Social Acceleration :A New Theory of Modernity - New Directions in Critical Theory

4.36 ( 340 Ratings by Goodreads)
Social Acceleration

Social Acceleration :A New Theory of Modernity - New Directions in Critical Theory

4.36 (340 Ratings by Goodreads)
paperback | English
Published: 30 June, 2015
Standard worldwide delivery by Wed, June 17 - Mon, June 22
Order within 0
Condition: NEW
$39.16
RRP $40.03
You save $0.87 (2%)
Price includes shipping
Available 3 in stock
- +
FREE Returns within 30 days

Description

Hartmut Rosa advances an account of the temporal structure of society from the perspective of critical theory. He identifies three categories of change in the tempo of modern social life: technological acceleration, evident in transportation, communication, and production; the acceleration of social change, reflected in cultural knowledge, social institutions, and personal relationships; and acceleration in the pace of life, which happens despite the expectation that technological change should increase an individual's free time. According to Rosa, both the structural and cultural aspects of our institutions and practices are marked by the "shrinking of the present," a decreasing time period during which expectations based on past experience reliably match the future. When this phenomenon combines with technological acceleration and the increasing pace of life, time seems to flow ever faster, making our relationships to each other and the world fluid and problematic. It is as if we are standing on "slipping slopes," a steep social terrain that is itself in motion and in turn demands faster lives and technology. As Rosa deftly shows, this self-reinforcing feedback loop fundamentally determines the character of modern life.
See more

More Details

Type Book
ISBN13 9780231148351
ISBN10 0231148356
Number Of Pages 512
Item Weight 1000 g
Publisher / Reseller Columbia University Press
Format paperback
See More +

Media Reviews

When I first picked up this book, I was looking forward to a leisurely reading on obscurantist Heideggerian bullshit. I was wrong. But once I got over my deep disappointment that the book was, in fact, intelligible and not littered with ramblings about Dasein, I began to appreciate the book for what it was. Critical Theory Blog

Show more

GoodReads Reviews

Author's Bio

Hartmut Rosa is professor of sociology and political science at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena. He is the author of Alienation and Acceleration: Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality and coeditor, with William E. Scheuerman, High-Speed Society: Social Acceleration, Power, and Modernity. Jonathan Trejo-Mathys (1979-2014) was assistant professor of philosophy at Boston College.

Show more