The topic that I found most interesting when we
talked about Anthony Giddens was his idea of where we are as a society. There
was the term used called post-modernity to describe how our society operates,
but Giddens strongly disagreed with this term. The term that he chose to use to
describe how we live and how we understand our identity was radicalized
modernity. He described this term as the way that people in today’s society
live and how they ascribe to things. There are 3 ideas/examples that Giddens
highlighted to differentiate between a post-modern society and a radicalized
modernity.
Post-Modernity: Radicalized
Modernity
~The self as dissolved ~Self-identity
is made possible
~”Emptying” of everyday life to ~Everyday life is
complicated combination
abstract systems of gains and losses
~truth is rooted in circumstance ~Universal
features of truth claims
All of these differences point to
Giddens’ idea that a radicalized modernity is better for society as a whole to
live in. There is more room to be integrated with your peers, but at the same
time, you are allowed to be displaced at times if you feel that is appropriate.
The comic that I found applies to this
idea of postmodernity in a comical way. The guy that is stepping on the other
man’s neck brings up a good point that since, in the post-modern view there is
not one ultimate truth, he can make up many stories or truths as to what he is
doing to the mad on the ground. I believe that this is why Giddens really did
not like the post-modernity view. There are so many blurred lines that are
created, and things are not very concrete in this view of society. That being
said, I agree with Giddens and believe that a radicalized modernity approach to
looking at society is much more logical. The reason is because it looks at
society as more of a whole and gives individuals more options in terms of
choosing how they want to exist within society.
I think that you did a great job explaining the difference between post-modernity and radicalized modernity. The image you used definitely assisted in your explanation as to why post-modernity should be the secondary view when compared to the radicalized modernity view. Overall, it was easy to understand and very informative. My questions for you are, which view do you think that the majority of people follow? Since you agree with the radicalized modernity view, do you feel that it is important for more people to be accepting of that view?
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