Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book provides a critical assessment of contemporary social theory for students in the social sciences. Delanty examines the writings of a number of key contemporary thinkers, including Habermas, Foucault, Bauman, Touraine, Giddens and Beck, and provides a clear account of the strengths and limitations of their work.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• 1. Defining Modernity: The Quest for Autonomy
• Introduction
• Modernity's Three Logics of Development
• Integration and Differentiation
• Conclusion: The Time-Consciousness of Modernity
• 2. The Limits of Modernity: From Autonomy to Fragmentation
• Introduction
• Rethinking Modernity
• Autonomy versus Fragmentation: The Loss of Unity
• Beyond the Classical Tradition: Contemporary Theories of the Social. Conclusion: Towards a New Time-Consciousness
• 3. Discourse and Democracy: Habermas's Theory of Modernity
• Introduction
• The Problem of Democracy
• The Formation of Habermas's Social Theory
• Rescuing Discourse: The Mediation of Democracy and Law
• Discursive Democracy in the Global Public Sphere
• The Question of Culture and Identity. Conclusion: Culture and Discourse
• 4. Cultural Creativity and the Rise of Social Postmodernism: Foucault, Lyotard and Bauman
• Introduction
• From Deconstructionism to Constructivism. Bauman: Ethics and Postmodernity
• Conclusion: Beyond Postmodernism
• 5. The Return of Agency: Touraine and Melucci
• Introduction
• Touraine: From Historicity to the End of the Social. Melucci: Culture, Identity and Change
• Conclusion: Reflexivity and Democracy
• 6. Reflexive Modernization: Beck and Giddens
• Introduction
• Beck and the Risk Society. Giddens: Modernity, Reflexivity and Trust
• Assessing Reflexive Modernization: The Question of Culture
• Conclusion: Reflexivity and Discourse
• Conclusion: Knowledge, Democracy and Discursive Institutionalization
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Delanty argues that modernity as "cultural project" (associated with autonomy, individualism, democracy) is undermined by modernity as "social project" (associated with rationalization, fragmentation, capitalism). In making his case Delanty offers what is in effect a concise but masterful bibliographic essay on the literature of modernity from T"onnies to Touraine. The common thread running through his discussions of the major social theorists is how each struggled with "the age-old debate . . . between the priority of the individual and society." Delanty concludes that people need to rethink current working definitions of modernity. He argues that they should question, for example, concepts such as differentiation and disenchantment, often perceived as hallmarks of modernity, and instead acknowledge the increasing interpenetration of institutional structures and the "penchant for enchantment" seen in neofascism, the fantasy world of cyberspace, and religious revivalism. There are probably plenty of social scientists who believe they are already engaged in exactly such questioning, but Delanty makes his case so well that he is likely to inspire others to challenge some of the insights of an earlier era that have since become constraints on attempts to understand the modern world. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students. M. A. Olshan; Alfred University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Gerald Delanty is a Reader in Sociology at the University of Liverpool.