Perspectives on (post)modernity: Elias, Bauman, Latour

1. Perspectives on (post)modernity:Elias, Bauman, Latour April 30, 2012 Instructor: Sarah Whetstone

2. Revisiting “modernity”... the idea of the world as open to transformation by human intervention (belief in reason, science, progress…) a complex of economic institutions, especially industrial production and a market economy a certain range of political institutions, including the nation-state and mass democracy Largely as a result of these characteristics, modernity is vastly more dynamic than any previous type of social order. It is a society—more technically, a complex of institutions—which, unlike any preceding culture, lives in the future, rather than the past (Giddens 1998).

4. Post-modernity…What are some of its defining features? • (in art) critique of the utility of the functional– “a statement of the failure of modernist faith in the redemptive ability to improve human life through the construction of the best machine” (412). • Critical of the assumption that rational minds can “know” the world– critical of truth claims or grand “meta-narratives” • Rejects “truths” of humanism, Enlightenment, etc. Rejects meta-narratives of Man, rational subject, the proletariat, etc. • Accepts the chaotic and fragmentary • Embraces localized narratives that take into account contingency and destabilized character of experience • Ex. Foucault’s theory of power, Smith or Collins’ theories critiques of gendered knowledge

5. Elias: Group Work • Explain Elias’ notion of historical change– How can it be both unplanned and organized? • Elias argues that two main trends have given rise to the development of greater self restraint in humans. What are they? (419-420). • Explain Elias’ overall argument about why modern societies are characterized by very high levels of individual self-restraint.

6. Elias: “The Social Constraint Towards Self-Constraint” • The historical changes associated with civilization are not rational or irrational • “set in motion blindly, and kept in motion” by the autonomous dynamics of a web of interdependent human relationships • Exists sui generis • Modern “social habitus,” or social personality, increasingly dominated by manners and self-restraint, due to: • Differentiation of social functions (D’s division of labor) • Monopolization of use of physical force by centralized, state organizations

7. Elias: “The Social Constraint Towards Self-Constraint” • “Civilized behavior” has emerged as the exercise of force has become centralized and organized within modern nation-states. • In a more pacified state society, the use of force by the strongest is no longer possible (420) • Individual is protected from attack, expected to suppress own violent urges • Time no longer spent on surviving violent attack or war, devoted to stable pursuit of money/productivity • Life is no longer “perpetually insecure,” but is calculable– a “peculiar form of security” (421) • As we are more embedded in differentiated webs of dependence, our conduct is more restricted.

8. Bauman: Group Work • How have academics (or sociologists) confronted the Holocaust? (429-430) • What are Bauman’s two main arguments regarding the relationship between modernity and the Holocaust? (431) • What features of modernity does Bauman argue were essential for the occurrence of the Holocaust? Focus on where he talks about rationalization, the features of bureaucracy, and dehumanization.

9. Bauman: Modernity and the Holocaust • Understanding of the factors making the Holocaust possible have not advanced • Bauman advances two main premises: • Holocaust as product of modernist faith in progress: “The Holocaust did not just, mysteriously avoid clash with the social norms and institutions of modernity. It was these norms and institutions that made the Holocaust feasible” (431). • The “checks and balances” of modernity did not prevent the Holocaust. Not only have greater controls proven ineffective, but our greater sense of security in modern systems contributed to the problem (431).

10. Bauman: Modernity and the Holocaust • Desire to remake the world (faith in human intervention) motivated Nazi project – Genocide on such a large scale required the features of modernity • Rationalization: “Modern genocide is a genocide with a purpose” (433). Calculated means to end of “social improvement.” • Efficient management, intricate planning and coordination in large systems • Use of scientific reason and expert knowledge • Modern technological-bureaucratic patterns of action: effect of hierarchy of positions and dehumanization • Elimination of contingency, chance, emotion, or personal motive • Extension of Weber’s predictions? What would Bauman say to Elias? • Postmodernity has not replaced modernity, but is the culmination of modernization.

11. Latour: Group Work • What is the dichotomy that is central to modern thought, according to Latour? • Does Latour support the existence of this dichotomy? Why or why not? What is a “hybrid?” • Describe the “nonmodern” position advocated by Latour.

12. Latour: We Have Never Been Modern • Dichotomy of nature and culture: A foundational dichotomy of modern thought is that the natural and social (human made) worlds are inherently separate. • These two realms have never been separate: “Nature-cultures” have always existed as hybrid forms. Existing in complex relationships together. • Thus, we have “never been modern.” • Casts doubt on standard “modern/postmodern” debates • Advocates non-modern/amodern position which recognizes existence of hybrids

13. Final Exam… Wednesday, May 2 – In Class Good Luck!