History, Modernity and Global Identities

The first stage of modern societies was defined in one part of the world by the establishment of a direct link between the sacred world and the human world: this is monotheism. In other parts, early stages were defined by empires or by categories of purity, such as castes in India. In the western w...

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Main Author: Alain Touraine
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Milano University Press 2020-07-01
Series:Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs-unimi-test.4science.cloud/index.php/glocalism/article/view/20969
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author Alain Touraine
author_facet Alain Touraine
author_sort Alain Touraine
collection DOAJ
description The first stage of modern societies was defined in one part of the world by the establishment of a direct link between the sacred world and the human world: this is monotheism. In other parts, early stages were defined by empires or by categories of purity, such as castes in India. In the western world, as well as in places like Japan, a second stage links sacredness and political power, for which the paradigmatic political institutions were absolute monarchies. The third stage is what we call industrial society, which is defined by a massive increase in labor productivity, mechanization and class struggle at the social level. Now we are entering in a new “society of communication” which is no longer based neither on production nor on nation-states and cities, but rather on global systems. In this new type of society, the social actors must be “total”, that is they must be active in the cultural – mediatic – domain as well as in the political and economic fields. While in industrial societies the main actors were generally considered to be social classes, and the central notions were production and class conflict, in societies of communication the main actors represent more total categories, as those of “women” or “migrants” do in western countries today, and the central notion is subjectivation, which language is that of fundamental human rights.
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spelling doaj-art-3948427b1e6d44c492bee84e28a3e9922025-08-20T03:20:00ZengMilano University PressGlocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation2283-79492020-07-012History, Modernity and Global IdentitiesAlain Touraine0School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences The first stage of modern societies was defined in one part of the world by the establishment of a direct link between the sacred world and the human world: this is monotheism. In other parts, early stages were defined by empires or by categories of purity, such as castes in India. In the western world, as well as in places like Japan, a second stage links sacredness and political power, for which the paradigmatic political institutions were absolute monarchies. The third stage is what we call industrial society, which is defined by a massive increase in labor productivity, mechanization and class struggle at the social level. Now we are entering in a new “society of communication” which is no longer based neither on production nor on nation-states and cities, but rather on global systems. In this new type of society, the social actors must be “total”, that is they must be active in the cultural – mediatic – domain as well as in the political and economic fields. While in industrial societies the main actors were generally considered to be social classes, and the central notions were production and class conflict, in societies of communication the main actors represent more total categories, as those of “women” or “migrants” do in western countries today, and the central notion is subjectivation, which language is that of fundamental human rights. https://ojs-unimi-test.4science.cloud/index.php/glocalism/article/view/20969modernitysociety of communicationsocial actorssubjectivationhuman rights
spellingShingle Alain Touraine
History, Modernity and Global Identities
Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation
modernity
society of communication
social actors
subjectivation
human rights
title History, Modernity and Global Identities
title_full History, Modernity and Global Identities
title_fullStr History, Modernity and Global Identities
title_full_unstemmed History, Modernity and Global Identities
title_short History, Modernity and Global Identities
title_sort history modernity and global identities
topic modernity
society of communication
social actors
subjectivation
human rights
url https://ojs-unimi-test.4science.cloud/index.php/glocalism/article/view/20969
work_keys_str_mv AT alaintouraine historymodernityandglobalidentities