Modernization transforms concepts of time wherever it spreads

Evidence

Finally, the third and last objection to be discussed here concerns the question of the concept of time underlying a theory of acceleration. Doesn’t the focus on the acceleration of processes and changes imply a certain Eurocentric conception of time, i.e., a linear, abstract, commodified one? Isn’t it the case that anyone who tries to develop a “theory of acceleration” must extensively study the time patterns and perspectives of non-European peoples and cultures? My reply to this criticism is that the present investigation does not aim at being a universal history of time or at the development of an ahistorical concept of social time, but rather represents an attempt to understand the essence and the developmental dynamic of modernity following Western patterns. It is an engagement with the temporal structures and perspectives of modernized Western societies. One may conjecture, with sufficient empirical plausibility, that wherever processes of modernization occur they will bring in train a corresponding transformation of concepts of time. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 144

Categorization

• QUESTION: The counterfactual — do non-Western modernizations genuinely transform their own time concepts, or import Western ones? — is asserted rather than argued here.
• XREF: Relates to the reader’s standing interest in whether theory-claims are universal or culturally indexed, echoing debates in Islamophobia and colonial-context sources. — connects to: Modernity’s temporalization of time restructures every social form and concept. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 199; Modernization fundamentally transforms time structures and horizons themselves, not just events within time. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 80; Modernist temporality grew from uneven development rather than modernization itself — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 780

Broader Connections

• Modernity’s temporalization of time restructures every social form and concept. #corroborates (0.95) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 199
• Modernization fundamentally transforms time structures and horizons themselves, not just events within time. #expands (0.93) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 80
• Modernist temporality grew from uneven development rather than modernization itself #qualifies (0.75) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 780