Deceleration tendencies are secondary reactions to, not equals of, acceleration in modernization.

Evidence

According to another objection to the acceleration diagnosis, processes of acceleration are almost always accompanied by complementary tendencies of hesitation, delay, and slowing down such that changes in time structures invariably have to be interpreted as complex manifestations of this reciprocal relationship. Acceleration and deceleration have, in this view, an equal claim to being universal basic temporal tendencies. While I accept this objection to the extent that any theory of acceleration with a systematic intent has to take into consideration corresponding processes of slowdown, I am convinced I can show that in the modernization process forces of acceleration and deceleration do not balance out, but are instead very unequal in distribution: discernible tendencies of deceleration can be interpreted either as residual or as reactions to acceleration processes (and occasionally as functional for the latter). They are therefore in all cases secondary to the forces of acceleration. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 125

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the book’s central thesis that deceleration never counterbalances acceleration but only reacts to it, distinguishing residual from reactionary slowdowns.
• XREF: connects to: Social acceleration is more fundamental than rationalization, individualization, and other modernization processes — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 221; Decelerating society is self-contradictory because progress entails dynamization — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 848; Marginalized groups’ deceleration does not falsify acceleration as modernity’s defining trait — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 138 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Marginalized groups’ deceleration does not falsify acceleration as modernity’s defining trait #corroborates (0.80) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 138
• Social acceleration is more fundamental than rationalization, individualization, and other modernization processes #expands (0.75) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 221
• Decelerating society is self-contradictory because progress entails dynamization #contradicts (0.75) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 848
• Apparent deceleration is often itself a strategy of acceleration #qualifies (0.72) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 280