Presupuesto

The current stage seems to be full of contradictions, full of dualities, full of tensions. For example, on the one hand, the idea of globalization is promulgated by many observers as the most powerful force in our lives (Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1991). Yet the emergence of ‘new communities’, on the

other hand, is seen as celebrating the ‘right’ to be different, (Delanty, 1999). The ‘end of history’ thesis seems to have convinced some, on the one hand, yet religious, nationalist and ethnic movements show the unfeasibility of the very same thesis, on the other. This multi-faceted recent era could be seen as a reflection of modernity in which tensions, contradictions, dualities express themselves more openly.

It is due to the existence of multiple features in the experience of modernity that distinct, irreconcilable, conflicting life-worlds have been competing. This, however, does not refer to a break with modernity, because any one of these life-worlds is strongly tied to the basic characteristics of modernity. More precisely, since the actions of owners of different life-worlds take place under the same conditions which have provided places for them to have their sayings heard, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to go beyond modernity. In his critique of modernity Alain Touraine (1995: 92) wrote: ‘...because modernity is a critical rather than a constructive notion that a critique of modernity must be hypermodern’. Modernity is not unified and includes multiplicity. Therefore, it is neither necessary nor possible to work outside modernity. In other words, if totality is far removed from modernity, it is possible to work within modernity. This is what has been happening, rather than modernity being broken-down. From now on I shall consider some of the most important events of the current era to illustrate that we live under conditions of modernity.

In sociological terms, it is important to look at the position of ‘the social’ under current conditions. Tribes - emotional communities - seem to be replacing ‘mass’ society, seen as a devil by Adorno and Horkheimer (1988). This current situation causes ‘pessimistic’ perspectives rather than optimistic ones. It is seen that ‘unlimited relativism’ makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to live together. This assumption is based on the feeling that the emergence of new communities

means the celebration of the right of ‘difference’ against ‘universalism’. In other words, the ‘universal subject’ is assumed to have collapsed (Delanty, 1999). However, it is necessary to ask if a universal subject really emerged and lived before. For example, it was considered until recently that the reason of Enlightenment brought about universal subjects.

Apart from the rise of ‘relativism’, there is another occurrence which seems to be very important: Classical social theory’s society – the self-contained society of the nation-state - is in question (Giddens, 1987). Globalization is thought to be undermining self-contained societies. This has been indeed responded to by social theories. Recently, there has been a growth in literature on globalization. It could be argued that this literature succeeds earlier modernization theory by viewing the current phase of modernity as a western success (Giddens, 1991). In other words, globalization is held to be diffusion of western civilization. Thus, we notice that in analysing the current stage of the social these two perspectives, namely coherent and divergent visions of life, seem to point to something that cannot be properly read. If there is a rise in importance of local cultures but at the same time a move towards globalization, then, it would not be right to call recent processes either the victory of the ‘convergence thesis’, proposed by modernization theories, or the reversal of ‘society’ by ‘small’ communities. If there are many-sided processes in the current history of modernity, this could be understood as a consequence of the openness of modernity.

Recently, what could be noticed to be a most important characteristic, is the irreducible plurality of cultural-worlds and world-interpretations. This is indeed an outcome of the modern experience, precisely because ‘multiplicity’, situated in the heart of modernity, could have only brought about that sort of plurality. From the beginning there have been plural world-interpretations in modernity, but recently this plurality revealed itself more clearly, particularly by means of new telecommunication technologies. Since modernity is not unified or totalized, it has been possible

for diverse world-views to work within modernity. Thus, it may precisely be said that a most powerful argument against postmodernism could be that since modernity is an open rather than closed way of life and since it is multiple rather than being a closed monolith, it is neither necessary nor possible to work outside modernity. In other words, since ‘critique’ is situated within modernity, attempts at changing life should not be viewed as attempts to end modernity. Since postmodernism has understood modernity as a totalizing epoch on the basis of rationality, the diversity and plurality of ideas and practices are taken to mean that a new social condition begins; the postmodern condition (Lyotard, 1984). Therefore, the irreducible plurality of ideas and practices have been taken to refer to the meaning of postmoderity (Bauman, 1992).

The increase of plurality in ideas and practices, however, could be analysed as referring to the extension of modernity or the widening of the openness of modernity. By this I want to insist that the amount of modern actors does increase. It can no longer be hoped to see a centre in society capable of shaping the entirety of social relations. This means that the recent era of modernity reveals more clearly that modernity has never been a world with an ordering, shaping centre. Rather, modernity has been without a determining centre, but it has been open to disputes over the common good or the good life. And the current conditions indicate that ‘elitist’ conceptions of modernity are in question more than before, because new modern actors from all corners of society demonstrate what they understand by modernity. Modernity is in the streets more than ever before now that modernity no longer refers to the program of Enlightenment. This situation is recently due to the increase of possibilities and choices open to human beings. Therefore, what should be emphasised is that modernity is an endless trial, because no centre provides the 'content' for social life (Kolakowski, 1990). If modernity is viewed as a reversal of substantive rationality (Weber), then, the 'form' could be described as 'rational' by modernity. It could be argued that multiplicity lies in modernity because its content is to be created by the diverse actions of diverse people. In

