Seminar (Magister, Master, GSP) (summer 2013)

Instructors

Ercüment Çelik, Christian Ersche, Wiebke Keim, Veronika Wöhrer

Description

Since its first appearance in the 19th century, “modernity” has been a key concept in sociological theory. Western sociology has essentially been the sociology of modernity. Since then, considering the key aspects of modern society such as individualization, secularization, industrialization, capitalism, democracy, rationality, development and progress, full employment, etc., or the watersheds of its historical periodization, such as enlightenment philosophy, the industrial revolution, the French revolution etc., we can strongly argue that it is basically the Western/European society which was taken as a model for the definition of modern society. The era of decolonization and the rise of newly emerging powers generated fundamental challenges to Eurocentrism and introduced alternative perspectives. At the time of, as some scholars say, “farewell to modernity” or, as some others name it, “reworking” or “reinventing modernity”, this seminar introduces various sociological perspectives on modernity and discusses challenges to Eurocentric approaches. In this regard, the sessions, including an introduction to modernity, will cover various perspectives from the second/reflexive modernity to multiple modernities, from different roads to modernity to transmodernity, from postcolonialism to provincializing Europe. The seminar aims at an analysis of these different perspectives as well as at combining these discussions with the debate on the universality of social scientific knowledge.

Sessions / Topics / Bibliography

1. Introduction and organization. (18.04)

2. Introduction to Modernity Debate: Main Concepts (25.04., Çelik)

• Goody, Jack. “Introduction” in Capitalism and Modernity: The Great Debate. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004, pp. 1-18.
• Bhambra, Gurminder K. „Introduction“, and „European Modernity and the Sociological Imagination“ in Bhambra, G.K. Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007, pp. 1-12 & pp. 34-55.

3. Second Modernity / Reflexive Modernity / Liquid Modernity (02.05., Ersche)

• Beck, Ulrich et al. : “The Theory of Reflexive Modernization. Problematic, Hypothesis and Research Programme”, in: Theory, Culture & Society, 2003 (Vol. 20/2), pp. 1 – 33.
• Lash, Scott: “Reflexivity as Non-Linearity”, in: Theory, Culture & Society, 2003 (Vol. 20/2), pp. 49 – 57.
• Baumann, Zygmunt: “Foreword: On Being Light and Liquid”, in: Baumann, Zygmunt: Liquid Modernity. Cambridge, 2000, pp. 1 – 15.

4. Multiple Modernities (16.05., Ersche)

• Eisenstadt, Shmuel N.: “Multiple Modernities”, in: Deadalus, Boston, 2000 (Vol. 129/1), pp. 1 – 29.

5. Different Roads to Modernity (06.06., Ersche)

• Pieterse, Jan Nederveen: “New Modernities: What’s New?” In: Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez/ Boatcă, Manuela/ Costa, Sérgio (Ed.): Decolonizing European Sociology, Farnham, 2010, pp. 85 – 102.
• Therborn, Göran: “Different Roads to Modernity and Their Consequences: A Sketch”, in: Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez/ Boatcă, Manuela/ Costa, Sérgio (Ed.): Decolonizing European Sociology, Farnham, 2010, pp. 71 – 84.
• Randeria, Shalini: “Entangled Histories: Civil Society, Caste Solidarities and Legal Pluralism in Post-colonial India”, in: Keane, John (ed.): Civil Society – Berlin Perspectives, New York, 2006, pp. 213-242.

6. Northern and Southern Theory (13.06., Çelik)

• Connell, Raewyn: “Empire and the creation of social science”, in: Connell, Raewyn: Southern Theory. The global dynamics of knowledge in social science, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 3 – 25.
• Connell, Raewyn: “Modern general theory and its hidden assumptions”, in: Connell, Raewyn: Southern Theory. The global dynamics of knowledge in social science, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 27 – 48.
• Connell, Raewyn: “Social science on a world scale”, in: Connell, Raewyn: Southern Theory. The global dynamics of knowledge in social science, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 211 – 232.

7. Provincializing Europe (20.06., Wöhrer)

• Chakrabarty, Dipesh: “Introduction: The Idea of Provincializing Europe”, in: Chakrabarty, Dipesh: Provincializing Europe. Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference, Princeton, 2008, pp. 3 – 23.
• Bhambra, Gurminder K.: “Sociology after Postcolonialism: Provincialized Cosmopolitanisms and Connected Sociologies”, in: Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez/ Boatcă, Manuela/ Costa, Sérgio (Ed.): Decolonizing European Sociology, Farnham, 2010, pp. 33 – 47

8. Transmodernity (27.06., Keim)

• Dussel, Enrique D.: “World-System and ‘Trans’-Modernity”, in: Nepantla; Views from the South, Baltimore 2002 (Vol. 3/2), S. 221 – 244.
• Quijano, Anibal: “Coloniality of Power and Eurocentrism in Latin America”, in: International Sociology, 2000, 15 (2), pp.215-232.

9. Postcolonialism (04.07., Wöhrer)

• Boatca, Manuela/ Costa, Sergio: “Postcolonial Sociology: A Research Agenda”, in: Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez/ Boatcă, Manuela/ Costa, Sérgio (Ed.): Decolonizing European Sociology, Farnham, 2010, pp. 13 – 31.
• Sousa Santos, Boaventura de: “From the Postmodern to the Postcolonial – and Beyond Both”, in: Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez/ Boatcă, Manuela/ Costa, Sérgio (Ed.): Decolonizing European Sociology, Farnham, 2010, pp. 225 – 242.

10. Modernity through oral parables (11.07., Keim)

• Sitas, Ari: “Voices That Reason. Theoretical Parables”, Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2004, Introduction (pp. vii-x), and Section 3/Two (pp. 51-69)
• General Summary and Evaluation of the Course.

11. Written Examen (18.07.)

Requirements:

- Regular participation and text reading.
- Examination requirements: Group Presentation (50%) and written exam (50%).