1st Edition

Beyond Civilization Society, Culture, and the Individual in the Age of Globalization

Edited By Harry Redner Copyright 2013
    424 Pages
    by Routledge

    424 Pages
    by Routledge

    For Harry Redner, the phrase "beyond civilization" refers to the new and unprecedented condition the world is now entering—specifically, the condition commonly known as globalization. Redner approaches globalization from the perspective of history and seeks to interpret it in relation to previous key stages of human development. His account begins with the Axial Age (700–300 BC) and proceeds through Modernity (after AD 1500) to the present global condition.

    What is globalization doing to civilization? In answering this question, Redner studies the role played by capitalism, the state, science and technology. He aims to show that they have had a catalytic impact on civilization through their reductive effect on society, culture, and individualism.

    However, Redner is not content to diagnose the ills of civilization; he also suggests how they might be ameliorated by cultural conservation. Above all, it is to the problem of decline in the higher forms of literacy that he addresses himself, for it is on the culture of the book that previous civilizations were founded. This study will be of interest to sociologists, historians, and social and political theorists. Its style makes it accessible also to general readers, interested in civilization past, present, and future.

    Prelude

    Part I: The Past History of Civilization

    1. An Overview of History
    Section I—Historical Turning Points
    Section II—Cultural Consciousness
    Section III—Countering Critics
    2. The Axial Age
    Section I—The Mystery of the Axial Age
    Section II—Ethics, Empire, and Literacy
    Section III—Problems of Literacy
    3. Modernity
    Section I—The Rise of the West
    Section II—The West and Modernity
    Section III—In Defense of the West
    4. Post-Civilization
    Section I—The Ambiguities of Modernity
    Section II—Catalysts
    Section III— The Events of the Twentieth Century

    Part II: The Present Predicament of Civilization

    5. The Forces of Modernity
    Section I—A Brief Overview
    Section II—Capitalism
    Section III—The State
    Section IV—Science and Technology
    Section V— Post-Industrial or Information Society
    6. Society
    Section I—Megalopolis
    Section II—Social Ranking
    Section III—Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
    Section IV—Friendship, Kinship, and Family
    7. Culture
    Section I— A Historical Introduction to Global Culture
    Section II—Capitalism and Culture
    Section III—The State and Culture
    Section IV— Science and Technology and Culture
    Section V—The Global and the Local
    8. Individualism
    Section I—The Origins of Individualism
    Section II—Individualism in the West
    Section III— Individualization and Atomization

    Part III: The Future Prospects of Civilization

    9. Catastrophes of Nature and Culture
    Section I—The Uncertainties of Prediction
    Section II—Jonas and Jonahs
    Section III—Scenarios of Cultural Disaster
    10. The Future as it Might Be
    Section I—Drifting to Disaster
    Section II—Restoring Society
    Section III—Conserving Cultures
    Section IV—Recovering Individualism

    Valedictory Remarks

    Endnotes

    Index

    Biography

    Harry Redner,