other words, because modernity does not define how social life should be experienced, it is the work of people to create their own life perspectives. Therefore, it must be clear that modern society is not a coherent whole, but rather a conflicting, diversity of world interpretations indicating the radical pluralism of cultural worlds. This is to say that the creation of life perspectives is not free from cultural worlds and meanings. Therefore, Weberian pessimism could be overcome, in that substantive rationality which gives meaning to life is not replaced by formal rationality which would not leave space for anything other than the efficiency of instrumental rationality.

What is more astonishing in some current social theories is that the distinctions of non-Western cultures are seen as indicators for the beginning of postmodernity (Delanty, 1999; Gulalp, 1998; Smart, 1990). However, it is crucial to insist that the openness of modernity to interpretation not only make us understand how the plurality of ideas and practices increases in Western modernity, but also, importantly, that there has been increasing attention paid to the perspective of varieties of modernity on which this study is built.

The discussion so far must indicate that there can be no compeletable project of modernity once and for all. The multiplicity of ways of life, the plurality of relations of people to the world, multiple histories show that a universal conception of modernity cannot be argued for convincingly. People who are diverse are not convinced by theories aiming to show the feasibility of attempts to complete the ‘project of modernity’ for all. An American would not like a European’s conception of history; a Japanese person would not agree with the view that reduces modernity to a western project; a Russian would not support the ‘end of history’ thesis because of its overly western orientation. To find a way to analyze the current conditions of life, we must think a theoretical perspective which could show us the plausibility of the concept of varieties of modernity.

First of all, the way to analyse current conditions of modernity is by indicating that there is no equivalence between the West and modernity. If this can be shown, the actual possibility of analysing multiple modernities in a convincing way could be demonstrated. If one looks at social theories of modernity with a reading of the social context which theories aim to explore, it could be noticed that these theories are mostly attempts at providing an explanation of the ‘uniqueness’ of the West. From Hegel to Marx, and from Weber to Habermas in social theory a central concern has been to achieve an explanation of how ‘capitalism’ - modernity - emerged ‘only’ in the West.15

It is in forming its self-identity, that the West seemed exceptional to these theorists. And it was this ‘exceptionality’ which made modernity identical with the West.

Since the making of the modern epoch first took place in the West, until very recently there was no serious questioning of the purported ‘superiority’ of the West. The modern political revolutions - American and French - and the Industrial revolution emerged in the West. Since then it has been assumed that modernity is equivalent to the West. This provided a criterion by means of which the West is viewed as a category allowing some to draw a picture of the world as divided between ‘the West and the rest’. In other words, the West became a criterion of the good against the evil of the rest. So, judgements about the rest are made on the basis of the criterion: the West.

What then became a common view of the West developed by westerners, but also agreed upon by many Easterners, is that the West presents a particular way of life of advanced civilization against the rest (see Hall and Gieben [eds.], 1992). It is then unsurprising that Heller wrote: ‘modernity, the creation of Europe, itself created Europe’. (Heller and Feher, 1991: 146) So, modernity must be Eurocentric. Thus ‘the project of modernity’ could be understood as being nothing, if not the expression of European identity formation.

By arguing the unique place of rationality in European civilization, then, Weber (1958) was to believe in the exceptionality of the West only in that it could have had a universalizing logic. Therefore, what was achieved by the exceptionality of the West came to be that the distinction between modernity and tradition was shown to be the distinction between the West and the rest.16 First, the idea of civilization in the singular needed to be developed in order to mark the West as ‘civilized’ against the ‘uncivilized’ rest.17

This was certainly nothing other than the aim to achieve a self-identity for the West. However, it was this ‘other-descriptive’ identity formation which gave rise to Eurocentric social theories of modernity.

In brief, modernity emerged as an outcome of a specific civilization, therefore, if the rest wanted to join modern life, they would have to Westernize first. In other words, in the rest, for a society to modernize, it first needs to ‘deresternize’ itself. Therefore, the West was not only a particular way of life - democratic, civilized and so on - but it also had the historical mission of ‘universalizing’ human societies.

In truth, however, modernity, like any other epoch, should not be identified with a particular geography, civilization or ethnicity. The theme of varieties of modernity provides most important opportunities for clearly showing this. Therefore, in the next chapter, I shall argue that the assumptions of modernity as equivalent to the West must be problematized so as to show the tenability of the concept of varieties of modernity. For this goal to be achieved, it shall be argued that the modernization of non-western societies cannot be viewed merely as westernization or Europeanization. ‘Later modernities’ shall be introduced in order to make sure that existing social theory, a product of Western experience, cannot be validated to analyse non-western experiences of modernity.

Chapter Three