Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological ImaginationRethinking Modernity presents a fundamental reconstruction of the idea of modernity in contemporary sociology and social theory. It criticizes the abstraction of European modernity from its colonial context as well as the way in which the experiences of non-Western 'others' are regarded as having no contribution to make to such understandings. In challenging the dominant, Eurocentred accounts of the emergence and development of modernity, Gurminder Bhambra presents an argument for the recognition of 'connected histories' in the reconstruction of historical sociology at a global level. She addresses three supposedly 'founding moments' in the narrative of modernity - the Renaissance, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolutions - in order to identity myths of origin which remain embedded in dominant accounts of modernity, whether of modernization theory or multiple modernities. |
Contents
Modernity Colonialism and the Postcolonial Critique | 15 |
European Modernity and the Sociological Imagination | 34 |
Myths of European Cultural Integrity The Renaissance | 83 |
Copyright | |
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Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination G. Bhambra Limited preview - 2007 |
Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination G. Bhambra No preview available - 2007 |
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ancient argues associated assumptions believed British capitalism capitalist challenge chapter civilization claims classical antiquity colonial commercial society concepts connected histories constituted construction contemporary context critical critique cultural decolonization Delanty discourse discussed distinct dominant earlier economic eighteenth Eisenstadt emergence emphasis empirical endogenous epistemology established Eurocentrism Europe European modernity example forms framework French Revolution fundamental further global Haitian Revolution historians historiography Holmwood human idea ideal types India Industrial Revolution industrial society institutions integral interconnections interpretations knowledge labour located medieval modern societies modernization theory multiple modernities narrative nation-state nationalism nineteenth century non-European Orientalism origins paradigm particular period political position postcolonial postcolonial theory postmodern problem processes question recognize regarded relations relationship Renaissance Renaissance Humanism rest scholars Scottish Enlightenment seen significance simply slavery social science social theory sociology structures subaltern Subaltern Studies subsequent suggests traditional trajectories transformation transition Trouillot understanding understood in terms universal West Western