Globalization and Modernity

Author: Shen Xiangping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: "Globalization and Modernity" are like two sides of a coin, intertwined and inseparable. The study of modernity issues involves our grasp of the essence of globalization. Globalization is considered by many scholars as a worldwide expansion of modernity, closely linking it with the historical process of the West since the modern era and the capitalist system civilization. Giddens believes that "the extension of time and space" is the prerequisite for organizing human activities across vast distances, which is the foundation of globalization. In the process of modernization, "the extension of time and space" has greatly extended the distance of social relationships, enabling the formation of complex global relationship networks. If we broaden our historical perspective, we will see that the core concepts of modernity, such as freedom, democracy, rationality, and market economy systems, have also gradually formed and matured in the process of globalization. In this sense, globalization and modernity are co-embryonic and mutually shaping. Many of the viewpoints and materials in this book can be seen as an extension of a doctoral dissertation. Globalization and modernity are two major hot topics in academia. Research on globalization inevitably involves modernity, and similarly, research on modernity cannot avoid involving globalization. We live in an era woven by a series of so-called modernity systems, globalization. When we attempt to thoroughly understand the characteristics of our time, grasping the meaning of globalization and modernity themselves, as well as their interrelationships, becomes quite hesitant. This is because there is no stable social world for us to understand, and the very understanding of this world is fluid. We can only grasp them and their relationships in this fluidity. This book reveals from the perspective of world history the ambiguous relationship between globalization and modernity from its inception to the present. We find that modernity does not simply serve as the driving force of globalization, and globalization is not simply the development of modernity. Globalization and modernity are mutually shaping. Understanding this is of great significance for China, which is pursuing modernization in the process of globalization.