Modernity is a political project institutionalizing conflicting principles, not a state of affairs

Evidence

It is right to say that “modernity” is neither a totally coherent object nor a clearly bounded one, and that many of its elements originate in relations with the histories of peoples outside Europe. Modernity is a project— or rather, a series of interlinked projects—that certain people in power seek to achieve. The project aims at institutionalizing a number of (sometimes conflicting, often evolving) principles: constitutionalism, moral autonomy, democracy, human rights, civil equality, industry, consumerism, freedom of the market—and secularism. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 63

Categorization

• DEFINE: Asad’s core definition: modernity as ‘a series of interlinked projects’ pursued by people in power, deliberately framed as internally conflicting and evolving.
• XREF: connects to: Modernity’s institutional framework has itself been set in motion. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 552