Culture and Identity: Critical Theories`Ross Abbinnett brings a keen and subtle philosophical mind to bear on themes and debates that have become commonplace in sociology. This is a sinuously written book which casts new light on pressing contemporary issues. It is required reading for everyone who wants to think seriously and with an open mind about the terrain of the present′ - Keith Tester, Professor of Sociology, University of Portsmouth This incisive and timely book provides a concise and reliable guide to the debate on modernity and postmodernity. In particular the work of Lyotard, Beck, Bauman, Baudrillard, Giddens, Jameson and Derrida is critically reviewed. Culture and Identity provides: a thorough and accessible discussion of the main themes in the modernity-postmodernity debate; a shrewd and penetrating account of how these themes address everyday life; a novel account of how technology is altering our perceptions of the `human′; and a balanced account of the hope for radical politics and radical critique to correct the excesses of capitalism. What emerges most forcefully from the book is the error of dismissing postmodernism as a self-indulgent and ultimately, dangerous piece of ideology. Abbinnett provides a pertinent reminder of the continuing importance of the themes and challenges raised in the `postmodern moment′. |
From inside the book
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... question of culture and identity into a rough theoretical context . Immanuel Kant , in his essay ' What is Enlightenment ? ' , begins his account of political responsibility from the level of moral culture established in bourgeois civil ...
... questions of being and aesthetics that are addressed by postmodern theory , as well as having a history which exceeds any ... question the traditional processes through which political legitimacy has been established , transmitted and ...
... question of my freedom ; it is also ' sermon , exhortation , prophetic word ' ( Levinas , 1984 , p . 213 ) . My speaking in response to the other responds both to his or her particular suffering and to the whole of humanity : The third ...
... question the authority which science , as an expert culture , has exercised over our moral and political judgements ? Beck's response to this question is to argue that the public awareness of risk that is characteristic of reflexive ...
... questions raised by increasing technological specialization and control . — For Giddens , then , the fact that we have all become strategic risk evaluators raises the question of how such a calculative orientation can support a sense of ...
Contents
15 | |
25 | |
35 | |
Postmodernism and the Aesthetic | 43 |
Deconstruction and Identity | 53 |
Technology Ideology and the Culture Industry | 73 |
Information Simulation and the Silent Majorities | 96 |
The Postmodern and the Sublime | 112 |
Culture Politics Différance | 125 |
Derrida Fukuyama and the New World Order | 137 |
Science Technology and Catastrophe | 159 |
Capitalism Globalization and Cosmopolitanism | 190 |
Bibliography | 217 |