actions, like global warming. We now spend more time and resources trying to predict, prevent and manage these risks.
What is Risk Consciousness?
Being aware of and thinking about risks all the time - danger in our everyday lives e.g eating unhealthy food, effects of climate change etc.
This awareness influences how we live and the decisions we make, e.g may recycle more or use less plastic.
What is Reflexive Modernisation?
Constantly rethinking and changing our way of life to deal with these new risks. People and institutions continually reflect on their actions and their impacts. They adjust their behaviours and policies to minimise risks, e.g governments might change laws to protect the environment, avoid smoking, eat healthier.
Evaluation of Beck:
The concept of reflexivity suggests that we reflect on our actions and then are free to reshape our lives accordingly to reduce exposure to risk.
However, not everyone has this option, e.g poor are exposed to more environmental risk as they are likely to live in poor conditions/heavily polluted areas e.g mould, but may be unable to afford to move to a healthier area.
