Modernity
Appadurai, A 1996, ‘Here and Now’, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization’, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 1-23.
Appadurai argued that grand Western science left not only advantages but also some possible negative impacts in the society. Indeed, their legacies dramatically and unprecedentedly broke the bridge between past and present, between tradition and modernity; and distorted social change’s essence and social politics in the past. In fact, this issue still occurs in the recent under the sorts of today world’s modernization. For example, the rapid development of technology may cause a decrease in traditional awareness of young generation. Looking deeper in the circumstance, they are media and immigration, the two major related components of modernity that impacted in the society, specifically on the human imagination. To illustrate, modernity provided conditions for the media to widen its resources for self-imagining. Hence, imagination was no longer locked in space of art and myth, and ordinary people could apply their imagination in all daily affairs. More people imagined and dreamed of a more sufficient life out of their home country; thus, the migrants increased. As a result, people who immigrated to other country had to drag their imagination to fit with new environment, new context that they choose to stay.
According to Giddens (1991), modernity relates to the modes of social life or organization that subsequently become more or less worldwide in their influence. With this meaning, modernization is a lot similar to Westernization. This is because over the colonialism, the Orient has been seriously affected by Western cultures, and even most countries gained their independences already, there are still some Western’s values exist in those country. Thus, modernization, which allows Westerns and their values to enter in the East, may be just new kind of colonialism.
Words count: 275 words
References:
Giddens, A
Appadurai argued that grand Western science left not only advantages but also some possible negative impacts in the society. Indeed, their legacies dramatically and unprecedentedly broke the bridge between past and present, between tradition and modernity; and distorted social change’s essence and social politics in the past. In fact, this issue still occurs in the recent under the sorts of today world’s modernization. For example, the rapid development of technology may cause a decrease in traditional awareness of young generation. Looking deeper in the circumstance, they are media and immigration, the two major related components of modernity that impacted in the society, specifically on the human imagination. To illustrate, modernity provided conditions for the media to widen its resources for self-imagining. Hence, imagination was no longer locked in space of art and myth, and ordinary people could apply their imagination in all daily affairs. More people imagined and dreamed of a more sufficient life out of their home country; thus, the migrants increased. As a result, people who immigrated to other country had to drag their imagination to fit with new environment, new context that they choose to stay.
According to Giddens (1991), modernity relates to the modes of social life or organization that subsequently become more or less worldwide in their influence. With this meaning, modernization is a lot similar to Westernization. This is because over the colonialism, the Orient has been seriously affected by Western cultures, and even most countries gained their independences already, there are still some Western’s values exist in those country. Thus, modernization, which allows Westerns and their values to enter in the East, may be just new kind of colonialism.
Words count: 275 words
References:
Giddens, A
References: Giddens, A 1991, Modernity and Self‑Identity; Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Cambridge.