Cultural Identity in the Age of Globalization: A Historical Critique of Western Universalism

Author: Zhang Xudong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: This book is an expansion and revision based on the author's doctoral seminar course at New York University and a series of lectures at Peking University. It begins with the value conflicts and cultural identity crises in the contemporary world, analyzing a series of core issues and fundamental contradictions troubling contemporary cultural theory from the perspective of critical intellectual history. These include the relationship between the self and the other, individuality and universality, the comparability of cultural systems, globalization and the nation-state, the history and subjectivity of the postmodern era, and so on. Unlike general introductions to Western contemporary cultural criticism theories, which merely describe various popular theoretical discourses, this book delves into the historical and philosophical foundations of contemporary Western cultural consciousness, value subjectivity, and power concepts. It systematically narrates and critiques the historical construction of Western political and cultural subjectivity since the European Enlightenment and its inherent tensions. The book closely follows the thread of "the cultural crisis of the civic-Christian world and its self-transcendence," viewing the political, philosophical, and cultural expression of Western modernity as a form of self-understanding and self-awareness of a special historical subjectivity. Therefore, the central chapters of the book focus on: 1) a reinterpretation of the bourgeois self-consciousness of Kant-Hegel and their philosophical legislation; 2) an historical interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophical turn and its revolutionary significance; 3) a critical analysis of Weber-Schmitt's legal and political thought. On this basis, the author offers a series of unique and critical analyses of contemporary phenomena, such as the ideological discourse of the "free market," "the universal individual," and "the end of history" that became popular after the Cold War. The author pays particular attention to revealing the historical and social differences, cultural and value conflicts, and the "self-affirmation" will of the inherent particular subject that these "universalist" positions attempt to conceal. The book emphasizes the historical context of critical intellectual history but simultaneously carries a strong sense of inquiry, confronting current challenges. While engaging with Western classic theoretical texts, the author clearly positions the exploration of contemporary Chinese cultural subjectivity as the central purpose of the book. Against the backdrop of grand history and theory, and within the complex intellectual context, the author repeatedly raises the question: How can one be Chinese under the conditions of modernity and "globalization"? How can contemporary Chinese cultural politics be advanced? How can one reconstruct one's own values and life world, and thereby creatively engage with global historical issues?