Each classic sociologist elevated one master process as the defining feature of modernity
Evidence
In the works of the sociological classics and contemporary research that follows them one mostly finds that a single aspect serves as a central, guiding perspective. Thus, for instance, Max Weber understands modernization above all as a process of rationalization. This also constitutes the core of the project of modernity as it has been defined by, for instance, Jürgen Habermas and his followers. In contrast to this, processes of the division of labor and functional differentiation stand, as we have seen, at the center not only of Durkheim’s investigations but also of contemporary systems theory. In turn, after having been thematized in a multifaceted way by Simmel, individualization is a social tendency that takes on central importance in, for instance, the diagnoses of the times of Ulrich Beck or Gerhard Schulze. Finally, the way in which nature, and consequently the character of an individual and a society, is processed and transformed constitutes the starting point for the analyses of modernity of Karl Marx and the social scientists inspired by him. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 217
Categorization
- XREF: Maps classic theorists Weber/Durkheim/Simmel/Marx onto distinct modernization master-narratives, echoing the Frankfurt School tradition and prior chapter reviews of each. — connects to: Classical social theory defined modernity by the application of scientific rationality over tradition — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 151; Modernity is a universal maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 157
Broader Connections
- Classical social theory defined modernity by the application of scientific rationality over tradition
#exemplifies(0.85) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 151 - Modernity is a universal maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal
#exemplifies(0.82) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 157