Genealogy of Modernity

Author: Zhang Fengyang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: In a sense, the transition from tradition to modernity is a fate that all countries and all nations must inevitably face sooner or later. For this reason, modernity and the issue of modernization have entered the academic field and become a recurring theoretical focus, which is quite natural. Historically, Western society pioneered and completed the modernization process. Among these, there are many experiences worth learning from, as well as many lessons that should be taken to heart. Marx said that historical inevitability cannot be avoided, but humans must learn and have the sufficient subjective capacity to try to mitigate the intensity of social pain. In this regard, examining and analyzing the gains and losses of the Western modernization process should be instructive in understanding and grasping the problems faced by contemporary China in its modernization efforts. This is a fundamental consideration for choosing this topic. In academic circles both domestically and internationally, research on the Western modernization process often adopts different approaches, leading to various conclusions. Based on the absorption and reference of relevant achievements, this paper incorporates the issue of modernity into a cultural perspective for examination, arguing that the construction of the Western social modernity landscape is shaped by contradictory elements, presenting an interwoven pluralistic orientation. Its typical cultural characteristics are primarily reflected in four aspects: the rise of secular tastes, the spread of instrumental rationality, the assertion of individual expression, and the triumph of mass culture. The main body of this paper is divided into three parts—upper, middle, and lower—discussing the first three aspects, while the fourth aspect is briefly explained in the conclusion. From the perspective of cultural sociology, the historical construction of the Western modernity landscape presents three typical orientations: the rise of secular tastes, the spread of instrumental rationality, and the indulgence of individual expression. The first two orientations exist in a relatively positive symbiotic relationship; their support and interlocking form the dominant trend of the modernization process. The third orientation manifests in the form of anti-secularization and anti-rationalization, making it a divisive element in the modernity landscape. Building on relevant achievements and employing a method that unifies history and logic, this book systematically examines the historical formation of the pluralistic orientations of modernity and their interwoven complementarity and conflicting tensions, drawing some enlightening conclusions from them.